Review #136: 28 Weeks Later (2007)

This review was originally written in October 2021.

October 2021 Horror Movie Review #22- 28 Weeks Later (2007)

I think it's interesting that, in all of the zombie movies I've watched so far, basically none of them have dealt with the Reconstruction phase of a zombie apocalypse- so many of them deal with the immediate outbreak, a few deal with the weeks after the outbreak, and then the rest deal with the far future where what's going to be rebuilt is already rebuilt (and the fat cats are sitting on top smoking cigars or whatever). This movie, however, dealt directly with the Reconstruction, and showed the dangers and problems that can arise therein.

It's noteworthy that the filmmakers decided to go with a more traditional look and sound to this movie (rather than the low-quality video and audio of the previous one). However, they clearly still wanted to keep a lower-tech, closer look to the cinematography, so they had most of the camerawork be handheld and unsteady.

I thought this movie had a really strong beginning and middle, but the end kind of lost me a bit. I thought the moral dilemma of Robert Carlyle's character at the very beginning was an interesting one- I thought it was a bold move to have the protagonist leave his wife to be eaten by zombies while he ran away, and I was interested in seeing how he copes with that over the rest of the film- but it turns out he's not the protagonist, and aside from one scene of grief and a little bit of deflecting blame, the movie actually deals with this decision fairly little. And can I just acknowledge how unbelievably brutal and graphic the scene was where he gets infected? Holy crap, I was not ready for that, nor did I think anybody deserved what he did. That's gonna be burned into my eyes for a while.

I really liked Jeremy Renner's character- he felt incredibly genuine and he was a breath of fresh air- and once he was taken out of the picture I felt my interest in the film noticeably diminish. I think this movie went a little overboard with its explosions and special effects- much of it felt unnecessary- but overall it looked and sounded good so I guess that was what they were going for.

One thing at the end really struck me as odd- was the zombie in the subway that infected Andy supposed to have been their father? It looked like him, and his character didn't get any closure otherwise, but did I miss something? I have no idea why or how he was there. Did I miss a scene? Was a subplot cut, perhaps? I had to rewind it and watch the scene a couple times because it looked like that's what was happening, but again, I have no idea how or why. He seemed to just come out of nowhere, and then the scene was over.

I liked this movie, but maybe not as much as the previous one. It's definitely a recommended watch, though.

Overall Rating: 7/10 Stolen Pizza Motorcycles

Fun Trivia Tidbit: The kid at the beginning of the film claims to be from Sandford, a town a few miles up the river. Not only is Sandford the name of the town in Hot Fuzz (which came out the same year), but apparently it's a fictitious town that British police use to practice safety preparedness drills!