DVD - 28 Weeks Later

[Sheridan Passell]

Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Cast: Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau, Catherine McCormack

Sequels often labour in the first film’s shadow, being cruelly whipped by their overbearing master, made to dilute character and premise and generally sully the memories of the first film. Happily, 28 Weeks Later doesn’t need to. Location, character roster, timescale: everything’s new, except those glorious non-Zombies, The Infected (I like them enough to give them capitals).

It looks good, to a point. I felt occasionally that I’d been transported to a 1970s edition of Top of the Pops as their digital stock strained under the weight of all the grading necessary when you’re shooting day for night. The backs of people’s heads were occasionally orange. Digital suits the film, however. Gritty and staccato. The opening manages to make sunlight into the enemy: you’re overexposed, vulnerable in the light, and it works. The first scare is very pleasing and they only get bigger (and stupider, but more of that later) as they go on.

The film’s got pace, fizz and froth, thanks mostly to the speed at which The Infected move. None of your shuffle-twitch here. The right things were kept from the first film. The Infected gobble, throw up blood, grunt and sprint about in a way that would scare me to the bone if it were a game.

And there’s one gripe: it looks like a game. The gaming industry’s fault, perhaps, but American voices in your ear, sniper sights, fatigues, and the constant whirr-whirr atmosphere feels like playing Metal Gear Solid. Which I can’t do. Because I get the Fear. So, if you’re into that, then knock yourself out.

SPECIAL FEATURES (region 2):
•   Audio commentary by director/co-writer Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and producer/co-writer Enrique Lopez Lavigne
•   Deleted scenes with optional audio commentary
•   'Code Red: The Making Of 28 Weeks Later' featurette
•   'The Infected' featurette
•   'Getting Into The Action' featurette
•   'Development' featurette
•   'Decimation' featurette
•   Theatrical trailer
•   Teaser trailer

In terms of the DVD bits and pieces, it’s a mixed bag - as usual. The menu has a ten second unskippable animated intro, which I consider to be the absolute maximum (whatever happened to just putting something in and watching it?). The commentary is endearing, delivered in rapid Spanish-accented English by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and Enrique Lopez Lavigne. The ‘making of’ is short, studio-stamped and self-congratulatory, but the piece on The Infected is revealing, funny and full of ‘oh, cool’ moments - much more like a DVD extra should be. I’d watch it again, I’d show it to friends.

SUMMING UP:
I’m a zombie flick fan, though, and the overbearing impression I get of this film is that it takes itself too seriously. Zombie movies (yes, yes, but this might as well be one) depend on fear-tinged hilarity for re-watchings. They have to be fun to watch with friends and popcorn and pizza. But for the helicopter scene (the only place where I sat up on my beanbag and exclaimed in an empty room), it’s all very serious. If I want to watch a straight-faced post-apocalyptic fate-of-mankind film I’ll watch Children of Men, because it’s got more laughs (Michael Caine, I salute you). I’m stuck thinking of a reason I’d want to own it. And it would have been awesome on the big screen.

FILM       : 7/10
EXTRAS  : 7/10
OVERALL : 7/10

Han The Chan

[dalmatianjaws]

Couldn't disagree more. Almost walked out of the cinema . . . did he HONESTLY use the "Light at the End of the Tunnel" visual metaphor? Did that soldier REALLY let those two kids walk into the infected zone for dramatic purposes? Did the writers even LOOK at a map of London or study military tactics, even by playing Metal of Honor? And seriously . . . does one brown eye and one blue eye ACTUALLY save the day?

Oh, and why is it that just because the gruesome "thumbs in the eyeballs" kill from the end of the first movie is so awesome that the director of 28 Week  Later decided to use it ninety times and mistook it for a "eyes are the window to the soul" reference.

Oh, and one last rant, sorry. Did he really think he was making a schlock Zombie movie? Didn't he realize that the whole POINT of the first film is that it WASN'T a Zombie movie, hence the hopeful ending?

All that said, for a real taste of how shitty (can I write that on the Interweb?) this director really is, check out Intacto, the greatest waste of a great premise that I have ever seen.

[Tiger]

28 Weeks Later is a decent film, it's not fantastic, and it's certainly not as good as 28 Days Later, but it's worthy of a viewing. 
Sure, it featured a lot of silly things, but I did not mind that when I watched it, because I was not expecting a Citizen Cane, it was fun.

Intacto, on the other hand, is a fantastic film. 
I also suggest that everyone watches it and not because it is "the greatest waste of premise", as I don't believe that, but because the film is actually VERY good!

[Sheridan Passell]

The first half of 28 Weeks Later is great, bar a couple of silly moments. The repopulation is an interesting watch and the way the outbreak first makes the jump is terrific - the fate of one major character took me completely by surprise.

The second half is less interesting as it becomes quite generic - small group getting picking off one by one blah blah.

[dalmatianjaws]

I get what Sheridan is saying. I did love the re population idea, and the intro was a great idea as well with the whole "betray the spouse" thing.