Post by thecount on May 26, 2008 15:53:38 GMT -5
“28 Days Later” is one of my favorite horror films from this century. It’s a well paced, well written and acted film that is also downright terrifying. In addition it also revitalized the zombie movie after many years of dormancy and gave them a twist. Instead of the slow, lumbering zombies from George A. Romero’s films as well as their spawn we were treated to zombies that could run and stalk people. Needless to say I was exited at the prospect of a sequel. I was even more intrigued when I read that the sequel called “28 Weeks Later” would be to “28 Days Later” what “Aliens” is to “Alien”, so as a diehard fan of “Aliens” it looked like something I’d get a kick out off. In reality though, “28 Weeks Later” is nowhere near as good as “28 Days Later” or “Aliens”. It is like “Aliens” in that it’s more of an action film than a straight up horror film, but while “Aliens” is still a well crafted and fun film, “28 Weeks Later” is a shallow and dull Hollywood action film with no substance whatsoever.
Basically the plot is that Britain has been completely depopulated thanks to the events in the first film, so NATO troops lead by the US land in Britain to repopulate the island. However, NATO was wrong. Britain is in fact not free of the rage virus and soon chaos breaks out.
“28 Weeks Later” is part of the Hollywood trend of taking well crafted horror movies and turning them into shallow action films (the “Hills Have Eyes” and “Dawn of the Dead” remakes are also part of this trend). This film is completely devoid of any real sense of tension or dread. This film does have a lot of action, but I was bored by it. This film drags quite a bit as well. It has a runtime of just over 90 minuets, but it feels like it lasts a lot longer. To make matters worse I didn’t care for any of the characters. It also tries hard to make a political point about the invasion of Iraq, but it fails miserably to make this point effective. It’s sad to see such a fall from greatness. In the defense of “28 Weeks Later” it does have a pretty good musical score, but it’s not nearly enough to save this movie.
Basically the plot is that Britain has been completely depopulated thanks to the events in the first film, so NATO troops lead by the US land in Britain to repopulate the island. However, NATO was wrong. Britain is in fact not free of the rage virus and soon chaos breaks out.
“28 Weeks Later” is part of the Hollywood trend of taking well crafted horror movies and turning them into shallow action films (the “Hills Have Eyes” and “Dawn of the Dead” remakes are also part of this trend). This film is completely devoid of any real sense of tension or dread. This film does have a lot of action, but I was bored by it. This film drags quite a bit as well. It has a runtime of just over 90 minuets, but it feels like it lasts a lot longer. To make matters worse I didn’t care for any of the characters. It also tries hard to make a political point about the invasion of Iraq, but it fails miserably to make this point effective. It’s sad to see such a fall from greatness. In the defense of “28 Weeks Later” it does have a pretty good musical score, but it’s not nearly enough to save this movie.