![]() There's a nice old couple who own the farm, a grumpy pessimistic man, a woman whose boyfriend has been missing for a week, and a middle-aged married couple, Don (Robert Carlyle) and Alice (Catherine McCormack).ĭon and Alice have children whose fates remain uncertain at that point, but there's serious love and trust evident in the short time we spend with them before a child survivor shows up with a pack of infected in tow. The film, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, opens at a remote English cottage where a handful of survivors have settled into a routine of eating non-perishables by candlelight and stifling their paranoia and bickering to a manageable level. The sequel, 28 Weeks Later, more or less says, "nevermind." A guy wakes up from a coma, and, having missed the whittling down of morals and sympathy the zombie epidemic has effected on his fellow survivors during his time-out, he has a distinctly idealistic mindset in comparison. The movie is violent and disturbing, but at its heart and climax, there's the belief that altruism and faith in humanity can win out even in an apocalyptic setting. It might not have seemed like it when the film premiered in 2003, but Danny Boyle's 28 Days Lateris pretty upbeat. It's no coincidence that the popularity of both 28 films went up during the pandemic these characters are relatable, and though the circumstances of the real-world struggle were very different, the proximity of their fear and anxiety to the audience's own feelings is closer than it's ever been.Photo: Fox Atomic The siblings' dynamic is that of two people who have lost everyone they care about and now rely on each other and a new family of fellow survivors, each of them damaged in their own way by this fresh outbreak. There are sacrifices made to save the children as the group moves through a city in flames. Quieting down from the violence, the characters are allowed to breathe, and the themes of the film are given room to stretch. The silence is eerie, hanging over the place as the intense music falls into a piano motif.Ģ8 Weeks Later's scope narrows from the plight and death of tens of thousands to the core team in the aftermath of the courtyard massacre, as Doyle meets up with Scarlet and the siblings, escorting them through the city toward Wembley Stadium, where a radio transmission claims evacuation for civilians is imminent. By the conclusion of what feels like an endless and gory shooting gallery, there are dozens of corpses laying in the courtyard, draped across the ineffective barricades and each other. Other troops become involved, firing heavy machine guns into the fray. ![]() Their actions are intercut with quick cuts to the carnage below them. Doyle's fellow soldiers don't hesitate, firing indiscriminately into the crowd, though he can't bring himself to join them. There are brief protests and moments of hesitation before the troops begin firing their weapons, intercut with brief shots of the crowd. One of 28 Weeks Later's most important and horrifying moments involves Doyle and his fellow snipers being ordered to fire on a crowd of civilians in a courtyard below, some of them infected as the outbreak begins to spread further. Returning from the first movie, the harsh sounds of his compositions fit perfectly with the sharp reports of gunfire and the cries of the infected and survivors. This tension is reinforced by the film's score, composed by frequent Guy Ritchie collaborator John Murphy. These factors, as well as the human drama of the survivors bonding together, help keep the movie from becoming a more rote tale of survival in a familiar apocalyptic scenario. The tension is enhanced if one has seen the first film these viewers will know the power of the Rage Virus, the speed with which it takes effect and the absolute chaos that erupted from its initial spread. There are a handful of jumpscares in these earlier sequences, and the frantic editing of the action scenes helps the later moments feel more natural.
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