Movie Notes: 28 Days Later
= 5 stars
Starring Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson
Directed by Danny Boyle
Synopsis
A mysterious virus transforms people into rabid monsters. London is deserted an overrun by the “infected” and the few remaining citizens fight to survive.
The Good
- A good dose of sci-fi evens out the bloody horror. I was reminded of the apocalyptic films like A Boy And His Dog, Zardoz, and even the Andromeda Strain.
- While the first half follows a rather straightforward plot (thankfully spiced up by some aggressive direction), the second half I didn’t expect, and touches on the sort of distasteful leadership could rise in the absence of government.
- The film is almost completely told from survivors’ point of view, and hence few answers are given as to the nature of the disease or what’s going on outside of London. The film is much scarier and intense because of this.
The Bad
- Not sure how entertaining it will be on repeat viewings.
- A few minutes near the end felt somewhat “Scooby Doo” with a monster chasing its prey.
Conclusion
I’m not a horror fan by any means. My biggest complaint about most horror flicks is a misguided sense of what’s truly scary. Gratuitous camera time on a crappy special effect is not scary, nor is removing the mystery of horrific events. Danny Boyle knows this, hence the disquiet behind something as simple as an empty grocery store or fleeting glances at ultra-violence.
28 Days Later won me over with a tasty mix of sci-fi, horror, and plot twists, mesmerizing me to the end. So despite my two quibbles above, I give it five stars, as a shining example in a genre I tend to avoid like the plague. And that’s not because I’m afraid of being infected.
IMDB: 28 Days Later
Wikipedia: 28 Days Later
Rotten Tomatoes: 28 Days Later 88%
Now I am curious about this movie. It’s been a long time since I’m not at the cinemas to see a movie like that!
This flick came out way back around 2002 or so — I’m pretty late to the
party. You can surely rent it as i did
Amanda, if you’re in the U.S. (or can spoof a U.S. ip address), you can watch the full movie legally on hulu.com (limited commercial interruption):
http://www.hulu.com/watch/14177/28-days-later
Jason — the sequel is worth seeing even though Danny Boyle was not involved and it features a completely different cast. 28 Weeks Later is not as good as the original film, but at the very least it is very distinct from the original and explores a host of other themes (rather than just rehash). I’d liken it to the differences between Alien and Aliens (which isn’t too far off since 28 Weeks Later presents what would happen if the U.S. military arrived and tried to manage the quarantine).
Cool, I’ve already added 28 Weeks Later to my netflix queue (Hulu had some
excerpts, but I’d rather not watch them and spoil the flick. Based on your
description and what I’ve heard elsewhere, it sounds more “actiony” but
ought to be a decent rental.
Thank you very much! I was thinking about another plot :S
I’ll search and rent it maybe this weekend
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