Movie Review: 28 Weeks Later

This is the sequel to the 2003 international smash hit 28 Days Later. Six months have passed since the rage virus has annihilated London and the British Isles and the mutant cannibal creatures are still roaming. There is only one secured area set up in London. The U.N. troops and U.S. Army declare that the war against the infection has been won. The first wave of refugees are returning and one family is attempting to reunite - but one of them is carrying an unforgivable secret.

Don (Robert Carlyle) and his wife Alice (Catherine McCormack) are held up in a rural farm along with a small group of people. Don and Alice are trying to get back to their kids, teenaged Tammy (Imogen Poots) and pre-teen Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton), but a group of the infected mutant cannibals attacks the farmhouse. Don panics and runs off and leaves his wife. When he gets to safety, he believes she's dead or infected.

The film takes on a cinematic chase with the U.S. Army as the pursuer combatting the virus infected mutants. The subplot is that immunization is the key to survival. As with the original, 28 Weeks Later is almost entirely set in London, but this time the filmmakers have upped the ante on the action thriller elements and created a story which is on a considerably larger scale than 28 Days Later. Movements of the infected were very animalistic with a dash of rage while the characters made very effective human growling sounds. The action scenes that took place in London were quite hypnotic, with explosion scenes at Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, Regents Park, the Millennium Bridge, and Wembley.

Certain performances in this film really stood out, notably Robert Carlyle as Don (the father), Rose Byrne as Scarlet, who seemed natural as a very assertive but rebellious female military doctor, and most of all Jeremy Renner as Sgt. Doyle who carried a major part as a morally conflicted army man. This is one hell of an action horror film. The CGI was thrilling and exciting, which raises this a cut above the typical horror movie.

Directed by: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Running time: 1 hour 31 minutes
Release date: May 11, 2007
Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller and Sequel
Distributor: Fox Atomic
MPAA Rating: R

Article Author: Gerald Wright

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