# 28 Weeks Later



## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

Alright, this is my first shot at a review here, so I'll try to keep it fairly concise.

I was a fan of the original 28 Days Later. I liked their slightly different take on the "zombie genre" of movies, I liked the way it was shot, and it was kind of original and cool to see London dead empty. I didn't have huge hopes for the sequel, but I was interested in seeing it and thought it would still be a decent bit of entertainment. Well, it didn't disappoint. 

**Warning, there will be some spoilers here, I'll put tags on anything major, but I may inadvertently let something slip, so if you're trying to preserve the experience for yourself, just know that it was a cool movie, I liked it, and stop reading here.

The movie begins with a revisit to the original outbreak, in what turns out to be a small country village. The story begins with the few refugees who've managed to hide out and evade the infected for a while, and are hiding in a boarded up farmhouse. 
*Spoiler* 



As expected, the zombies do end up finding them, and there are some good startling moments. During the attack, only one man is able to escape down the river, and he and his family will be the focus of the new storyline.




Flash into the present, and we discover that 28 weeks have passed since the outbreak, and the US military is in control of London. The infected have all(?) starved to death, and an island area of the city is deemed safe for rehabitation. Men and women return, and are escorted under guard to their new homes, in highrise buildings in the "clean" area of the city, but no one is allowed outside the protected perimeter that hasn't been cleaned up, and is still piled with infected corpses, rotting food, and scattered belongings. 

Among the returnees are the first children to come back, to reunite with their father who survived the outbreak. They hear the story of how their mother was taken, and dad couldn't save her, and begin to get on with their new lives. Unfortunately, this includes the kids sneaking out of the safe zone to go back to their old home to recover some belongings, and a picture of their mother, since the youngest is starting to forget her. 
*Spoiler* 



While in the house, we discover that mom isn't in fact dead, she's returned home and has been living on whatever she can scrounge up, but something isn't right. Mom isn't talking and acts very strangely, and when she is examined back at the base, is discovered to still carry the virus, even though she begins to return almost to normal.




The infection manages to propagate again, as we knew would happen, and basically chaos breaks loose, with the military trying to contain a quickly spreading outbreak in their defended area. We pick up a few new characters along the way, and follow them as they try to escape both the army and the infected, and make their way to safety. What makes them more interesting is that 
*Spoiler* 



the chief medical officer believes the children may hold the key to a cure for the disease, that their mother may have genetically passed on. Getting them out alive becomes more important than anything else, and is the main struggle from here on.




Overall, these guys didn't pull many punches with the gore or violent scenes. The intensity of the infected when they attack can be quite scary, especially in the "jump out of your seat" moments, and there are a few of these. Their hissing/screaming/snarling, combined with their speed and pure hatred of normal humans makes them great to watch, and infinitely better than the shuffling, moaning zombies of old. The movie was shot well, with a clean yet still gritty, sharp feel to it and cuts go well with the action. The makeup and CGI was quite well done, with a few small exceptions, but nothing to really complain about.

This is one that I'll pick up on DVD for the collection, and I did enjoy it. I'd probably give it a 7 or 7.5 out of 10, for a general good time, plus coolness factor, and I was surprised that it was actually over 2 hours, since I didn't check my watch once.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

This isn't really my type of movie, but I want to say that for a first shot at a review... you did a splendid job... :clap: Almost got me wanting to see the movie... :dontknow:


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

Thanks Sonnie, I took a whack at it. This one is a horror movie I could recommend to folks who don't like horror movies... because it really isn't one. It's more of an action movie with a lot of gore and some good scares. To me, a "horror" movie will have me feeling uneasy after I leave the theatre, and when I'm lying in bed later on wondering "what was that noise?" Since I'm pretty sure I haven't heard about a massive virus outbreak, I felt safe walking home that night.

I can understand if you're not into the gore though.


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