...28 Days Later

[Zhukov]

What happens when you wake up from a coma in a London area hospital and the whole town has succumbed to a ridiculously conceived disease?

Well that exact question is posed to an english bike courier who regains conciousness in an abandoned hospital.

The intial scenes where our hero walks about London are interesting except for the fact that considering the nature of the disease (which you get more information on later) that has infected everyone there should be bodies everywhere. There are not. There aren't even cars in the middle of the streets (ok, there's one), or damaged public property.

The more absurd elements aside this is a somewhat interesting and unique movie. First, it's in England, which in and of itself is somewhat unique. Second, the nature of the disease itself does not create brain craving zombies. It creates instead bloodied eyed, blood barfing, homicidal lunatics, with a modicum of intelligence.

There isn't anyone in it that you ever heard of (except Frank looked familiar), but they all do a fair job portraying their relatively flat characters.

The action/noise is sporadic and sometimes unexpected. Sometimes even startling. In general the f/x are good.

Sometimes the gore is subdued, but in a few instances it is needlessly violent (3 words: super eye gouge).

Oh yeah, there is a fair amount of gratuitous male nudity at the begining for the women. Unfortunately, no similar eye candy for the men (excluding one moribund nude woman, yummy).

It's an alright movie, worth renting if you like the horror/suspense genre.

 

[Dan]

Good review! I'm gonna throw in my 2 cents, if you don't mind. To anyone who hasn't seen this movie, there are many spoilers in this post! Don't read any further if you still plan on seeing the movie.

The intial scenes where our hero walks about London are interesting except for the fact that considering the nature of the disease (which you get more information on later) that has infected everyone there should be bodies everywhere. There are not. There aren't even cars in the middle of the streets (ok, there's one), or damaged public property.

Well, yeah. I have no logical excuse for this. I don't think this was a complaint from you, so don't take this as an attack. But, I think this, along with a few other elements (the message on the wall in the church: would anyone really take all that extra time to write that "f*cking" in there?) need to be taken as purely stylistic. Would they ever happen? Nah, but c'mon, it's a zombie movie for crying out loud! Just sit back and let it get in under your skin.

Second, the nature of the disease itself does not create brain craving zombies. It creates instead bloodied eyed, blood barfing, homicidal lunatics, with a modicum of intelligence.

You know, most people don't give this movie credit for completely revitalizing a genre that was long thought of as dead (no pun intended). With the simple decision of making the zombies FAST, this movie completely redefined an age-old cliche. I think I like the fast zombies better, they're scarier to me, that's what I'd expect people to be like if they rose from the dead.

Sometimes the gore is subdued, but in a few instances it is needlessly violent (3 words: super eye gouge).

This is the only place I disagree with you. The entire sequence right before this (him picking off the guards one by one) was leading up to a moment like this. Once that really tense song started (awesome song, by the way), you knew it had to end like that. The whole point of that scene was that Jim was acting exactly like the infected, and it was important for the audience to be just as horrified as the black girl (can't rememeber her name) was. It's kind of an old trick in zombie movies, but it works really well, in my opinion. Also, this is one of the only scenes in a movie that I still look away from, even after seeing it four or five times. It's just too real for me.

Oh yeah, there is a fair amount of gratuitous male nudity at the begining for the women. Unfortunately, no similar eye candy for the men (excluding one moribund nude woman, yummy).

Yeah, I think Cillian Murphy's weiner should've gotten a credit in this one. My roommate still refers to it as "that movie with the naked dude in it".

Overall, I liked it a whole lot. I own it and still watch it for a variety of reasons (as an aspiring filmmaker, I'm interested in seeing how good a movie shot on a consumer-grade digital video camera can look). For me, the selling point was when Jim went into the diner and ended up having to kill the little kid. After that, I was genuinely on-edge for the rest of the movie, because that showed me that pretty much anything could happen at any moment, nothing was off-limits.

My only complaint is that the ending is a little too optimistic. It doesn't fit the tone of the rest of the film at all, and I probably would've preferred the alternate ending where Jim dies from his gunshot wound. Maybe that's just me, though.

 

[Zhukov]

Originally posted by Dan


This is the only place I disagree with you. The entire sequence right before this (him picking off the guards one by one) was leading up to a moment like this. Once that really tense song started (awesome song, by the way), you knew it had to end like that. The whole point of that scene was that Jim was acting exactly like the infected, and it was important for the audience to be just as horrified as the black girl (can't rememeber her name) was. It's kind of an old trick in zombie movies, but it works really well, in my opinion. Also, this is one of the only scenes in a movie that I still look away from, even after seeing it four or five times. It's just too real for me.

Yeah, I dunno, two knuckles deep into both eyes....I dunno. I can watch the whole thing, it really only bothers me in a sort of hypothetical way, but.....two knuckles deep into both eyes....and he's just shovin' 'em in there....I dunno. Didn't seem unnecessary with respect to the movie, just seemed unnecessary on his part as a person.

I see your point with him behaving like one of them that whole last sequence, and I noticed, but...


That whole happy ending....yeah, I hate happy endings. Except I almost wished 9 Rooms (was that the one with Amanda Peet and Cusack) had a happy ending.

 

[Mummig]

I thought it was a lame movie and I was so excited to watch it because I had heard great things. Funny thing is I HAD to see how it ended...I agree there should always be a happy ending.
Lame