28 Days Later
Cheerio!
For years (and I'm talking about
decades), zombies were slow flesh-eaters that rise from the grave and
whoever they bite, dies and turns into a zombie. For arguments sake,
we'll call them “Romero Zombies”. Yes their were zombie movies
before Romero, but Night Of The Living Dead popularized them more
than any previous movie. There were slight variations in zombies over
the years, such as the unkillable brain-eating zombies from Return Of
The Living Dead, but by and large, they always retained the same
attributes. That all changed with one movie. One single, solitary
movie allowed zombies to be super fast infected human beings. Now,
most zombie movies are about plagues rather than the dead coming back
to life and have sprinting zombies. All because of one movie and I'm
not even mad about it.
28 Days Later is a 2002 British zombie
movie staring Cillian Murphy (Red Eye, The Dark Knight) as Jim. At an
animal testing lab in Britain, animal liberation activists release
chimps that are being experimented on. The chimps are infected with a
highly contagious virus called “Rage” and as soon as they are
released, they attack people, causing the virus to spread among
humans. 28 days later (get it?) Jim, a bicycle courier, awakens
inside an empty hospital. He was hit by a car and has been in a coma
for almost a full month. He manages to stumble through the hospital
out into the equally empty streets of London. He wanders into a
church which alerts a small group of zombies. They are extremely fast
and chase a confused and terrified Jim through the streets. He is
saved by two survivors, Selena (Naomie Harris, Skyfall, Pirates Of
The Carribean) and Mark (Noah Huntley, Holby City, Snow White &
The Huntsman) who hurl Molotov cocktails at the zombies. They retreat
to a Metro station where they tell Jim about the virus and how it
quickly spread throughout the country. The virus, they say, has even
reached Paris and New York City. Wanting to be with his family, Jim
and the group travel to his home where they find his parents have
committed suicide. That night, two zombies attack the house and Mark
is cut badly in the melee. Selena swiftly and brutally kills him,
explaining that the virus spreads too quickly to say any goodbyes. As
they enter a city, they meet two more survivors, Frank (Brendan
Gleeson, Braveheart, In Bruges) and his daughter Hannah (Megan Burns)
who have been living in a flat for some time. With supplies running
low, the group decide to head to Manchester where a pre-recorded
message from a military blockade promising safety and a cure for the
infection .has been playing. Along the way, Frank is accidentally
infected, but before he attacks, he is killed by a group of soldiers.
Jim, Selena, and Hannah join the soldiers at their headquarters. Not
is all that is appears though. Is the group safer with the soldiers
or with the zombies?
"Crud! Crud! Crud!"
As I've said in other zombie movies
review, I much prefer slow zombies. While in the present, a slow
zombie is relatively easy to beat. It's when things progress and
there are hordes of zombies do things get more difficult. I find
those movies to be far more scary because it's a slow, crushing loss
of hope from beginning to end. You will eventually run out of weapons
and food and no one coming to help you. 28 Days Later forgoes the
slow hopelessness for a fast, vicious terror uncommon in horror
movies. Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Million are)
employed ex-athletes as his zombies, using their nature athletic
abilities to make the zombies more believable. I don't usually like
shaky, erratic camerawork, but during the initial chase scenes
through London, they actually work perfectly with the overall fear
and tension. The zombies themselves look good though the movie never
really focuses on one for too long. They reflect the infected portion
of the story rather than rotting corpses. I'm glad the movie took a
few minutes to explain why people were zombies as many modern zombie
movies just say “Eh, fuck it. There's zombies around just because”.
I will say that one disappointment was the lack of destroying the
brain. It seems you can kill these zombies like you would a person. I
suppose the fact that they are infected with a various rather than
undead, a rule change is acceptable, but I still like a good head
shot.
Like all good zombie movies, 28 Days
Later has solid and clear political commentary throughout. We have
man vs. nature, a classic horror and science fiction theme. We have
man vs. man, another classic. We also have citizen vs. government,
which has become more common in horror over the last few decades. The
movie even includes the Romero staple of having one white lead and
one black lead. Both Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris play their
parts very well and Brendan Gleeson is enjoyable in just about
everything he does. Danny Boyle manages to capture the action
perfectly while also giving time for emotion and feeling. All too
often, horror movies focus on the guts and gore and forget to make
the audience care about the characters. Each character is different
and has their flaws, but above all else, they are believable and
likable. The music is also good, including an edited version of
Godspeed You! Black Emperor's song “East Hastings” which is quite
effective.
"Who's ready for a zom-beatdown?!"
28 Days Later is a highly enjoyable
zombie movie that managed to completely change how zombie movies are
done. One could make the argument that this movie sparked the current
zombie craze that we are going through. We're at the point where
zombies are on TV and in romantic comedies. That never would have
happened without 28 Days Later. The action is fast-paced and
harrowing with plenty of blood and gore. The acting is very good and
the directing is solid. The movie touches on plenty of social
commentary without ever feeling preachy. While I still prefer my
zombies undead and slow, I've come to accept them as super-fast
plague carriers. That says a lot for a movie to be able to change the
way you perceive something your enjoy.
9.5/10
