Tuesday, August 12, 2008

28 Weeks Later Review



The first film had a sense of depth and desperation, 28 Days Later is a superior zombie film compared to this film. I’m sorry, 28 Weeks Later is a huge let down.

The story revolves around a couple of kids, but first we are punched in the face by what appears to be the last remaining survivors (you have to make these assumptions, given the last films closing point) and all hell breaks loose. From this point forward the last film is only referenced on a global scale, not necessarily through the story line, so this movie stands alone as its own piece of film. The setting becomes the story, given that the last of the zombies seem to have been dead, and the virus contained, at least in the city scape. But there is an immune woman, (the mother) and well…things just get way out of hand as the government can’t seem to hold everything together.

This film reminded me a lot of Resident Evil. However, the game, not necessarily the movie series, and that’s just one of the many flaws that I found while watching this film; giving me a very disappointed film experience.

The camera moves like it is tied to a cat that has gotten scared. It is fast moving, and completely rough cut, hard edits, like a bad music video gone awry. The camera moves hard and fast and initially you get a major sense of desperation, and feel as though you are a part of the movie. This is a great thing if you’re in a large dark room with surround sound and clothed in darkness, but if you’re like me, and live in an apartment with a crappy television, you’re not going to get this great sense of desperation and fear. You’ll start getting dizzy, as the camera seriously lacks a steady pace during any action. The camera also seems to switch from frantic and frenetic spaces to cityscapes for transitional shots, which is one of my critiques for the Dark Knight film that everyone was raving about. There’s no need for these cityscapes if the confines of the film happen in a small piece of it, at least that’s what I think.



The gore level is huge. Initially it was just standard survival horror gore, but towards the end all hell breaks loose and you have no choice but to see buckets and buckets of blood. There is even a scene that reminded me of an old Chuck Norris film, with a helicopter and zombies getting torn to shreds by a military helicopter. It’s ridiculous, and you must think that the directors and writers just gave up on the project and said “screw it”, allowing their well thought out plot points to unravel into a non sense barrage of stupidity that can only be measured by numb skulls.

This movie had so much promise, and even the trailer looked decent:



The problem that I find with this film is not so much that it seems like a lazy attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the first film, but the fact that all the things that I loved about the first film seems somehow lacking in this one. This entry into the story just feels like another remake of sorts, rather than a continuation of the initial story. I don’t like how the continuity feels very slim, and overall, lacks inspiration. This movie is NOT as good as 28 Days Later by any stretch of the imagination. 28 Weeks Later is nothing that you need to see, even though it was somewhat enjoyable at times.



If by some chance you can wait about 40 minutes for the initial set up to get going, you might find that the gore filled scenes of zombie flesh eating, and chase scenes that were ill inspired by Dawn of the Dead, or even House of the Dead, you might enjoy this movie as a stand alone zombie film, rather than the sequel to the wildly popular 28 Days Later. Don’t confuse the two, it’s easy to get them confused as the marketing closely resembles each other. 28 Weeks Later is available via dvd through amazon, or get 28 Weeks Later on Blu-Ray HD Dvd via amazon as well. I don’t recommend it, but I’m just one idiot, with an opinion, so you decide.

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4 comments:

  1. testing 1...2...3....

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  2. An amateur film reviewer commented that the film was an allegory about how parents, always and invariably, let their children down. Seen from that light, I guess this film can seem kinda scary. I'd agree that it's a huge let down from the previous film though.

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  3. I could not agree more with you sir. THIS MOVIE SUCKED.

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  4. very good movie, like too see u direct

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