28 Weeks Later

Ghostboy · May 12, 2007, 02:16:01 PM

This was pretty good. The opening was fantastic, and the best sequences were when the second outbreak first occurs -- they really capture well the chain-reaction effect of both the virus and the military reaction to it. The chaos is pretty terrifying. This also has some of the best (and darkest) night photography I've seen in a long time - and conversely, there's also a sequence that makes pretty great use of nightvision goggles (although not so much as The Descent).

bonanzataz · May 13, 2007, 01:07:35 PM

i had a hard time completely giving myself up to this film. while there was clearly somebody who gave a lot of thought to making a good movie, i had some problems with it. namely...

SOME SPOILERS THROUGHOUT

at the beginning of the movie, there's that brilliant opening scene which gave me chills. this scene sets up that, yes, this is a film about zombies, but it's not your typical zombie movie. we're not in this one to see a bunch of zombies' heads explode, b/c in this movie, there's emotional resonance, we don't want to see gore, we want to see how people deal with the situation internally. ok, i'm digging it. i'm a big fan of zombie movies and this is a different spin on that. even though one of my favorite things about zombie movies is how ridiculous and over the top they are, i really liked how they played with the idea in the first film and in the opening of this one.

then they go on to introduce the kids, and i wasn't really feeling them, for the most part. i really hate movies with cute little kids that you don't
want to see die just b/c they're kids. to this movie's credit, that was mostly avoided, but still, having little kids be your main characters in a zombie flick... whatever, i was still following it. however, when the kids snuck out of the containment area and nobody did anything to stop it, that's when i started getting annoyed. they're gonna risk their lives and risk infection to get some clothes and a picture of their mother? that's lazy screenwriting. i understand we needed to get the virus back into the containment area, but why couldn't they have thought of something better? i'd have to say my major beef with the first act was that there was just too much damn exposition of plot and not character. i didn't really feel the emotions that i felt in that first scene. the characters felt more like tools to get the ball rolling rather than real people, as opposed to the first film.

so then the zombies attack again and i started to have hope for the rest of the movie. i thought that the military reaction to the situation was fantastic. it was a very well executed scene and had obvious parallels to iraq that were not intrusive to the film, as many overt political connotations in a fictional film can be. so, we had that, but then they all tried to escape and i was just really confused as to where they were going. i didn't like that sniper dude or the doctor chick, or the fact that they have to save the kids b/c they're immune to the virus (and cuz they're cute little kids... who'd wanna see them get hurt?), blah blah blah. aside from some brilliant nighttime photography and a couple of pretty well done action scenes (the dawn of the dead inspired helicopter scene was pretty cool. had they followed through and made the rest of the film like the opening scene, i might have complained and called it a cheap shock tactic, but by this point, i wasn't really feeling any emotional connection to any of the characters and i needed some decent gore).

so, the movie ended, and overall i got some cool stuff, but, the problem for me was that the opening scene set up a totally different movie. it threw me off. i just wish this movie had a clearer idea of what it wanted to be, a character driven movie about zombies or a shoot-em-up zombie horror. as it was, i got a toss-up of some uneven scenes, many of which were really good and showed a lot of promise, others that just came out of nowhere. funny thing is, it's the brilliant stuff that pissed me off. i only got little tastes of it. what i got was a decent flick when i should have gotten an amazing one.

bonanzataz · May 13, 2007, 04:29:01 PM

Quote from: Garam on May 13, 2007, 02:43:57 PM
Quote from: bonanzataz on May 13, 2007, 01:07:35 PM
however, when the kids snuck out of the containment area and nobody did anything to stop it, that's when i started getting annoyed. they're gonna risk their lives and risk infection to get some clothes and a picture of their mother? that's lazy screenwriting.

Just because you wouldn't take the risk, doesn't mean there aren't people who would. To some, the urge to run free around a deserted capital city would just be too great. And as far as I can tell, nobody did anything to stop it, because nobody noticed they had gone until Robert Carlyle's character checked their bedroom.

no. they made a point to show that the american sniper saw them escape and alerted everybody around him. anyway, this was a minor nitpick. i gave the movie the benefit of the doubt while watching it. it's a common complaint from my friends. they say when i'm watching a movie, i enjoy it, then in hindsight i find all these things to dislike about it. so, in the movie's defense, i, for the most part, enjoyed it while watching it, but even when watching it, i found all these things to not like. you picked out a very unimportant reason as to why i didn't like it.

but, now that you bring it up, when i was a little kid, EVERYTHING scared me. now, i know not every little kid is as big a pussy as i was/am, but still... zombies are fucking scary, i'm not sure many 11 year olds would want to take on a pack of fucking zombies. i wasn't given any information through the script that would let me know that these kids are badasses. plus, they're british.

The Red Vine · May 13, 2007, 09:41:39 PM

This movie really didn't work for me. I thought the original was decent but far from great. Unfortunately many of the ideas explored in this sequel were already explored in the first movie. It's a movie where you ask "What's the point?". More blood. More zombies. But never gets particularly interesting.

Even the title is gimmicky.

modage · May 13, 2007, 10:01:18 PM

why'd you go, then? you didn't like the original, you didn't like the title, you were aware of the zombies. whats the point?

Gold Trumpet · May 13, 2007, 10:28:45 PM

Quote from: modage on May 13, 2007, 10:01:18 PM
why'd you go, then? you didn't like the original, you didn't like the title, you were aware of the zombies. whats the point?

He thought the original was decent, jesus.

cron · June 03, 2007, 11:07:15 AM

i loved this movie as much as i loved the first one. i agree with taz that there's a really abrupt change of tone after the kids go to their house and a bunch of consequent silly stuff but whatever. it's such a relief to watch a horror movie without a torture scene and sex obsessed persons in this day and age. i like the fact that there's really no reason to overblow and fuck this franchise. why can't there be more franchises like this? it's daring, it explores fear in very realistic fashion and rage and innocence and it's beautiful to look at. did you guys know that danny boyle directed some of the second unit? a dude said that this movie is like photo journalism of the next urban catastrophe. that's a brilliant description.

abuck1220 · June 03, 2007, 12:19:38 PM

Quote from: Garam on May 13, 2007, 02:43:57 PM
Quote from: bonanzataz on May 13, 2007, 01:07:35 PM
however, when the kids snuck out of the containment area and nobody did anything to stop it, that's when i started getting annoyed. they're gonna risk their lives and risk infection to get some clothes and a picture of their mother? that's lazy screenwriting.

Just because you wouldn't take the risk, doesn't mean there aren't people who would. To some, the urge to run free around a deserted capital city would just be too great. And as far as I can tell, nobody did anything to stop it, because nobody noticed they had gone until Robert Carlyle's character checked their bedroom.

that wasn't even the most ridiculous decision made in this movie.

the entire city was overrun with flesh eating zombies six months ago? i think it's safe to start bringing people back in. after all, all the monsters have surely starved to death by now. oh, p.s., don't walk across the bridge that's not blocked off at all and is guarded by like two guys...it's kinda dangerous over there. now that's lazy writing.

not to mention the french kissing of a zombie.

The Sheriff · June 05, 2007, 12:17:19 AM

the music was good

Alexandro · June 06, 2007, 10:06:35 PM

well i just returned from watching this flick and i had a pretty good time with it. granted, you really have to suspend your disbelief. lots of stupid, illogical things happen in the name of action and excitement, too many crazy coincidences take place, but it stays interesting the whole time and the audience was totally into it, completely silent during the entire running time, screaming at the right moment, etc.. despite it's shortcomings, there was a lot of care going in to the making of this movie and it shows. i had more fun with this one than with the original.

MacGuffin · October 11, 2007, 04:50:21 PM

If the first film was Alien, then this one would be Aliens; not just meaning the addition of the military aspect, but a worthy sequel. I got caught up in it right from the opening (despite the Paul Greengrass school of photography), and I stayed tense throughout. Where Days explored a 'family' and their sacrifices, Weeks delves deeper into that theme.

Pwaybloe · October 12, 2007, 03:48:53 PM

SPOILERS

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Like everyone else said, there were some pretty ridiculous parts (helicopter blades chopping up zombies, Robert Carlyle being everywhere at once, escaping from deadly gas (lots of eye-rolling during that sequence)).

I wish they could have focused more on the story between Robert Carlyle and his wife, post zombie attack. Just that tension between the two of them would have made a great movie itself. I think that would have successfully severed the ties between this movie and the original to make it stand alone. Minor gripe, though.