28 Weeks Later
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Genre: Horror/thriller
Starring: Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau, Catherine McCormack, Imogen Poots, Idris Elba, & Mackintosh Muggleton.
Plot: London became infected once again when a survivor was brought in the safety zone only to realise she was the carrier of the virus.
- 15 Days Later: Mainland Britain is quarantined.
- 28 Days Later: Mainland Britain has been destroyed by the rage virus.
- 5 Weeks Later: The infected have died of starvation.
- 11 Weeks Later: An American-Led NATO force enters London.
- 18 Weeks Later: Mainland Britain is declared free of infection.
- 24 Weeks Later: Reconstruction begins.
- 28 Weeks Later!!!
I really enjoy this one but loathe the kids who are the cause of all the chaos in the safety zone set-up by the Yanks, who are there to ‘help’ UK govt to clean the shit.
The interesting part was probably the on-site filming of London where viewers can witness the scene of the chaos with the splendour of London’s famous landmarks as the backdrop of the movie.
The story started after 28 weeks, London was at peace again and US Army helps to secure a small area of London into a safety zone for the survivors so that they could get back to their routine life and repopulate all over again.
Within the community of survivors were newly arrived Don being reunited with his two rebellious kids; Tammy and Andy.
The US-led safety zone restricts occupants beyond the perimeters. Despite the tight security, Tammy and Andy successfully sneaked out of the security and venture around London before ending up in their old family home.
That was where they found their mother (Alice), who was supposedly dead.
Zombie attacking farmhouse at the start
Unbeknownst to them, their mother was actually bitten by the zombies but miraculously survived on becoming one of them because of her unique gene structure. Therefore, instead of being a zombie she became a carrier.
Elite squad was soon dispatched to find the children and securely bring them back to the heavily guarded safety zone, with their mom this time. Alice was quarantined, and Don came to visit her. A kiss ensured between them, and all hell break loose. Don turned into a zombie and ran beserk infecting scores of people and killing many.
Don’s farmhouse escapade
Situation turned to code red when superiors of the US army orders everyone to be shot. Seeing situations became far more worse, 2 US army personnels, Dr.Scarlet and Doyle deserted their post and went along with the other survivors to seek refuge on their own. Doyle deserted his post so simply because the code red ordered him to shoot anyone – infected or not infected. Judged by sheer hesitation, he joined Dr.Scarlet and the children. They eventually went on their own wondering the streets to find refuge confronting not only zombies but their own snipers.
US Army cum Zombie shot dead
Doyle made contact with his copter pilot friend, only to be informed of a bad news – the area is going to be firebombed. Doyle then arranged with Flynn for a rendezvous point to evacuate them out. Escaping the firebombed city, their trail leads them to a playground where Flynn supposed to meet them. He eventually did but they were caught by surprise with marauding zombies who tried to foil their attempt to escape. Before they even have time to get in the copter the zombies are hot on their trails again, leaving Flynn no choice but to find another safe landing spot. So they have decided to meet in Wembley Stadium. Here you can see how Flynn armed with the blades of his copter mashing up the bodies of the attacking zombies before making a getaway.
Scarlet & Doyle + Kids, hiking towards the rendezvous point.
The journey to Wembley is hellish as ever as they were confronted once again by masked flame throwers who refuse to identify them as one of their own. Fleeding in a car after that, Doyle died sacrificing himself for assisting the car to fled the scene. Their ordeal doesn’t end there as they were persued by an Apache attack copter. They ended up in the London Underground subway where Dr.Scarlet was eventually killed by Don who made a ‘special’ appearance in the subway.
Scarlet’s yell.
Andy was bitten but being rescued by luck from his sister. Possibly sharing the same gene traits like his mother, Andy showed only signs of bloodshot sclera in his eye. Tammy was the forced to kill her own dad and eventually made a safe passage to Wembley stadium where Flynn was awaiting. Although hesitant, Flynn evacuate the kids across the English Channel to France.
Flynn – courageous and hesitant
28 Days Later…in France, we see Flynn’s crashed helicopter in a field, but no bodies are shown. The film ends with the infected running towards the Eiffel Tower, the containment failing and the virus still spreading.
That leads to the audience to make speculation, how the hell the infection begin in France?
Here are my theories;
- Possible infection happens during the flight – maybe Andy sneezed and the viruses was inhaled.
- Or traces of Andy’s wound somehow get into Tammy or Flynn.
- Or some zombies manage to get hold of the copter and became a stowaway to France.
It’s entertaining, but it will also give you a headache with all the camera angles, the Balir Witch like shots and some unanswered loopholes. A worthy 3.5 stars will do justice on this movie.