28 Weeks Later Review

As promised, here is the review of the sequel of 28 Days Later: 28 Weeks Later.  Unsurprisingly, it didn't make the cut onto the top 1000 films of all time.  I also watched this film with my dad.

Set 24 weeks after the events of its predecessor, 28 Weeks Later features an entirely new cast and narrative.  Don Harris (Robert Carlyle) is one of the few survivors of the virus outbreak in London.  He becomes the Caretaker of District One (the Isle of Dogs in London,) where he reunites with his children Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton.) When it emerges that Andy has a genetic abnormality, which means he could be immune to the virus, it is imperative that he is taken out of London.

While 28 Days Later was inventive and entertaining, 28 Weeks Later was generic and disappointing.  The narrative is weaker and the characters are more annoying.  However, before I begin criticising the film, let's start with what was good about it.

28 Weeks Later began explosively and far more in line with its predecessor.  We are introduced to a small group of characters including Don and his wife Alice (Catherine McCormack) hiding out in a little cottage.  Not before long, they are overcome by the Infected and all, but Don, die.  This includes Alice whom he abandoned to save himself.  This was a great beginning to the film.  It was chaotic, intense and fast-paced.  Even though, we only spend a few minutes with the characters, we got to know them well and we felt their conflicts.  However, from here, the film devolves into an absolute mess.

Firstly, I think there is a lack of a clear protagonist.  You might think that Don would be the protagonist, as Robert Carlyle has star billing.  However, halfway through the film, he becomes infected and then fades into the shadows.  This is when his children begin to take centre stage.  I understand that the film was supposed to follow Don's journey, especially as one of the Infected.  His wife is discovered alive with the same genetic immunity that she has passed onto her son.  She is brought into the safezone and Don goes to see her.  He kisses her, and in their passing of saliva, she infects him.  He kills her, as the guilt of leaving her behind, manifests itself into a murderous rage.
 From there, he then stalks and tries to kill his children, as they then become the object of his rage.

I get that the film tried to portray him as the next level of "Infected." They wanted to demonstrate him as having a humanity of some type, as he has enough latent memory to remember his children.  They want us to sympathise with him and pity him.  However, I don't think this worked.  We spend too little time with the Infected Don to properly identify with his journey.  We don't see him struggle enough with any humanity that he might left, and thus his conflict doesn't come through clear enough.  This is a shame, as it was a good idea, but wasn't demonstrated well.

Don's children were also quite annoying.  They generate conflict by making stupid mistakes.  They sneaked out of the safe zone to return to their old home, where they find their mum and bring her back.  While her mum is immune to the virus, she is also a carrier, and she then infects Don.  If Tammy and Andy hadn't sneaked out, then this wouldn't have happened.  Also a "safe zone" isn't very safe, if two children can sneak out, virtually undetected.  If they can sneak out, what could sneak in?

Having said this, while Andy and Tammy were annoying at first, I think they gradually become more likeable.  Right at the end of the film, Tammy kills her infected father, which came as a refreshing surprise.  This demonstrated her inner strength and turmoil, and I just wish that this came through earlier.

One reason why 28 Days Later was so good was that it had a very small cast, which we got to know well.  This was forfeited in favour of a large, sprawling cast and too many special effects.  There were a lot of characters, but very few were actually interesting.  I'd argue that Don was the most interesting character, but he was very much squandered.  Instead, there were explosions and gunfire, which became very tedious after a time.  Yes you did get medical officer Scarlett, (Rose Byrne) who is determined to get the children to safety, and soldier Doyle, who deserts his post to help Scarlett, but as my dad rightly identified, they were just stock characters.  We learnt all that we needed to know about them, but not enough to make them three-dimensional.

Finally, we come to the camerawork.  I read IMDB reviews, which argued that the "shakey-cam" footage was overused.  But I'd disagree with this.  Director, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, used a shakey-cam, as he wanted to shoot this film as a documentary; he wanted to make it real as possible.  And I think that it worked.  The camerawork was frenetic and chaotic and did raise the suspense.  It harked back to the excellent camerawork of 28 Days Later.

28 Weeks Later was a disappointing sequel to the brilliance that was 28 Days Later.  Instead of interesting characters, it relied too heavily on explosions and special effects.  Maybe it is worth watching once, but only once.