Review by Dan Taylor
First
things first. Danny Boyle's 28 DAYS LATER
is not a zombie flick. Despite what you
might've read in mainstream reviews falling
over themselves to praise the stylish horror-thriller,
it's actually a "contagion" flick
in the vein of George Romero's THE CRAZIES
or David Cronenberg's RABID. The dead aren't
rising, the living have just been driven
into a blood rage.
Second, this is not some great
"reinterpretation" of the zombie
flick. Why? Well, we've already established
that it's not a zombie flick. Plus, what
it is more than anything is a tribute to
Romero's groundbreaking, trendsetting trilogy
of flicks that took us through the NIGHT
OF THE LIVING DEAD, DAWN OF THE DEAD and
DAY OF THE DEAD.
That said, 28 DAYS LATER might
just be the bleeding edge of a living dead
renaissance.
Jim (Cillian Murphy) has been
in a coma since cracking his noggin' during
an accident involving a car and his bicycle.
Waking in the hospital several weeks after
his accident, he discovers that the hospital,
surrounding buildings and streets are eerily
empty. When he stumbles upon a church full
of "the infected," ol' Jimbo knows
well enough to hightail it out of there.
Soon he meets other survivors
like Mark (Noah Huntley) and Selena (Naomie
Harris), who teach him the ways of survival
in this new and scary world he's been reborn
into. An encounter with a father and daughter
team of survivors (winningly portrayed by
Brendan Gleeson and Megan Burns) results
in an attempt to reach a military outpost
where salvation from the plague might be
found.
To say much more about 28
DAYS LATER would be to spoil the twists
and turns as the rag tag bunch makes its
way to what they think is the answer to
their problems. Along the way, they discover
that while the infected might be scary,
your fellow man is often capable of far
scarier things.
Shot in a grainy, digital
video format that gives it the look of a
documentary, 28 DAYS benefits from a strong
cast and an unintentional bond with current
events like the outbreak of SARS and daily
stories of terrorism, warfare and mistrust
of the government.
And while it – like many
flicks these days – could've used another
run past the editor's booth, the flick largely
succeeds as both horror and thriller. Gore
fans will get just enough of the red stuff
not to be disappointed and non-splatter
freaks will appreciate the filmmakers' restraint
at times.
