28 Weeks Later
As a sequel with a new director and cast, 28 Weeks Later had the potential to just be a franchise for franchise’s sake, like Halloween 3, or any direct-to-landfill profit release, like Bring It On Again. Thankfully, director/co-writer Juan Carlos Fresnadilla took the psychological zing of 28 Days Later and turned it into an honest to goodness, bat#%$-insane, pounding thrill ride. 28 Weeks Later has tension to spare, and doesn’t just blast you with more of the same (though there is definitely more).
Most of my notes, when my notebook wasn’t clenched in my hands in front of my mouth, covering a rictus of gleeful terror, were reactionary profanities of delight. I couldn’t tear my eyes away long enough to write down character names or any brilliant insight – the whole experience is visceral, throbbing intensity. It’s not exhausting, unrelenting torture porn, thankfully, and the gore, while prevalent, actually builds mood rather than kneejerk scares or gross out responses.
John Murphy returns to do the music for this one, echoing the first film’s feel with a filmic driving rock tempo that increases with volume and anxiety, making your adrenal glands drop their load and fly out of your pores for safety. If you liked the abandoned shell that was London in 28 Days Later, you’ll love the huge empty pans of an abandoned wasteland, patrolled only by UN peacekeepers, rats and dogs. The entire bleak, terrorized mood of the film is pervasive and impressive.
A complaint I had about Spider-Man 3 was that the camera got too close to the action and obscured what was happening, disengaging me. 28 Weeks Later’s director of photography Enrique Chediak stays very close as well, but the effect adds to the mind-rending vibe rather than alienating the audience. Possibly, I’ll have to do some research on this, there is a difference between the petty fisticuffs of flyboys in tights and having your rage-infected loved ones trying to floss with your carotid artery. I’m not sure, I’ll have to go see it again. And I surely will.
Besides exhilarating, terrifying action, what 28 Weeks Later achieves best is a mood of terror, vigilant fear, and high-alert tummy flutters. If you see a phalanx of infected (they aren’t zombies, yadda yadda) hauling bananas toward you it’s almost a relief because of the expertly ratcheted anxiety you’re experiencing the rest of the time. A scene with a night-scope has that feel of the climax of the Blair Witch Project – you’re so completely bought in that death would be welcomed as a break from the tension. It’s just what you want it to be. Go see it.
MPAA Rating R-strong violence, gore, language, sexuality, nudity (I don’t remember any nudity or sexuality!)
Release date 5/11/07
Time in minutes 91
Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Studio Fox Atomic
