28 Days Later (2002)

This film was a little confused for me to watch and came across as a similar film as the one we watched yesterday. I do want to stress that I did find this movie more interesting than War of the Worlds but it was a very straight edged film for a majority of the film. I knew this was going to be a zombie apocalypse style film and was interested to see how the film would come across with the infection already existing. I feel like so much of zombie movies surround the break out and the chaos that comes with it so I was quite interested to see a film where the disease already exists. In that realm it reminded me a lot of how The Walking Dead started but I also found there wasn't a lot of connection that followed after.

Firstly I wasn't the biggest fan of how they opened with an explanation. If you're going to make a film that takes place 28 days after the initial outbreak I would at least like to find out about the world at the same time as the main character. So by having the first five minutes being an explanation for how it started I don't really care about. After that however I think they do a good job focusing on how isolated and eerie everything is by showing so many empty streets. It also makes it so much creepier and unusual knowing it's London, the capital of busy streets, and yet there is no one around. One thing I will say is that if this scenario really was to happen there would be way more mess! London is such an overcrowded bustling town that if anything horrific really was to happen there would be so much more bodies and cars and trash and broken windows and fire everywhere! I understand why they made it so they never saw an infection until a little later but I find it hard to believe they would be able to leave the hospital without coming across something. I had the opposite thought however later in the film when they came across a supermarket fully stoked with no infected as if they had been left perfectly alone. In a true end of the world situation stores are the first place people would loot but especially a supermarket where you would find food and water and necessities to survive. So there would be very little resources to find which is what I struggled with and even if on the one in a billion chances they did find a place that had everything untouched I would be taking fucking everything!

I truly do not understand how they walked out of there with just a trolley each. They were taking things off the shelves as if they were truly doing your standard shop by just taking handfuls here and there. And then later they mentioned how they don't need to look for meat because they had enough food, enough food for how long! This is a life or death end of the world situation you take all good you can for years to come. You have food now of course but in a few months? Years? It's going to go there is no such thing as enough food! I would be taking quite literally everything including cook-ables! Why Selena told Jim not to touch the things they would need to cook I don't know, the closest assumption I can make is that they were concerned the meat would be off so they don't need to get that to cook but any other jar or canned meal I would get. And you can't even say it's because they don't want to make a fire to attract the infected because not only could they use it during daylight but they light a fire moments later anyway to stay warm as they sleep so what's the difference! Or better yet just stay and do your best to fortify the supermarket, do you understand how rare it is to find a place so untouched and with power! Plus all the food is already there so no moving everything around. Still they moved along.

I also don't really understand the zombies in this. I mean they're rageful undead creatures so on that account they are zombies through and through what more needs to be said. However there were moments they hinted at wider knowledge that was then never revealed. Like that it is better to move around outside during the day but why? What in them makes them so annoyed by the day that they only appear at night? Or when the Soldiers mentioned they could make a cure which is why they had the infected chained outside but then nothing more was spoke on the cure so I don't know if that was an actual fact that they're working on a cure or just an ambitious hope for the future. I was intrigued by the aspect of the zombies being fueled by hate and anger over a desire for brains and blood. That was a somewhat unique aspect I enjoyed more than the classic element but I also wish we saw it become more developed. One moment I thought of this was when Frank was infected and turned. Firstly I loved that he was infected by a drop of blood in the eye I thought that was so cool and unusual and I love original deaths. So I loved that but I then wanted to see first hand as he got angrier slowly over time which I suppose we saw when he yelled at his daughter to get away but that was it. After that he changed so quickly it surprised me, I thought it would take at least a few hours. But I wanted to see him flip like saying he loved his daughter to pushing her away to saying he hated her to being killed but that progression was never really highlighted.

Similarly, why was Frank so easily able to be killed by gunshots to the chest when earlier the infected were set on fire and continued to run fine? I am choosing to assume it is because he was so newly turnt that he never fully transformed and was easily killed but I'm still unsure. Now moving onto the worst part of the entire fucking film, the Manchester base. God I am so glad all of them fuckers died! It is a real fear of what a post apocalyptic world would be like for women specifically but it is a sentiment I don't often see in movies because of how dark of a reality it is. So when they began to address this issue here I was interest in a way, I'm not sure the best word to use. I hated it, of course, with a passion and the second it happened my heart sank but because it is an element not usually addressed I was glad in a way they mentioned it. That does not change how awful it was to watch or how pissed I was when the Major in charge basically pulled Jim aside and tried to get him to allow it. What do you mean you stopped a soldier committing suicide by promising to 'bring him women'. That was so barbaric and the nerve to then pull Jim aside and ask him to just let it happen to ensure his safety! I am so glad he fought against them and immediately tried to drag the girls away. In truth up until this moment I never really connected with any of the characters so if they died or not I was never invested but the second the mission became saving the girls over surviving the infected I was locked the fuck in. And I was even more grateful that when he came back he was yelling for Hannah as well as Selena. I think in movies like this it is so easy for them to forget characters a little and focus on the love interest which is why I thought his focus would just be on Selena but knowing he was actively looking for them both I was so glad. I mean bare minimum yes but I'm still so thankful they never left her out and escaped all three of them.

Actually I am sorry to say I was kind of hoping Jim would get killed. As you know I am a sucker for dark twists and I thought it would have been so narratively interesting if they made Selena kill Jim because the way he killed the soldier made him resemble an infected so closely. I mean get you someone who fights for you as gruesomely as a zombie would but also I just think it would have been so good! And then in comes Hannah as the bad bitch she now is and smashes a vase over his head. The use of the pills come in at such an interesting point to make Hannah forget whatever happened to them and be more carefree while Selena stayed sober just in case. And while Hannah was under these drugs she became such an icon! That isn't me saying she should always be on the drug I think it was just a way for her to break out a little after the death of her dad and it was done in such a cool way. Hiding behind a mirror was so clever so the infected would only see themselves. Though that does raise a question on their self awareness. And then driving the car with the Major in it to ensure he is dead and taken care of before coming back and driving off with the others was so good! Legend behaviour.

I do wish they had ended the film on the cliff hanger on whether or not they survived driving into the gates because I think leaving it open ended would have been more interesting narratively when considering the films that follow this world. I suppose in theory when they made it there was no guarantee they would have another so it makes sense why they gave it a more hopeful ending. But I think I would have liked it better if they just showed this one story of one group of people that took place 28 days after the outbreak and left it open ended before having the next film be 28 Weeks Later with what I hope is a completely new set of people. I also hope the film 28 Years Later is just as different a set of people. All three films to me should be three completely different people in completely different places at three completely different times with maybe minor overlapping like same locations at different times or known characters in the background as zombies. I specifically want to emphasise the different places because in the film themselves they raise the question on whether the infection has spread everywhere or just in Britain and they're being quarantined. I think it would be more interesting to see everyone else normal while England is in quarantine but regardless it would be a fun aspect to consider and I am a sucker for vaguely overlapping narratives.

In summary this film was very bitter sweet. I loved the idea of what it could have been and admire what they were trying to create but in reality what we saw was rather monotone. What I mean by that is while there were moments of action and moments of peace, for most of the movie it regulated for me in a flat line. It did not make me feel anything particularly and was truly quite basic. But then the last thirty minutes really flipped the movie for me which makes it difficult to judge. However in the end I do not think it is fair for me to judge a movie on how great the last thirty minutes were or how much I enjoyed a single scene because in reality no one is watching a full film for one minor moment. The film must in turn be rated as a whole which is the reason why I rated it as I did but perhaps if the other films are as ambiguous as I hope then it will change my overall opinion on this series. For now though the score is staying as is.