Review of 28 Days Later (2002) by Filipeneto — 15 Apr 2020

More interesting than I thought.

When I decided to watch this film, I thought it would be just another zombie B movie. However, I think I was wrong. The plot is much better and more interesting. It all starts when a group of animalMore interesting than I thought.

When I decided to watch this film, I thought it would be just another zombie B movie. However, I think I was wrong. The plot is much better and more interesting.

It all starts when a group of animal activists break into a laboratory to free chimpanzees that are used as guinea pigs. It turns out that at least some were infected with a new virus, which spreads through body fluids and was being studied. Sometime after that, Jim wakes up from a 28-day coma caused by a car accident. To his surprise, he did not see a single person and only when reading some abandoned newspapers did he realize that, while he was hospitalized, the entire population was either evacuated or died. There follows a search for someone still alive, and the struggle to survive.

This film is set against the backdrop of a Zombie pandemic, but the focus is not on those infected or the panic surrounding the disease and its fight. When the movie starts it has already happened, the city is deserted and it looks like the entire human race has been killed. It is quite intense to see this on the screen and a very positive point. I made an effort not to get caught up in details, if we start to think hard the plot reveals flaws in logic. Things get worse in the final half, with the soldiers behaving like mercenaries, in addition to maintaining an "fort" in an unusual way, without any kind of replenishment of ammunition or food ... it's like I say: if we think of ourselves plot details, it falls apart.

The best part of the film is to focus on the characters and allow us to create an emotional bond with them as we get to know them better. This is not very common in these films. Cillian Murphy did a good job, very psychological. We can see the internal conflicts that his character lives, particularly when he is faced with death (that of people who are dear to him, that of people who have to kill to stay alive). He was the most anonymous of the actors in the film, but the effort paid off: it opened doors for more ambitious works like "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "Cold Mountain". Naomi Harris is excellent too, has the presence and inner strength that her character needed. Like Noah Huntley, whom she shades almost completely, she already had a steady TV career. Brendan Gleeson is also a veteran and plays an excellent role here. The worst was the soldiers. It is from there that the film begins to gradually lose itself until reaching a rather weak ending, in the style of Rambo, or something like that. Even so, it is a film that is superior to a lot of American trash that circulates around.

Technically, it is a very interesting film. The direction, ensured by Danny Boyle, bets strongly on discrete special effects that accentuate the dramatic tension and suspense without overlapping the work of the actors or the story. I think Boyle realized that this is, in fact, the role of special and sound effects, very much in contrast to what we see in American films, where the use and abuse of effects and CGI sometimes make you forget what goes on in the film.

Overall, it is a good film, albeit with flaws.