28 Days Later...
by Bill Braun

Too little, too late...or right on time?

What exactly can be said about this movie? More importantly, what should be said about this movie? I could start by explaining that it's a new release. It's quite obviously a low budget movie without all the hype. The story is pretty straightforward, predictable and without the prerequisite twists and turns. The actors are relatively unknown. The director can lay claim to such features as Trainspotting and The Beach; which were entertaining, but not much more than that. The screenwriter is most certainly influenced by the great George A. Romero. And the theater was practically empty upon my initial viewing. So why then would I waste my time, and yours, discussing what to this point may be considered a real dog of a movie?
   Primarily, because when faced with a summers worth of "blockbusters" this movie can drink them all under the table! And lets be frank, one Jerry Bruckheimer movie is bad enough, but when he starts getting greedy and releases multiple movies in the same summer, things just start to get ugly.
   I loved 28 Days Later and am determined to get the word out so that a great many other people (most of which I will probably never meet in my lifetime) can also come to love it just as much.
   Then again, they may just think it's a piece of shit. One never can tell and we're all entitled to our opinions. And that's exactly what this "review" is all about; my opinion, and mine alone.
   So let's break it down. What exactly is 28 Days Later all about? First and foremost, if you are at all interested in seeing this movie I suggest that you stop reading now, stay away from the multitude of 28 Days Later websites and do what I did; go into the movie blind. Try not to learn anything about this movie. But understand that it could be classified as a horror movie with emotion and feeling. Some who have seen this movie already may not necessarily agree with this rather vague description. But keep in mind that when I first set foot into the smallest of the multiplex screens at my local theater all I had to go on was a poster that had been placed inside the theater's entrance. The poster displayed nothing more than the movies title over a fairly recognizable biohazard symbol.
   For those of you not quite sold on a poster alone, I don't blame you. Especially when the price of seeing a movie continues to rise in slightly more than mediocre increments. To put it bluntly, the price of a movie these days is absolutely ridiculous. End of rant!
   As I mentioned earlier, 28 Days Later does have a slightly predictable and reminiscent feel to it. The director, Danny Boyle, wasn't trying to break ground with a new take on the zombie horror genre. What it does have is faith. Faith in the viewer appreciating the movie for what it is; approximately an hour and a half worth of good entertainment. Well worth the money.
   The premise involves an outbreak of "the rage" (lame, I know) that descends upon the major population of modern day London. This outbreak washes over the land after a group of animal rights extremists attempt the release of a group of primate captives undergoing forced viewings of some of the more violent scenes captured on film and television; in other words, your everyday news casts from around the world. In the process of freeing their Darwinian brothers and sisters the animal rights activists are set upon in a most violent manner, only to become overrun and act as the host for a new beginning of life in mother London. The rage virus spreads via the blood and saliva. It infects and takes over human life in a matter of seconds. The end result being insanity, with a simple desire to feed on the living. This all takes place during the opening minutes of the film. Sound familiar? Kinda sorta? Remember, the writer and director did not set out on this project to reinvent the genre.
   Cut to 28 days later (hence, the title) and meet the main character, Jim, buck ass naked and strapped to a hospital bed. By following Jim during his wanderings the audience comes to understand that he hasn't awoken after 28 days to just an empty hospital. All the streets of London are empty. Cars are abandoned, garbage is strewn about and a strong sense of foreboding begins to emanate from the screen. The complete silence is louder than the loudest rock concert. Then, just when you begin to think that this is the best that Danny Boyle has to offer, all hell breaks lose. Quite literally.
   With the creeping onset of night come the remaining living inhabitants of London. They walk kinda funny. They make goofy hissing noises. They have a hungry look in their red-tinged eyes. And boy, are they pissed.
   After a short jaunt through the streets of London, followed closely behind by a large number of the movies newest stars, Jim is saved (of course, just in the nick of time) by 2 survivors who have had to endure the hardships of the last 28 days. These new characters become the source of information that you as a viewer have been waiting for. In a matter of minutes everything is laid on the line, all is said and done and the future looks bleak.
   Now, it just becomes a game of survival with the odds being stacked incredibly against you. Your outnumbered, running for your lives and just plain old scared shitless. Again, sounds a little familiar, doesn't it?
   As a viewer who has probably read far too many scary stories and spent enough money over the years on horror movies to feed a small army, most, if not all of the progression of 28 Days Later becomes more than a little familiar.
   At one point I realized, during a rather well done dark and foreboding highway tunnel scene, that what I was watching was taken (accidentally or intentionally?) directly from a little well-known story called The Stand. Some of you reading this article may recognize this title from the endless bibliography that is Stephen King. To be more specific, chapter 35, page 315 of Doubleday's complete and uncut version could have easily been transposed onto the screen at about the halfway point towards the movie's inevitable conclusion.