Fred�s No
Clue Movie Review
"28
Days Later"
Directed by Danny Boyle
This movie is being billed as �scary as hell�. That alone intrigued me. I guess I don�t get �scared� so easily. I jumped a few times during the flick, but was not terrified beyond belief. I was a bit creeped out at times. I thought the movie itself was really well done, interesting, but falls apart a little toward the end. Directed by Danny Boyle of Trainspotting fame, the movie is about a group of individuals who are struggling to stay alive, as most of the rest of the world has turned into zombies who want nothing but to eat their flesh.
It opens with a group of animal rights activists breaking into a research facility to free some monkeys from a horrific research project. They are being shown graphic images of violence for what seems like around the clock. They begin to let them out, when a staff member tries to warn them, and one of the monkeys attacks a woman who begins to throw up blood or something. And let the gross out begin. Don�t get me wrong, this film isn�t filled with gross out moments, but it does have some inserted for shock value. Flash-forward ahead to the character of Jim, played by Cillian Murphy, he�s alone in a hospital and wakes up disoriented. He walks around and finds that all of London is empty due to some international plague. He meets up with a couple of other individuals who have been on the run from the zombie creatures. They due their best to try to stay alive and search for a cure to the infection.
Director Danny Boyle manages to create an in your face horror flick, that puts you in an otherworldly setting while keeping it unsettlingly realistic. It�s partly due to the usage of many brand name real world food items, fantastic shots of real London completely abandoned, and the brilliant digital video shooting style. The idea of shooting on digital video was great I think. It most likely decreased the shooting schedule and kept the film looking completely different than anything else out there this time of year. It�s very gritty looking and keeps with the post-apocalyptic feel. It also helps to make it feel more realistic. This might increase the horror quotient for some if they think that it is or could really happen. He also features a lot of quick cuts and some great close-ups that are continually overlapping from different directions. He also knows enough not to keep using them over and over again. The acting isn�t the best, but that also tended to make me feel like these were more like real people trying to live in a crazy unfeeling world. I did like the interplay between the hard character of Selena, played by Naomie Harris, and Jim, who�s a bit more upbeat and really likes Selena initially. She won�t even give him the time of day for about 3/4 of the movie, which kept giving me the impression of the ultimate insult. Here he is, one of the last men alive and he can�t even get this girl to like him. As the movie goes on, you start to realize that Selena just doesn�t want to allow herself to feel anything, in case she loses the one person that she loves, which could weaken her chances of survival.
The movie takes a turn in a different direction, which introduces some military men who are offering a cure for the infection. The group quickly finds out that these men are just as bad if not worse than the zombie creatures and they need to again struggle to survive. This part of the film slowly unravels an even scarier thought to me. It makes you believe that these mindless zombies could be no worse than regular humans. That we are all deep down hell bent on having flesh and making everyone succumb to our specific needs. The only thing separating the humans from the zombies is your very own psyche, by keeping these intense violent emotions in check.
All in all, I really liked this movie. It�s completely different than anything else that I�ve seen this summer. It�s a little creepy, made me jump a few times and forget about the rest of the world. Like I said, it seems to fall apart a little at the end. I really hated the ending. It just seemed out of place. A great effort and definitely worth seeing, if you want some pure adrenaline based entertainment.
For more information visit
http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/28dayslater/
Got comments? Suggestions? I�d love to hear them.
email me at no.clue@indenation.com
come back soon, until then, i�ll be at the movies�