REVIEW: 28 Weeks Later

28 Weeks Later is the sequel to the surprisingly well-made 28 Days Later (2002). The first film was directed by Danny Boyle and starred then-unknown actors Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins) and Naomie Harris (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men's Chest).

The film was made for an estimated $8 million dollars and was already profitable from its United Kingdom release before it jumped the pond and grossed over $45 million more in the United States during the summer of 2003. The film became one of the first to be released in theaters with multiple endings (hopeful, hopeless and ambiguous) all of which are available on the DVD.

None of the principal actors or director return for the sequel, which is usually a decidely discouraging signal. The original's director Executive Produced 28 Weeks Later and personally selected Juan Carlos Fresnadillo who made the intriguing thriller Intacto to direct the sequel.

Surprisingly, the critics have responded with kind words with some calling it "better than the original." At rottentomatoes.com the viewers rate the film more highly than critics (86% to 71%) and the film has taken in over $21 million in three most competitive weekends of the U.S. summer movie-going season.

28 Days Later was an exciting surprise; an unheralded film that comes out of nowhere to entertain, thrill and amaze. 28 Weeks Later arrives as a known, expected quantity but is actually a better film. It has a lesser emotional impact than the first movie because in this version one is not worried about whether the entire human race has been devastated by the "rage virus."

In this film, the rage virus has almost completely exterminated the population of United Kingdom, except for a very small number of survivors. About 6 months after (28 Weeks, get it?) the last infected person died of hunger the United States military has begun returning British citizens to a "heavily fortified Green Zone" in the capital city of the country. (Sound familiar?) There are other metaphorical allusions to the conflict in Iraq after the inevitable new outbreak of the virus (through the deployment of a reasonably plausible plot device: genetic mutation) we get scenes of U.S. troops acting as snipers, patrolling a bombed out urban landscape looking for hidden, dangerous residents (zombies) and using superior technology and firepower.

In the end the heart of the movie is again centered around the safety of two children and the movie does an excellent job of maintaining both the level of suspense and non-stop gory action sequences.

GRADE: A.