28 Weeks Later

5 years after his smash British hit 28 Days Later, starring Cillian Murphy and Naomi Harris, director Danny Boyle releases the follow-up 28 Weeks Later.

In 28 Days Later, for those that have forgotten, an infection has broken out all over Britain, turning it's victims into zombie-like creatures that prey on the living. Jim (Cillian Murphy) was in a hospital and awakes 28 days after the infection broke out, to a ghost-town like London. Unsure of what happened he searches for anyone alive, where he meets Serena (Naomi Harris) a woman running from the infected in hopes of survival. In their escape out of London they come across a farmer and his teenage daughter, also on the run. They make their way to army facility they hear about over the radio, but oh how the plot thickens. The ending given in the theaters was more of a happy one where they get rescued and taken to a quarentined area. Personally, the alternative ending is more satisfying for the film itself.

In 28 Weeks Later, we Don and his wife, living in hiding with an older couple and several others in an abandoned cottage, just days after the infection has broken out. As expected, the infected come after them, Don being the only that escapes and makes his way to a quarantined area.

Fast forward to 6 months later, District 1 of London is rebuilt, the American Army is helping out and keeping watch and those quarantined are back to living like normal again. Outsiders that made it out before the infection hit are slowly being brought back in, including Don's 2 kids - 12yr old Andy and teenage Tammy.

After learning about their mother's death, Tammy and Andy decide to sneak out of District 1 to their former home, in search of a photo of their mother (Andy tells his sister he's afraid of forgetting what she looks like). Of course, the army comes after them, but they bring back more than just a photo to district 1.

Mass chaos soon occurs, Code Red happens and the military's instructed to shoot at anyone - infected or not - total extintion and lots of carnage, since the situation got out of hand. Only problem is, there's survivors, desperate to get freedom.

It was alright, but if you've seen the first one, you know what to expect. What got me in the first one was the 'twist' 3/4ths of the way into it. This one had several parts where it was either predictable, or it was like 'why didnt they do that?' More security on the military's part could have prevented events from happening, plain and simple. Also, we see a scene that recently occured in Robert Rodrigez's Planet Terror (from the double feature Grindhouse) and a scene that looked almost like it was from The Blair Witch Project. It was also very very dark in some scenes - almost to where you couldnt even tell what was going on.

The music was just as awesome in this one though as it was in the first one. I applaud John Murphy and his score.

If you've seen and liked the first one, you'll like this one, or if ya just like zombie movies and carnage too.