Ten Men and a Movie: 28 Days Later

Begbie flees the Infected in a lifeboat while his partner tries to climb aboard. What he does next sets the tone for the entire movie.

We caught 28 Weeks Later today. Mixed emotions on this movie. It was a sequel that felt like it was the 3rd movie in a series, not the second. Took some of the worst elements of Jaws III (mindless monster somehow stalking a particular family) and Land of the Dead (“Green Zone” city established at ground zero), bad three-quels with questionable escalations of the original premise.

After we saw it and chewed it over for a few hours, however, our thick skulls finally caught on to one of the themes of the movie, and we began to appreciate it a lot more. The moral of 28 Weeks Later: Don't let anyone in the lifeboat. Ever.

Without spoiling the movie for anyone, let’s say it explored the idea of compassion in a time of crisis. The movie begins with an act of cowardice shortly after the Infection began, in which a man runs away from his family to save his own life. Twenty eight weeks later, the US military arrives and declares Britain clean, until all Hell of course inevitably breaks loose and the military is told to kill everything in the Green Zone, Infected or not.

The next hour shows people dodging a suddenly merciless US Military and hordes of Infected. What happens when you live in a situation where compassion is forbidden? Can you keep a door closed while refugees are banging on the other side? Do you let the little boy in? Do you spare the life of someone who isn't Infected? Let's just say this is a very cynical movie, but it's one of those rare movies where you find yourself going back and connecting the dots,only to realize how strongly woven the plot really was.

Some Issues with the movie:

• Too many convenient lapses in security inside the Green Zone. People in the audience were scoffing at points.

• Yet another scene where people on foot outrun a fireball. This time, a fireball that has consumed Britain in less than 60 seconds takes twice that long to roll down a tunnel.

• And, it held onto the most annoying plot twist of 28 Days Later- that the military, in a time of crisis, are instantly reduced to a pack of murdering thugs. At one point in the movie, during a shoot-out between two US army soldiers, we were reminded of something one of the Ten said many years ago after watching “The Rock.” He was a Marine, and he said in disgust: “I hate these movies where they show soldiers firing on their own with no hesitation. I would never fire on one of my own men.” *
  

Stuff we liked:

• An explanation of what ultimately happens to all the Infected.

• Been waiting for a good zombie movie that pits these guys against a prepared military. This one gets about halfway there.

• It's a sequel that stands up on its own, and it advances the story of the 1st one.
  

• Sets up a sequel that we’ll be paying to see.

* Ironically, the guy who said this was captain of the Marine Pistol team and an excellent marksman, a fact he constantly reminded the men under his command in case they ever thought about running away in the heat of battle.