"28 Days Later" - There's an hour of my life I won't get back (The Beach (DVD))

Name: collingwood21

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	The Beach (DVD)
Date:	10/11/02 (444 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some good acting, Shots of central London completely empty were quite interesting

Disadvantages: Bad directing, Bad script, Overly violent

As with everything I try to write about recently, there is no category for the new release "28 Days Later" - I could have sworn there was, but there you go. I have chosen this category to put my review in as it was the last film done by the same director and writer, and I was damned if I was going to bin my words after putting the effort into writing them. As always, I apologise for this.




Released on Halloween, "28 days later" had assumed the top spot in the UK Box Office charts within a week of release, having taken a massive £1.5m by November 5th - this is despite having an 18 certificate and being up against Disney's new offering, Lilo & Stitch. The film has attracted rave reviews and popular acclaim, including some very positive reviews on the web and some tempting previews on TV. The director, Danny Boyle (he of Trainspotting and The Beach), was praised for producing a film that was edgy, nerve-wrenching, realistic and very, very cool. This film, then, seems to be an unequivocal success.

So why is it that I found this to be only the second film ever that I had to walk out of, after enduring a mere 30 minutes of it? This is despite forking out nearly £10 in cinema tickets for me and BF to see it yesterday - and I am never one to not get my money's worth out of something. And why is it, I might add, that in a survey on MyMovies.net found that only 2% of visitors to the site thought the film should have a thumbs up or be worth a watch - while a massive 44% said they had seen better, and 32% rated it as "total crap"? How is it that only the 22% of people who thought the film was fantastic have managed to write all the reviews so far?


---------------------------------------------- -------------------
Before launching into my review proper, I am first going to give you the details and a bit of background, in case you are unfamiliar with this film. If you know it already,
then please feel free to skip to the end of this section!

Length: 114 minutes
Certificate: 18
Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: Alex Garland (also author of The Beach)
Released: October 31st 2002

Cast: Christopher Eccleston, Brendan Gleeson, Noah Huntley, Megan Burns, Bindu De Stoppani, Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris.

"28 Days Later" is about a deadly virus called Rage, which can incite an infected person into a frenzy of violence within about 20 seconds of contracting it. It originates in a Cambridge laboratory, where it is being tested on a group of chimps, presumably as part of some mad scientist experiment to study anger - inevitably, the chimps are released by animal rights protestors, who are instantly attacked and contract the virus. Once infected, the new hosts then go about attacking any living thing in sight, infecting or killing them, so the virus rapidly spreads. We then cut to a scene 28 days later, when the population of London (and probably therefore all of the UK) has been reduced to just a few lone survivors - we are also told that on the last day before contact with the outside world ceased, there were reports of cases in Paris and New York. So we can safely assume that this is the case worldwide.

We see the world in it's post-apocalyptic state through the experience of Jim (Cillian Murphy), who wakes up in hospital after being unconscious while all this has been going on - this, I believe, is the first time full frontal nudity has been used in such a film, BTW. I wouldn't get too exited about it though... Anyway, after finding the hospital devoid of any other life, Jim finds himself some scrubs to wear and goes walking around an empty and still central London, trying to discover just what has been happening while he has been in a coma - and I am still wondering just how the hell they managed to film that bit. He ends up being saved from some random infected people by Mark (No
ah Huntley) and Selena (Naomie Harris), and has to come to terms with the new world and how to survive it. Even if it includes hacking people he knows into itty bitty pieces to avoid being infected, apparently.
---------------------------------------------- -----------------------

Before going to see this film, the above synopsis was about all I had been aware of in regard to this film - from the reviews I had read and clips I seen on TV, I for some reason had an image in my mind of this being a promising thriller. As for the 18 certificate - well, that was just for the realism the film would need to portray, surely? Sadly, I had got this completely wrong, and realised this within just a few minutes of the film beginning, when I was greeted with images of mindless violence and unnecessary gore as we are treated to scenes of former friends hacking one another to bits in the prologue. These were not your usual violent film images, these were sickening, unwatchable, revolting - and the camera was right in there, enjoying every moment of it. Now, I am not averse to a little blood and guts if the realism of the film finds it necessary for the plot to work (as in "Black Hawk Down" for example), but this was utterly vile. I tried to dismiss it as just an opener to get our attention, and tried to settle down to watch the rest the film.

Following the prologue, 28 Days Later changes to a sort of grainy type of film, as if you are watching from a home video. I presumed that this was some pretentious, arty statement about making the film seem more "real" and personal - to be honest, though, I found rather irritating. The shots of an empty central London were quite interesting, if only for their novelty, but I couldn't help but wonder about the distinct lack of bodies everywhere - if everyone is dead (and there are a lot of people in London), surely there should be corpses littering the place? Jim finds a few in a church, but
what about everyone else who was supposed to have been rioting? Hmmmmm.

Following his meet up with Mark and Selena (a major coincidence, but I will ignore that point), we are shown yet more violence, murder, death and the general hacking up of people. This is not shocking and edgy as many critics claim, this is mindless violence, pure and simple - and by the time the first half hour or so were up, I was sick of it. We both were. Someone should really have a word with My Boyle and tell him that you need more plot than violence to get a film to work. Oh, and that's a plot that doesn't rip off Day of the Triffids, please.

As for the ending, I really couldn't tell you what that was, as I had long since left the cinema in disgust. But then I can't say that I really care. My overall verdict? Edgy, my arse.


Recommended to: lovers of horror movie gore-fests with nothing better to do with a couple of hours of their lives. Everyone else should avoid it like a rage victim.

Overall ratings:
Acting (that I saw): 6/10 (Cillian Murphy especially good)
Directing (that I saw): 2/10 (Pretentious, over-violent)
Plot: 0/10 (its been done before, and better..)
Special effects: 0/10 (the rage victims looked like cheap rate zombies)
Suitability of certificate: 10/10 (in the absence of a 21 rating)


Official website: www.28dayslaterthemovie.co.uk

Summary: