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28 Days Later (Widescreen Edition)

28 Days Later (Widescreen Edition)

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Scary, Scary, Scary!!!
Review: This is one of the scariest movies I have ever seen! The infected are terrifying enough, but the added element of an isolated group of soldiers who seek to take advantage of the dire situation pushes this film over the edge. The characters are intense and realistic in their emotions and the score increases the suspense and tension to the breaking point. This movie is an instant classic!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The BEST zombie movie---ever.
Review: Centuries ago the brilliant English physicist and celebrated polymath Sir Isaac Newton contended that "I see so far because I stand on the shoulders of giants." So too might the visionary director Danny Boyle, now at the helm of this hyperkinetic descent into a post-Apocalyptic English Hell, cite "28 Days Later"'s infamous cinematic and literary forefathers: George Romero, (to a far lesser extent) Lucio Fulcio, and Stephen King.

But with that in mind, Boyle has distilled all of the shock and terror of Romero's zombie trilogy into two hours of pure adrenaline, two hours of raw, sheer, shrieking terror. He has, with "28 Days Later", out-Romero'd Romero, and his stark, horrific, harrowing portrait of a London gone literally mad manages to capture the end of the world in a manner that utterly eluded the the TV-adaptation of King's "The Stand".

Forget the fact that the red-eyed, shrieking legions of the Infected in this movie aren't classic zombies: sure, they don't feed on the flesh of their victims, and yes, they don't lumber and shamble along.

Nothing in this movie lumbers or shambles along---but make no mistake about it, Boyle's latest is a zombie film, and it is so good, and so scary, that it rightfully claims its Crown as King of the Zombie Movies. With horror films, the best test of a movie's power to disturb can be sensed in the number of audience members who bail and head for the exits: at my screening, we lost 10 audience members in the first six minutes.

If you haven't seen "28 Days Later", here's my advice: see it on the biggest screen you can get your hands on, in total darkness, completely alone. In the meantime, here are some tasty little nuggets about the movie to tempt you with, without spoilers to ruin your appetite:

The PLOT: Animal rights activists break into a Cambridge biowarfare research facility, intent on setting their primate buddies free. A scientist there, witnessing the break-in, begs them not to free the chimpanzees: the beasts are infected with a highly contagious virus known as Rage, which is spread through the blood and within 20 seconds turns its victim into a froth-mouthed, shrieking homicidal maniac. The activists ignore the warning, a young woman opens a chimp's cage, and within seconds the chimp launches itself into its erstwhile rescuer's face.

Our protagonist, a bike messenger played sympathetically by Cillian Murphy, awakens from a coma in an eerily empty hospital ward; he stumbles out of the hospital into an equally empty London, and the fun begins.

The CINEMATOGRAPHY: Director of Photography Anthony Dod Mantle is an adherent of Dogma, the cinematic movement committed to using natural lighting; the result sets up the movie's haunting, sere, and unsettling visuals. London broils under a jaundiced, sterile sky, and broods at twilight in an otherwordly greyish blue; the empty city resembles an alien moonscape, and a gas station explosion is shot as though on another planet.

The Infected here don't walk, lumber, or lurch: they run---fast. London's zombies are glimpsed only as a shrieking blur, or caught as loping shadows against a tunnel-wall; the combination of hyperkinetic editing and the blood-spattering gore (captured using much the same technique employed in the battle sequences of "Saving Private Ryan" and "Gladiator") makes the lulls between encounters with the Infected unbearably suspenseful.

The ACTING: Everyone here is an unknown (with the exception of "Gangs of New York"'s stolid Brendan Gleeson, who plays a London taxicab driver and---for a few minutes, anyway---gives the movie a reassuring moral center), and the acting is all superb and believable. Cillian Murphy manages a remarkable transformation during the film, remarkable both for its outlandishness and (given the horror of his character's plight) believability. Noamie Harris and Noah Huntley shine as London survivors, and Christopher Eccleston is superbly Kurtzian as an embattled British Army Major at the center of his own heart of darkness.

MORAL of the STORY? Two, really: 1) if you're an animal activist, pick targets other than biowarfare facilities; and 2) if you're a soldier holed up in an English manor home, don't keep an infected zombie chained by the leg in the house garden.

Many of "28 Days"'s critics have attacked the movie for being 'derivative'---and yes, Boyle borrows heavily from a treasure-house of zombie and horror movies: the movie practically condenses all of the major action from Romero's 'Dead' trilogy, and the climactic, operatic final sequences in a storm-tossed English manor house could have been lifted directly from the horror video game "Resident Evil. But Boyle takes his inspiration and moves out in new, unexpected, and terrifying directions, and even the criticism of 'derivative' is seems disingenous in light of the movie's brilliant concoction of horror: after all, Shakespeare himself borrowed from ancient plays and fables, distilled their essence, and created timeless art.

In the same fashion, Boyle has crafted a masterpiece of movie terror, and one of the most bleakly disturbing films about the end of the world ever made. Turn the lights out and enjoy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: you must watch this movie!
Review: 28 days later is the best horror movie to come around since i don't know when. beautifully shot, smart, and edgy it sets new precedence for the genre. i highly reccomend this to anyone who's ever wanted to come away from a movie saying "wow"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: great vision, exquisite movie!!
Review: One of the best movies ever!! The acting was superb and you really care about the characters. This movie genuinely brings a thought-provoking concept that will make you think about this film for the rest of the summer. This is definitely what summer movies and american movies in general should accomplish, unlike the MTV [stuff] of Charley's Angels. The underlining love story of (Jim- Cillian Murphy) and (Selena- Naomie Harris) was far superior to any stupid teeny pop american love story. It was refreshing to see an interesting and horrific concept brought to the big screen.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Visual Nightmare Come True ...
Review: I've never been much for horror movies, and, thankfully, 28 DAYS LATER truthfully veers more into science fiction at the onset than it does what one might consider a traditional horror flick:

Extreme animal rights activists, despite the protests of a resident scientist, break open a glass case holding captive what one believes might be an ordinary chimpanzee. However, as luck (or plot) would have it, Bonzo is infected with [b][i]rage[/b][/i] ... and the rage begins.

What happens next, IMHO, is a visual storytelling horror pseudo-science masterpiece.

Jim (Cillian Murphy, in a bold performance) wakes up in a hospital bed alone. Not just alone. Completely alone. Vastly and incomprehensibly alone. He roams the streets scavenging for food and signs of life until he happens across ...

No, no, no. Skip that. I'll leave the wonderful surprises for those of you who plan to catch the nightmare.

He finds life in the form of Selena and Mark, two survivors who haven't been infected by the rage virus. Teaming up, they head off to prove to Jim that his parents didn't stand a chance at surviving the plague, and then ...

No, no, no. Skip that, too. That's too good. I don't want to give that away.

Well, as things develop traditionally in films of this nature, Mark ends up ...

No, no, no! Blast! How do you review this bloody film, no pun intended?!?!

Suffice it to say, Jim and the others are not alone, but the central message of the film (rage and the various explorations of it) leave plenty of grim surprises for those who are yet to be discovered.

Critics have raised quite a stir about how graphic 28 DAYS LATER depicts the virus, zombies, survival, etc., and, to a certain extent, they've pegged the film as little more than an arthouse zombie film with great scare effects. However, I'd have to say that the film isn't nearly as graphic as the reviewers led me to believe, but that doesn't mean the visuals are necessarily easy to digest. Much of it is visual, not psychological, and even the most squeamish should be able to sit tight through the film's last half hour.

Sadly, the later half of the film presents a relatively predictable scenario for survival of the human race: England's finest soldiers (?) intent on breeding with the only females they can find, hoping that mankind can outlive or outlast zombiekind and eventually regain control of the planet (or television, at least, as one bloke slips in mention of 'The Simpsons').

28 DAYS LATER doesn't end on the dim note with which the film begins, but there's certainly room for a follow-up, should a precision-tuned script present itself. However, this is the kind of film that's best left solo; the message is clear, all significant plot points are ghastly resolved, and the scares are more than worth the price of admission.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Decent, But Stupid
Review: Points: The movie is stupid and pointless. Its entire first half is a rip off of THE OMEGA MAN and its entire second half is a rip off of Romero's DAY OF THE DEAD. (For God's sake, they even have a zombie tied up ala Bub in DEAD; I guess it wasn't enough that they made the soldiers crazy just like DEAD.) Romero's DAY OF THE DEAD and DAWN OF THE DEAD not only ALREADY explored the notion of man being more dangerous than the zombies, but he did it much better. Here, the acting in the second half is all farce. Can't take none of it seriously.

As to the first half: QUESTIONS: Where are the bodies? Where are the cars? 28 days later, and all of the victims of the plague simply "vanish"? And why are the zombies afraid of light? Did the virus also make them think they're vampires? Also, if the zombies are homicidal and has lost all sense (they don't even eat food, thus starving to death), isn't it nice that they only attack the un-infected people. Gee, they sure don't act very psychotic to me.

28 DAYS LATER should have been called THE OMEGA DEAD, since it's just a rip off of both movies. For God's sake, if you're going to so blatantly steal, then at least offer up a wink and a nod that you ARE doing it. Don't run with it and act as if you made it up all by your little lonesome.

The worst part of it? No one seems to realize that 28 DAYS LATER is such a poorly disguised rip-off. I guess it's true what they say after all: The American public IS stupid and easily duped. It sure would be ironic if I discovered that the French saw through this rip off and the Americans didn't...

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: BULEMIC ZOMBIES!!!
Review: Now let me see if I've got this straight. A virus has been released that is so fast acting and potent that completely eradicates any need to explain what it is as well as the plot of this movie. We do not know why zombies have red eyes, hate the sun (are they vampire zombies)? Or why they have to puke their guts out!(Are they bulemic)? We then come across a man named Tim lying in a hospital bed completely naked. Apparently the hospitals in England (or where ever it was) don't dress their patients in hospital gowns or even cover them up in sheets. He is apparently there for a head wound that isn't even bandaged up.
ANYWAY he gets out of bed, finds some clothes and goes wandering the steets that have been deserted yelling "Hello?" to nobody. This is the only dialogue spoken for what seemed liked 10-15 minutes. Despite the fact that there are no cops around he gets scared off by a car alarm.
ANYWAY he goes into a church where he finds a massive group of bodies laying there. As it turns out they are zombies because our guy yells "Hello?" and wakes them up.(Zombies need sleep?)After fending off a zombie priest, he takes to the streets again and wanders them until he comes across 2 people still alive but who very nearly kill him because they think he's a zombie. They then go to Tim's parents' house. Tim's parents are lying peacefully dead in their bedroom. But at least they were considerate enough to leave him a note before they died! After they've raided the pantry, zombies burst in and are easily killed by the film's heroine. After they leave Tim's parents' house they go off in search of more survivors. They eventually find a man and his daughter in an apartment complex. They are able to find them because the guy and his daughter put up Christmas lights outside their window which is completely visible from the street. And they wonder why so many zombies find them!
ANYWAY they discover a radio transmission broadcast by what sounds like the military and the promise of salvation. So they set out trying to find this place riding along the countryside (and not seeing a single zombie in sight).
Along the way they get a flat tire in a tunnel filled with abandoned cars. With zombies bearing down on them they make the fastest tire change in history with the 13 year old girl tightening down the lugnuts.(She's strong!) This European car thens climbs on top of and drives over an entire gridlock full of cars!!! Maybe the rage virus got into the engine and turned it into A RAGIN' MONSTER TRUCK!!!
And despite the fact that they could not hide from the zombies in the most obscure places they are somehow able to sleep outdoors in the great wide open completely unbothered!!!
Eventually, they find a group of military vehicles. The father turns into a zombie when a single drop of infected blood falls from somewhere and hits him right in the eye. BULLSEYE!!!The soldiers appear out of nowhere and gun down the father. The soldiers then take Tim, the heroine, and the daughter to a house being used as a compound. We then learn the real reason the soldiers put out that radio signal is because they're [lonely]! They want the heroine and the daughter (who looks all of 13 years old) for sex. Tim decides that isn't right so he starts a fight with the soldiers and releases a zombie the soldiers had been keeping as a pet. The zombie has fun feasting on the soldiers. Chaos ensues, and eventually they make their getaway in their car driven by the daughter who plows right into a cast iron fence with a big chain on it. Don't worry, they all survive and live happily ever after in a nice farmhouse that doesn't have any bedsheets because they've stitched them all together in a big sign that says HELLO.
Uh, hello? Come on people, we can do better than this, can't we?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 28 Days Later is the best zombie film ever!
Review: "28 Days Later" is the best zombie film I have ever seen. The opening begins with a riot and a group of animal right activists taking monkeys out of an experimental lab. But, what they don't know about the monkeys is that they are infected with a virus that makes a person into a crazed cannibal, or has they are really known as zombies. The main character, Jim, played by Cillian Murphy, who is a bike courier who wakes up at a hospital 28 days after the virus was released. He went into the hospital to have brain surgery before the virus was released because when he was delivering a package when he ended up in the hospital. When he goes around the city, he goes into a church and wakes up some zombies. Then he runs into two survivors, Selena, played by Naomie Harris, and Mark, played by Noah Huntley, who saves him from the zombies that were chasing him down one of the streets in the city. They go to Jim's house and that is where Mark gets infected and Selena kills him. When walking to a safe haven, Jim and Selena sees Christmas lights that are signaling any uninfected survivors to come up there for safety. While trying to get there, Zombies appear. Jim and Selena run from them, then, thanks to Frank and his daughter, Hannah, they were safe. The next day, they hear a broadcast on Frank's handradio to come to Manchester to get away from the zombies. On the way, in a tunnel, they, in Frank's taxi, climb over cars in order to get to Manchester. One of the tires popped and Frank and Hannah had to change the tire. And in there, see rats running from the zombies and that is when they rush to get the tire on in time before they are near them. They get out of there, but, later, Frank is infected by a drop of blood. And that's when they are spotted by a group of soldiers run by Major Henry West, played by Christopher Eccleston. During that time, it is when Jim, Selena, and Hannah discover that the real monsters aren't the zombies, but the soldiers themselves. The ending is too good for words, but I am not going to tell you anymore of this excellent zombie movie. Danny Boyle's directing is extremely brilliant, Cillian Murphy as Jim is smart and intelligent and heartwarming as well as Naomie Harris' Selena is. Brendan Gleeson's performance is extremely heartwarming and emotional as Frank, the grief-stricken father of Hannah. Megan Burns' performance as Hannah is excellent without compromise. But the performance that takes the prize is Christopher Eccleston's. His performance as the crazy Major Henry West is an remarkable performance for a villain ever. John Murphy's score for the movie is encouraging and smart at its best. The production design, the costume design, the visual/make-up effects, the cinematography, the editing is extremely well done at its best just like the rest of the movie is. Go see this movie now in theatres almost everywhere near you! You will surely enjoy it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a wild ride
Review: GREAT! A movie that everyone says is scary and it really is! finally! A zombie-type movie that doesnt rip off every george romero flick in the book.It has characters you can actually like,plus not one moron pulling the others down with him.It might have been a low budget movie,but dont think you will be let down,its great.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: '28 Days Later' is an above average zombie flick
Review: The makers of '28 Days Later' claim to redefine the zombie film genre with this offering, and by this standard, they've certainly failed. '28 Days Later' doesn't cover any new ground, but it is a good film of its type, and features real characters instead of the usual comic book/video game caricatures, ala 'Resident Evil' and 'Matrix: Reloaded.'

Appropriately, this film starts out on a violent, ironic note, and then proceeds to the 'waking up in a lonely hell' scene. The beginning is very artsy-- and unlike other films of the same type, I felt like I was following a real person through the expected post-apocalyptic landscape. (Yes, the buildings are still there-- it's the people who've been ruined.) Of course this wasn't anything I hadn't seen or read before. The entire film reeks of Stephen King's 'The Shining,' and follows firmly in the footsteps of 'Night of the Living Dead' and its sequals. As the film progresses, it loses some of its artsy flavor, and focuses on the hopes and fears of the characters.

The characters in this film aren't particularly charismatic, but they're believable. That's a refreshing change from the usual MTV influenced garbage I've come to expect.

By the end of the picture, you've learned the same lessons you'll learn by watching the superior 'Night of the Living Dead:' 1/To fight the zombies, human beings must band together, and 2/human beings banding together doesn't always work, because at the end of the day it's the living who are the real monsters.

Like I said, this picture doesn't cover any new ground; but it is a worthy addition to the pantheon of zombie films, and I recommend it. It is a little long, but the soundtrack's pretty good.

You'll like it, if you aren't looking for another feelingless action film.


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