Review: 28 Weeks Later

What an opening! I think Robert Carlyle running across the lush green grass chased by hordes of Infected is almost equally as impressive as Cillian Murphy's stroll through desolate London in 28 Days Later.

I liked the idea of a sequel to 28 Days Later and I think they made the right decision to not make it about Cillian's Jim and his cohorts. Though a part of me would like to know whatever happened to them, but I digress.

I was pleased with the choice of Robert Carlyle as the lead as he was truly phenomenal here. I was rooting for him! And then THAT happened. You know! THAT! And THIS! We are obviously venturing into spoiler territory here so consider yourself warned:

As Carlyle is presented as our main dude in the movie, I kinda expected him to last longer or even survive. Now I do sorta like this twist of turning him into an Infected early on in the movie as I didn't see it was coming (note: I haven't seen the trailer for this movie so I don't know if it gets spoiled). But, I sorta hate it too, cause I felt I had no one else to root for until Jeremy Renner was inserted with a personality. Carlyle was the heart of the movie.

Then THIS happens! After they killed off the only two characters in the movie I actually cared for, I lost interest. Rose Byrne had no personality, I keep forgetting Harold Perrineau is even in this and the kids.. I loathe the kids! Of course they go venturing out of the safe zone. Of course they are the only people to make it to the helicopter. Sigh.

And the ending. It felt like an after thought and IMDB tells me it is. So the infection has spread to Paris, leaving the possibility for a sequel, 28 Months Later, wide open. I prefer 28 Days Later's hopeful ending. And what's with the crashed heli? No bodies.. hmmm..

I gave the movie a lot of crap in this review, but I did like it. Probably as much as I did the original (I have some problems with that one too). It was shot well and the pacing was good. Bring on, 28 Months Later! A 4/5.