Title:
28 Days Later
Region:
One
Genre:
Horror Thriller
Stars: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Megan Burns, and Brendan Gleeson
Writer: Alex Garland
Director: Danny Boyle
Feature length: 113 minutes
Extras: Alternative Endings and Previews
Languages: English French and Spanish Language Stereo Sound
Subtitles: English and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging: Keep Case
Sound: Stereo Surround Sound
Year of American Theatrical Release: 2003/UMD Release: 2005
Theatrical Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Home Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
MPAA Rating: R
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
“28 Days Later” opened in the U.S. during the summer of 2003 after a successful opening abroad. The film details the aftermath of a devastating plague that has left all of England quarantined from the rest of the world. Described simply as “rage,” the disease is transmuted by blood or saliva and is devastating within 20 seconds of contact. The infected become raging killing machines that vomit blood and will tear an uninfected person apart with no reasoning behind it other than that hapless victim is there at the wrong place and time. The heightened adrenaline gives them faster reflexes and unusual strength as well as an uncompromising resolve. They don’t lumber or walk toward you, they run. Even if you were to set them on fire or blow off a limb, as long as they can move toward you, they will continue to attack, which makes killing them very difficult. These are not zombies in that they are lifeless flesh reanimated though they might as well be dead since they lose all of their higher mental functions other than their most primitive and destructive desires.
The outbreak occurred when a group of radical animal rights activists broke into an experimental lab and set free an infected chimpanzee despite the warnings from the scientist present about the engineered virus. Now 28 days after the outbreak, Jim (Cillian Murphy), a cycle courier wakes up from a coma to see a deserted London. However he soon discovers that he is not the only resident left behind in the wake of the plague. The infected are present and ready to kill, but there are the uninfected survivors Selena (Naomie Harris) and Mark (Noah Huntley), who quickly save Jim’s life and explain the situation at hand. This eventually leads to an odyssey of horror and hope as companions are lost, survivors band together and discover the only thing more terrible than an infected human being, is an uninfected human with a heart of darkness.
“28 Days Later” is a fun and jolting post apocalyptic horror film that calls to mind various other genre films it pays homage to in various scenes though not through self referential dialogue like the “Scream” trilogy, but rather character interactions and screen language that drive those thoughts for the fans while still allowing the film to be assessable for the casual viewer. If there is any question I have regarding the nature of the infected in “28 Days Later” it would be how could a completely enraged and insane person differentiate between who is or is not infected when there is no real rationality left over in the infected and why wouldn’t they attack each other or even themselves? Well the zombies in most if not all-living dead flicks only eat the living or recently deceased so I guess my question is moot although I will state again that these are not zombies as in re-animated corpses.
Shot using digital video cameras, “28 Days Later” has a gritty quality to it that I personally think enhances the film’s impact and at times gives it an almost documentary like look. I am not sure if this is a direct digital transfer or not because it doesn’t look like one to me, but in spite of the sometimes murky quality of the picture in some scenes, I like this anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) presentation enough to ignore whatever deficiencies the image quality may have at times. The English Stereo Soundtrack has a nice enveloping quality with a discrete use of sound to create an eerie atmosphere when used in conjunction with an adapter that allows one to run the sound through a genuine home theater receiver or a device like Dreamgear’s “I’ Sound Pro” docking station. A French and a Spanish Language Stereo Soundtrack are also encoded onto the UMD as well as English Subtitles for the hearing impaired and Spanish Language Subtitles as options.
Two
alternate endings are featured, one of which was added after the credit role as
an attraction to get repeat viewers and new audience members during the American
theatrical run with the simple premise of “what if…” The second alternate
ending is a slight variation on the one that accompanies the feature now. Fox
UMD preview trailers for “Fight Club”, “Never Die Alone”, and “Kiss Of
The Dragon” are also featured on the UMD. The interactive menus are animated
and easy to navigate. “28 Days Later” is available on UMD-Video for PSP now
courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2005 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
