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05-04-24 08:09 AM |
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| Main - Entertainment - 28 Weeks Later | New thread | New reply |
| Arwon |
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 Paragoomba Level: 22 Posts: 36/77 EXP: 53437 Next: 4913 Since: 03-20-07 From: Zaragoza, Aragón, España Last post: 6002 days Last view: 6000 days |
So, I love a good zombie movie and I love anything apocalyptic (except Reign of Fire, that movie was terrible). I think they're ripe with insights into the subconscious fantasies and deepest fears of the contemporary western middle class in all its anomie and boredom. Can't we all just see ourselves barricaded in one of Romero's abandoned supermarkets, down where the food courts used to be, living on candy and other non-perishables?
So yes. I love zombies. I like zombie documentaries even though everytime I watch one with my flatmate, he gets impatient at the lack of cold brutal logic in the characters, and I have to listen to him spout off about the "unrealistic" way people in these movies react to the situation, particularly their hesitancy to be ruthless and shoot loved ones, and their tendency to panic and do dumb things. I tell him he's just a sociopath who will never know real love, and I try to explain that if this really happened, people would be so freaked out and dumbstruck they wouldn't know what to do, even if they were better at handling stress and death than they are... but then I realise it's an inherently insane argument because the people in zombie movies have never seen zombie movies and, therefore, they aren't as trained in zombie-awareness as we are. But, even beyond the general ...of the Dead fare, I especially liked 28 Days Later because it went way beyond the usual bloody doom-fest or winking Romero-style satire, and it had some real heart and style to it. I like innovation in my Zombie movies, any sort of twist is welcome, be it a chainsaw arms and time travel, or a Zombie Honeymoon (of course, the sheer unrealism of the Wife of Zombie's loyalty sent my flatmate into an apopleptic rage). 28 Days Later was clever and insightful and, like most of Alex Garland's films, it had a twist 2/3rds of the way through that totally changed the rules of the game and turned things on their head in a most welcome manner. And there were zombies. I just went and saw the sequel, 28 Weeks Later. The good? Well. It had zombies, it had nihilistic post-apocalyptica, and it had the the de rigeur attempted social commentary in its portrayal of the necessary ruthlessness of containment, which is lovely. The first 20 minutes were extremelt promising. The set-up of recolonisation by refugees and survivors was pitch-perfect, though I'd like to know where the British Army was, given that the UK would still have had Northern Ireland and its overseas assets. The director, some Spanish dude, had to bring the 'Rage Virus' (you can't call them zombies!) back in somehow, so it was gonna be silly and unlikely to that extent. But that wasn't the problem at all. The contrivance they used to release zombies within the miltarised safe-zone was clever. However, from the scene where Dr Rose Byrne realised what was happening at the exact moment where it became too late because Begbie-from-Trainspotting is an idiot as well as a cowardly jerk, it just went downhill, to the extent that characters were pointing out plot-holes at various points ("why don't you guard us!"). Stereotypically gung-ho Yankees becoming increasingly inhuman through the rational logic of warfare, one rambo-style dude with no discernable personality except I guess he was a good guy, two stupid brat kids I couldn't bring myself to care about, weak jerky "what the fuck is going on here" cinematography of the worst sort of B-horror sort, and the primary driver of plot, "protect the kids" ended up not making any sense. At all. OK, the helicopter thing was way cool, but that was a rare highlight. Making it kid-centric was a mistake. Fuck kids! Using them in movies is a cheap way of creating suspense and pathos, just like LOUD NOISE FROM NOWHERE AND SOMETHING JUMPS OUT is the cheapest way to get a scare. A sense of humanity and real character and even political insight was what lifted 28 Days Later above the pack and this one just didn't cut it. Things went bigger, certainly (inasmuch as you can go bigger than the opening Omega Man moments of the original), but it all felt phoned-in and cliched. The sense of nihilistic doom was way too palpable from the start, which I blame on the over-the-top scene-setting music and lack of time spent showing life inside the colonisation camp. Oh, and memo to any film-maker wanting to turn their next movie into a critique of the Iraq War and the War on Terrorism: the whole "American military is overzealous and kinda inhuman" theme has just been done to death. And they even fucked THAT up with inconsistancy... when you consider how the US military treats helpless naked people in Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, the lack of security within the fucking DEATH ZOMBIE VIRUS COMPOUND was ridiculous. Then the gore-fest started and as much as I usually enjoy the ride, it all just got lost in the boom boom scream scream and the metal guitar riffs and where was the love and even some sense of coherance?! Then again, it's got about 70% on Rotten Tomatoes so maybe some other people liked it more than me. Were my expectations simply too high? Judging by the fact that apparently several other people beat us to the videostore to rent the original, I think I'm not alone here. I feel let down. Alex Garland should have waited until he'd finished Sunshine and then done this himself. All in all, it was really really disappointing in its mediocrity and overkill. If you want zombie gore, and don't mind seeing everything that was cool about the first movie thrown out the window, go see it. That said, maybe if Garland and the non-dead cast of the original are involved in (the perhaps inevitable) 28 Months Later they can do something good with it again. Fuck it, lets have zombies versus aliens. The world's ready for that. |
| Rich |
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 Snifit Level: 39 Posts: 109/296 EXP: 403693 Next: 1078 Since: 02-19-07 From: UK Last post: 6084 days Last view: 6083 days |
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| Arwon |
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Paragoomba Level: 22 Posts: 37/77 EXP: 53437 Next: 4913 Since: 03-20-07 From: Zaragoza, Aragón, España Last post: 6002 days Last view: 6000 days |
I never actually described Garland as director. Garland wrote the Beach, Sunshine and 28 Days Later, only 2 of which Danny Boyle directed. I feel pretty confident in attributing a lot of what I like, particularly the crazy awesome rule-changes 2/3rds of the way in, to Mr Garland, not Boyle. |
| Sgraff87 |
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 Panser Level: 42 Posts: 165/345 EXP: 507954 Next: 13408 Since: 02-19-07 Last post: 5997 days Last view: 5672 days |
I found the movie to be a lot more pleasing than other zombie films being made recently such as Land of the Dead (and I am well aware that the 28 movies are not zombie films). But yes it became unrealistic at parts such as free thinking people are struggling to stay alive but someone such as their father who is insane from the rage virus unable to make complete free thought is able to live to the end. |
| Ziff |
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 Buzzy Beetle Level: 44 Posts: 300/389 EXP: 608196 Next: 3089 Since: 02-19-07 Last post: 6175 days Last view: 5937 days |
I enjoyed it. But not for the reasons most people would think. I took it down and deconstructed it and found some really cool feminist tricks. Some really cool tricks of light and stylistic choices that I quite enjoyed. And the neato minimalist post-rock score was spectacular.
Then again, you are right, it was dumbed down. |
| Toxic |
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 Red Koopa Level: 28 Posts: 107/136 EXP: 125727 Next: 5611 Since: 02-19-07 Last post: 6107 days Last view: 5822 days |
Hated it.
My friend loved it, but I could not stand it. For starters, it wasn't like boo scary, it was "jeez what if this happens to me" scary. That's not a bad thing by itself, but attempting to scare me by jumbling the camera around like your drunk while having snarling noises doesn't really do the trick. As for the plot...nothing happened. The virus broke out again...and that's all that happened. Some people died, some guys shot stuff, and we're just right back where we started again. Don't even get me started on the father of the kids. I knew from the second he got infected, that he was gonna show up at the end. So stupid, so predictable. Why would you even bother? I felt no emotional pull at all when the girl (I don't even know her god damn name) killed the dad. Whoop dee freakin' do. We already know that people have to kill loved ones and friends to survive. All in all, it just felt like it was wasting time till they could make the next one, which by the way, is in development. Needless to say, I'll wait the 28 weeks and download the DVD rip rather than waste my money. |
| Rich |
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Snifit Level: 39 Posts: 112/296 EXP: 403693 Next: 1078 Since: 02-19-07 From: UK Last post: 6084 days Last view: 6083 days |
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| Xkeeper |
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Level: 105 Posts: 1661/2846 EXP: 12035796 Next: 226464 Since: 02-19-07 Last post: 6068 days Last view: 2805 days |
STOP EDITING YOUR POST TEN THOUSAND TIMES ____________________ I dealt with it. |
| Rich |
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Snifit Level: 39 Posts: 113/296 EXP: 403693 Next: 1078 Since: 02-19-07 From: UK Last post: 6084 days Last view: 6083 days |
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| Toxic |
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Red Koopa Level: 28 Posts: 108/136 EXP: 125727 Next: 5611 Since: 02-19-07 Last post: 6107 days Last view: 5822 days |
I saw 28 Days Later...It was good, but not great. When Jim goes postal is where it loses me. Too abrupt. And it wasn't the Major guy, it was just somebody. Major is in the car at the end and gets dragged out.
28WL was trying to be more boo scary than head scary, ie the drunken camera work, more vomiting, more blood stuff. But at the same time, I'm not saying that 28WL would be any better if it wasn't more boo scary. It was lacking all around. It just felt way too short, too much happened too fast, and the only character we got to know was Don the Super Zombie. |
| Rich |
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Snifit Level: 39 Posts: 114/296 EXP: 403693 Next: 1078 Since: 02-19-07 From: UK Last post: 6084 days Last view: 6083 days |
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| Toxic |
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Red Koopa Level: 28 Posts: 109/136 EXP: 125727 Next: 5611 Since: 02-19-07 Last post: 6107 days Last view: 5822 days |
That's pretty much true, but only by default. I felt no emotional pull at all when: Don got rage, he killed his wife (gross city), I will admit I was pissed when Doyle died only because he was my favorite character though, and I was only dimly aware that the semi-cute nurse had died (which raises the question, do the infected see better in the dark with those bloodshot eyes?). |
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