28 Years Later

Just a wealth of stupid, moronic, and ill-advised ideas. The film starts out with a fairly strong intro, but the central character here doesn't have any impact on the rest of the film, so it feels wasted. It switches plots halfway through after a strong start, inexplicably. I assume the new evolved infected were meant to be scary. I found them to be unintentionally hilarious in several scenes, and if you watch this film you'll understand why. The later portions of the film are just as nonsensical, but in short, it gets more and more absurd as it progresses. Wait to see it on streaming.

**A beautiful film with a handful of odd choices.** I was hesitant going into this film. On one hand, it was a mainstream zombie film with a big budget and a competent crew. But on the other hand, it was in a franchise I have never loved, and it was the start of a new trilogy. So, while I was confident that it would be a solid movie, I did not know if it would work for me personally or if it would feel like it could stand on its own. I walked out of the theater satisfied with the film. And in the day since, I have grown even more positive on it and am giving it a **9 out of 10**. I think the part that will surprise people the most is the emotional weight that the film carries. And it all comes from the great set of characters and their relationships. There is a lot of heart and even some great humor to get you invested. This elevates the film above being just another fun zombie movie. But let's talk about the zombies/infected. There are a couple new ideas introduced with them in this that I really dig. They are more monstrous than ever, but they are also showing more humanity than ever. The action and kills are a lot of fun. Everything is as fast and terrifying as usual with this franchise. So, the action is mostly fantastic. I say 'mostly' because there are a couple of editing choices that I think distract from the action more than they enhance it. I can say the same for a handful of other points in the film. They chose to insert flashes of other footage at times. One of the times I loved it. One of the times it was weird and actually felt like a trailer for the movie. And another time, it was just very confusing. (I still don't know the meaning of it) Those are a couple of the times where the style didn't fully work. But for 95% of the film, it does! This film has a look that is so unique. **It feels both calm and like a nightmare at the same time!** I don't know how they did it. If you have seen the awesome trailer, you get a feel for the style of the film. It does not disappoint. Then, there is a scene at the end that sets up the future of the trilogy. This scene has a style and a tone that is like nothing else in the movie. Truly a WTF moment for the audience. It was bold, and it did not work for me. But since it was just a tease to the future films and not integral to this one, I am willing to forgive it. Because before that, we got an actual ending to the film that was emotionally satisfying. This film has no problem standing on its own. Sure, you are left with more to explore, and certain character arcs are left unfinished. But go in knowing it is a trilogy (and that the next one is coming as soon as this January), and these things hopefully won't bother you. - All in all, **I'm a happy zombie fan! :D**

***SPOILERS/STORY SUMMARY REVIEW*** What I will say about this movie is it's not all bad. This first half was really good, with an opening that was reminiscent of 28 Weeks Later. Afterwards though, it cuts to completely different characters for basically the rest of the film. Which would be fine and all, just showing a snippet of how the infection was 28 years before the start of the movie, but it does a weird call back in the ending scene that feels extremely out of place compared to the rest of the film. Aside from that, the first half is really good and the tension of survival of a father and son feels heavy and suspenseful, especially with the addition of a new type of infected: the alpha. This new infected is basically a 'roided up super infected that is both smarter and stronger than normal ones. It's only after making it back to the safe village does the movie noticeably change mood to a more coming of age feeling movie, oddly reminding me a bit of Stand By Me. It's at this point, my enjoyment of this movie kinda began to fall. This latter half just ends up with the boy and his mom going out to find a doctor. The whole trip, it kinda feels like things just happen. And sure, the second half is about accepting death, but it feels so paved over when the boy has a more violent reaction to his dad cheating than the guy who actually kills. It feels so jarring when that scene happens cause it doesn't really fit how the character acted beforehand. After all is said and done, boy stays outside of the safe village and wanders where it ends in a bizarre scene of him running into a pack of survivors which one turns out to be the kid from the opening scene. It's so weird cause it a group of 5 who at first I mistook as a gang of grannies doing par-core and brutalizing some runner infected all while some trash metal was playing in the background. I did get a laugh at the fact that I wasn't the only one in the theater wondering what the hell was going on when that scene started. TLDR: Movie is good and really suspenseful up until they return to base in witch it turns more into a bad attempt of a coming of age story that finishes off with a power rangers type end scene. This whole movie reminds me of what happened with Longlegs. Advertising made the movie seem like a much different movie vs the actual viewing experience. Don't know how the next to films are gonna be like (if they even release), but seeing how much this first film feels like a filler movie doesn't give me much hope that they'll be good....

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://talkingfilms.net/28-years-later-review-ambitious-and-beautiful-but-struggles-with-narrative-overload/ "28 Years Later is an imperfect but undeniably bold movie - a worthy addition to the saga. It's more technically polished, features excellent performances, and even if some of its narrative risks don't pay off, the thematic ambition is admirable, despite struggling to bring all of its elements into a cohesive whole. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland are commenting on the state of the modern world - from national identity crises to the ethics of human survival - delivering moments of high intensity, morally relevant questions, and striking visual filmmaking. Though not entirely satisfying, the film leaves us with a firm curiosity about the direct sequel arriving in just a few months." Rating: B

It’s almost thirty years since Cillian Murphy wandered around in his hospital gown; the so-called “rage” virus still shows no sign of abating and with Britain effectively quarantined from Europe there are few outposts untouched by it’s madness. Protected by the tides, the small island of Lindisfarne is one such bastion and that’s where “Spike” (Alfie Williams) lives with his dad (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his poorly mum (Jodie Comer). It’s a big day in the place when “Spike” is taken to the mainland by his father to make his first kill. That’s not least because he is barely twelve years old and because he has never seen anything of town nor land as far as the eye can see before. He’s also never seen any of the infected before, either. With this trip being fairly fraught and eventful and with one of his family friends at home telling him of a doctor “Kelson” (Ralph Fiennes) who might be able to help his increasingly disturbed mother, the newly emboldened “Spike” comes up with a daring plan to see if he can help make her better. It’s all pretty standard zombie fayre this film but though there is quite a decent effort from the confident young Williams and Comer does lethally equipped confused well too, the rest of it just lacks much for originality. There’s plenty of action, but there was that in “Shaun of the Dead” (2004) too - and at least that was funny. This is just all a bit intense, with the psycho-babble “up and down again” commentary and some inconsistently incorporated archive from old Robin Hood or Olivier films that seem to suggest something of the recurring nature of history, but also of this plot. Sure, it’s only part one of a trilogy and the iodine-bedecked Fiennes does introduce a little quirky intrigue for what might come next, but I was really quite disappointed with this over-hyped and all too often quite episodic horror, sorry.