In 2002, Danny Boyle’s and Alex Garland’s zombie thriller 28 Days Later revitalised the zombie genre and in turn spawned a new wave of zombie entertainment where the dead no longer shuffled, but sprinted. Recently revisiting 28 Days Later reminded me of the films often forgotten sequel, with myself having very few good memories about the film. But seeing as it’s available on Disney+, I thought what’s the harm in seeing whether my opinion has changed with time. 28 Days Later became an unexpected smash hit for studio Twentieth Century Fox and so Boyle was quickly rushed into talks about a sequel, these plans ultimately never came to fruition because Boyle went on to team up with Garland once again for their 2007 sci-fi thriller Sunshine, but he agreed to be attached to the project as executive producer. Boyle sourced a new director, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, and with double the budget, work started on 28 Weeks Later.
During the events of the first film, Don (Robert Carlyle) and his wife Alice (Catherine McCormack) were hiding in a farmhouse with a small group of survivors. But when the infected eventually found them, Don ran away from the house abandoning Mary and leaving her for dead.
Twenty-eight weeks later and the majority of the infected have died from starvation, NATO has established a safe zone near Canary Wharf in London, and displaced Britons are starting to be rehomed within the safe zone. Don is reunited with his children Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) and Tammy (Imogen Poots), and life seems to be returning back to normal. But when Andy & Tammy sneak out of the safe zone and discover their mother hiding in their former family home, Alice is brought back to London for medical investigation as she is testing positive for the Rage virus. An asymptomatic carrier of the virus, it doesn’t take long for Alice to unintentionally spread the infection and begin a new outbreak. With the help of medical officer Scarlet (Rose Byrne) and U.S. soldier Doyle (Jeremy Renner), Andy & Tammy must escape London.
During the events of the first film, Don (Robert Carlyle) and his wife Alice (Catherine McCormack) were hiding in a farmhouse with a small group of survivors. But when the infected eventually found them, Don ran away from the house abandoning Mary and leaving her for dead.
Twenty-eight weeks later and the majority of the infected have died from starvation, NATO has established a safe zone near Canary Wharf in London, and displaced Britons are starting to be rehomed within the safe zone. Don is reunited with his children Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) and Tammy (Imogen Poots), and life seems to be returning back to normal. But when Andy & Tammy sneak out of the safe zone and discover their mother hiding in their former family home, Alice is brought back to London for medical investigation as she is testing positive for the Rage virus. An asymptomatic carrier of the virus, it doesn’t take long for Alice to unintentionally spread the infection and begin a new outbreak. With the help of medical officer Scarlet (Rose Byrne) and U.S. soldier Doyle (Jeremy Renner), Andy & Tammy must escape London.
28 Weeks Later is so much better than I remember it being and is potentially even better than the original film. I’m not really sure where my bad memories about it came from, but they were completely unfounded as I found myself having a great time. The only thing I can truly hold against 28 Weeks Later is that it’s extremely iterative of other zombie works from around that time, which in comparison to 28 Days Later being the literal trendsetter of that kind of zombie media can come as a little bit of a surprise. Perhaps this was my issue with the film originally? Because it’s hard not to go into the film expecting it to redefine the genre like its predecessor, but instead it just adheres to now common genre tropes.
What I really loved about 28 Weeks Later is how well it visually communicates society trying to rebuild after a disaster like the Rage virus, and how it even includes asymptomatic infected. In a post-COVID world, it’s details like these that make the film so much more believable to me and make me appreciate how much thought went into the virus and how it operates.
The film’s structure is also really great. Opening with an action sequence similar to the kind found in the original film before moving onto showcasing how NATO has safeguarded London. Seeing outside the safezone gives the audiences a real sense of how destructive the Rage virus was, and what an unpopulated London would look like after several months.
Switching protagonists from Don to Tammy and Andy halfway through the film was a bold move but it pays off significantly as we get all the worldbuilding through an adult's eyes but all the terror through a child’s.
The scene near the end of the film where Tammy, Andy, and Scarlet are in the London Underground is absolutely terrifying and has some incredible lighting, I'm really happy that it ended on such a high. The final sequence, seeing the Rage virus unleashed on Paris also sent shivers down my spine in how well set up it all is.
The best scene in the whole film though is the sniper scene. Immediately after the Rage virus starts to rear its ugly head again the sniper patrols throughout the city skyline are instructed to shoot anyone they suspect to be infected, before eventually being told to eliminate everyone on the ground. It's a truly gripping sequence and the first time we also get properly acquainted with Doyle.
The one area of the film's story I struggle to get on board with though is the decision to make Don a villain. His cowardice at the start of the film is seen as grounds to make him the villain and it's totally unearned. Sure, he did leave his wife for dead to save his own skin, there was no way he would have been able to save her without dying himself. He lies to his children because what kind of horrendous father would tell his kids that he left their mother for dead so it would give him time to get away? He's not a bad person, he made an impossible choice, but either outcome of that situation is as bad as each other.
The performances are altogether excellent with veterans like Carlyle, Byrne, and Renner delivering expected high-quality performances, but the real star of the show for me was Poots. Only her second film role, and the first time she’s in any kind of leading capacity, Poots demonstrated that even at her young age she could command a scene and delivers the most emotion out of any of her co-stars. It makes the swap to her as one of the leading protagonists even better because she handles herself so well.
I was surprised to see Idris Elba in such a minor role, especially one where he’s American considering he has one of the most iconic English accents in Hollywood, and this is a film that takes place in England.
The visual effects haven’t held up too well though. With 28 Days Later being made on such a small budget there were little to no digital special effects, but 28 Weeks Later relies on them a lot for some of the grander moments and big environment shots of a destroyed and unpopulated London. They look very out of place and cheap, and it can detract from the overall experience because of how glaringly obvious they are.
28 Weeks Later is a good sequel though, and one I feel doesn’t get enough attention. In comparison to its predecessor it's inferior in terms of what it achieves with the zombie genre, but superior in how it portrays the reality of it all. Surprising words for me to write down because of how I felt about the film prior to re-watching it, but I had a really good time with it. It’s a shame that the franchise didn’t get a third film considering the ending that 28 Weeks Later has, and I know that Boyle has stated many times about his desire to see a 28 Months or Years later be made, but it seems destined to be one of those franchises that fades away into memory. If you’ve not seen 28 Weeks Later I highly recommend giving it a go, and you don’t even need to have seen 28 Days Later to understand what’s going on because it’s an entirely new cast of characters. Maybe one day we will see the series return.
What I really loved about 28 Weeks Later is how well it visually communicates society trying to rebuild after a disaster like the Rage virus, and how it even includes asymptomatic infected. In a post-COVID world, it’s details like these that make the film so much more believable to me and make me appreciate how much thought went into the virus and how it operates.
The film’s structure is also really great. Opening with an action sequence similar to the kind found in the original film before moving onto showcasing how NATO has safeguarded London. Seeing outside the safezone gives the audiences a real sense of how destructive the Rage virus was, and what an unpopulated London would look like after several months.
Switching protagonists from Don to Tammy and Andy halfway through the film was a bold move but it pays off significantly as we get all the worldbuilding through an adult's eyes but all the terror through a child’s.
The scene near the end of the film where Tammy, Andy, and Scarlet are in the London Underground is absolutely terrifying and has some incredible lighting, I'm really happy that it ended on such a high. The final sequence, seeing the Rage virus unleashed on Paris also sent shivers down my spine in how well set up it all is.
The best scene in the whole film though is the sniper scene. Immediately after the Rage virus starts to rear its ugly head again the sniper patrols throughout the city skyline are instructed to shoot anyone they suspect to be infected, before eventually being told to eliminate everyone on the ground. It's a truly gripping sequence and the first time we also get properly acquainted with Doyle.
The one area of the film's story I struggle to get on board with though is the decision to make Don a villain. His cowardice at the start of the film is seen as grounds to make him the villain and it's totally unearned. Sure, he did leave his wife for dead to save his own skin, there was no way he would have been able to save her without dying himself. He lies to his children because what kind of horrendous father would tell his kids that he left their mother for dead so it would give him time to get away? He's not a bad person, he made an impossible choice, but either outcome of that situation is as bad as each other.
The performances are altogether excellent with veterans like Carlyle, Byrne, and Renner delivering expected high-quality performances, but the real star of the show for me was Poots. Only her second film role, and the first time she’s in any kind of leading capacity, Poots demonstrated that even at her young age she could command a scene and delivers the most emotion out of any of her co-stars. It makes the swap to her as one of the leading protagonists even better because she handles herself so well.
I was surprised to see Idris Elba in such a minor role, especially one where he’s American considering he has one of the most iconic English accents in Hollywood, and this is a film that takes place in England.
The visual effects haven’t held up too well though. With 28 Days Later being made on such a small budget there were little to no digital special effects, but 28 Weeks Later relies on them a lot for some of the grander moments and big environment shots of a destroyed and unpopulated London. They look very out of place and cheap, and it can detract from the overall experience because of how glaringly obvious they are.
28 Weeks Later is a good sequel though, and one I feel doesn’t get enough attention. In comparison to its predecessor it's inferior in terms of what it achieves with the zombie genre, but superior in how it portrays the reality of it all. Surprising words for me to write down because of how I felt about the film prior to re-watching it, but I had a really good time with it. It’s a shame that the franchise didn’t get a third film considering the ending that 28 Weeks Later has, and I know that Boyle has stated many times about his desire to see a 28 Months or Years later be made, but it seems destined to be one of those franchises that fades away into memory. If you’ve not seen 28 Weeks Later I highly recommend giving it a go, and you don’t even need to have seen 28 Days Later to understand what’s going on because it’s an entirely new cast of characters. Maybe one day we will see the series return.