28 Weeks Later

In 2003 Danny Boyle reinvigorated the horror genre by giving us the anti-zombie. "28 Days Later" featured the "infected living" as opposed to the undead we had seen in George Romero's "[Blank] of the Dead" movies. The infected were overcome with rage, killing all they came into contact with in exceedingly violent ways. The film set in Britain introduced us to Cillian Murphy (Scarecrow on "Batman Begins") and was just, ya know, like cool and stuff.
"28 Weeks Later" (directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo) picks up after the last of the infected are believed to have died. Britain is being rebuilt and patrolled by the U.S. military. Meanwhile, Don ("Trainspotting's" Robert Carlyle) is being reunited with his children. The opening sequence sees Don escaping a horde of the infected back at the beginning of the outbreak, leaving his wife ("Braveheart's" Catherine McCormack) behind. Don tells the kids that there was nothing he could have done and that she had died. Well Don is in for a surprise!
"28 Weeks Later" has very little in the way of character or story development. It's pretty much a series of escapes and massacres, but it's as fast moving as any movie I've seen in a long time. There are some really outstanding sequences, including a great one involving helicopter blades that recalls the original "Dawn of the Dead" and the recent "Grindhouse." Fresnadillo's film is thoroughly watchable but it never quite connects the way it should. It doesn't really develop the story further than the first movie did, which spent a lot more time on character and the way the outbreak had effected the survivors. It's worth watching but it just feels a bit empty ultimately. 6.5/10

Still to come... "The Flying Scotsman" and "Everything's Gone Green." I also plan to see "The Ex" very soon.