One of those rare sequels than measures up to the original, 28 Weeks Later is a welcome surprise - an Aliens to Alien.Īfter a frantic and frankly scary opening, the action takes a while to kick off again, but once it does it's chase-chase-bite-chase-kill-chase right up to the climax. Don (Carlyle), who left his wife behind to be attacked by those infected, attempts to build a new life with his children - Andy (Muggleton) and Tam (Poots) - but a carrier of the disease somehow infiltrates the 'safe' zone and Don is inadvertantly responsible for setting the whole circus in motion again. Boasting one of the most suspenseful opening scenes in recent cinema history and an ending that leaves it wide open for a possible third film, 28 Weeks Later is a decent sequel that can’t quite match up to the prowess of the first but is a fun ride nonetheless, keeping the possibility of a sequel wide open.Set, as the title suggests, 28 weeks after the outbreak of the rage virus that ravaged London, the first wave of survivors are returning home, albeit confined within a fortified section called District 1, an area patrolled incessantly by the American army. While a lot of the nuanced, thought provocative themes are lost this time around, 28 Weeks Later replaces that with a finely balanced pacing, juggling a mixture of action and suspense-building horror. There are still some good performances here Idris Elba and Jeremy Renner are both iconic in their roles and the zombie extras are as menacing and frightening as they’ve ever been.Ģ8 Weeks Later never loses focus on what made the first so endearing while building on the horror, turning it into a much more action-driven film than the first. Characters making illogical decisions, cookie-cutter archetypal soldiers and the usual slew of gruesome deaths to throwaway characters make 28 Weeks Later a far less intelligent film but what it lacks in smarts, it makes up for with a quickened pace and a much more action-packed storyline.Īlthough a lot of the characters fall back on throwaway clichéd tropes, Robert Carlyle brings a wonderful air of vulnerability to his role as Don that helps his character stand out among a lot of the other actors here.
Unlike 28 Days Later which managed to defy a lot of the usual horror tropes with its dual-focused plotline and interesting, compelling characters, 28 Weeks Later slips into the usual horror tropes you’d expect from zombie films. Things inevitably go awry and what transpires from here is a heart-stopping journey through the desolate streets of London as Don (Robert Carlyle) and his two children Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) and Tammy (Imogen Poots) fight for their lives as the outbreak spreads again. With the infected all but eradicated as a result of starvation, things seem somewhat stable and it’s here where our story begins. Set six months after the initial outbreak that decimated England, 28 Weeks Later sees the US Army fly in to try to salvage the situation, occupying a small area in London to try to repopulate and take back control of the city. Despite a heart-stopping opening and several well worked action scenes, 28 Weeks Later fails to ignite the same intensity the first had in abundance, despite an action packed story. An Action Packed Sequel That Doesn’t Quite Match The Firstįollowing on from the success of 28 Days Later and delivering a sequel to match the excellent work done by Alex Garland and Danny Boyle was always going to be a tough ask.
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