Calm Like A Bomb

The zombies in 28 Weeks Later, directed Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, really represent the movie compared to other zombie horror flicks. In your average scare movie, the zombies move slowly, they basically limp. There's no dawdling in the 28 franchise. The mindless flesh eating monsters move as fast -nay, faster than their victims. Their speed sums up 28 Weeks Later's intensity compared to other horror flicks. Not only is it a rush, it's like an Olympic runner's rush.
The movie takes place roughly twenty-eight weeks after the first installment, 28 Days Later. The shock from the destructive Rage Virus (a disease spread by any kind of human fluid such as saliva or blood that turns the infected into an overly rabid zombie) is over. Britain has been overrun by the Rage Virus and quarantined. An American led NATO force comes to the U.K. to "civilize" the country. What could possibly go wrong? Well, beyond the Iraqi tested "saviors", as luck would have it, a genetic abnormality is discovered that makes some people immune to the Virus. Unfortunately the family possessing this trait seem to have been born without common sense. Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) and Tam (Imogen Poots), the youngest of this family, decide to leave the safe Green Zone (another subtle reference) and venture back to their house in wasteland London. Through a series of events -some of which always brings the audience to exasperated sighs from watching sheer stupidity- the Virus spreads. The U.S. military can't control the situation (possibly the most believable part of the movie) and chaos ensues.
28 Weeks' story depends on the surprising outcome of the character's choices. What seems like a pure action can have disastrous results, and the reverse is true. Character depth or development tends to be an optional attribute of any horror movie and there's not much here. But there isn't much opportunity for anything other than fear and a panicked desperation to survive.
The main characters are likable for their values, which motivates them to go against orders. Jeremy Renner plays Sergeant Doyle, a Delta Force sniper who decides to save people rather than kill them. Rose Byrne plays Scarlett, an Army major and the occupation force's chief medical officer. Scarlett sees the value in Tam and Andy as a possible cure to the virus. Doyle and Scarlett both leave their posts and eventually meet up with Tam and Andy. These rogue officers make a valiant effort to keep the children -possibly the future of human civilization- safe.
The movie's problem lies neither with its scariness nor its lack of imagination. 28 Weeks Later misses in the basic logic department. A main character turned Infected seems to have more intelligence than the rest of his kind and the movie's ending provokes a "how could that have happened?" response concerning the intelligence of the Infected and the choices some characters make. Also, the movie is kind of a downer. At the end of 28 Days Later, the hippies win and the solution to Rage (viral or otherwise) is pacifism. 28 Weeks Later is not so clear cut. The peaceful die, the intelligent die, the ignorant die, the angry die -and kill as undead. Not every movie comes with a lesson though and that seems to be the case with 28 Weeks. It's a speculation movie about what would happen in a world with a Rage Virus. The answer: chaos, death, and more chaos. The movie also does demonstrate that chaos and emergency brings out the worst in people and the best. People can't control the results of their actions but that doesn't make an endearing choice worthless. Regardless, 28 Weeks is definitely scary and for those who like horror, action, and don't mind a few holes of logic, 28 Weeks delivers on all counts.