Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: Alex Garland
Tagline: Day 1: Exposure - Day 3: Infection - Day 8: Epidemic - Day 15: Evacuation - Day 20: Devastation
Actors: Alex Palmer, Bindu De Stoppani, Jukka Hiltunen, David Schneider, Cillian Murphy, Toby Sedgwick, Naomie Harris, Noah Huntley, Christopher Dunne, Emma Hitching, Alexander Delamere, Kim McGarrity, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, Justin Hackney
Runtime: 1h 53m
Category: British, Outbreak
Synopsis: During a routine animal rescue, three activists get infected with the Rage virus. Twenty-Eight days later, Jim wakes up on a hospital gurney…alone. He walks out into the street and looks around at an abandoned London! Not another soul in sight! He ventures further and finds Selena and her partner. She explains to him that a massive outbreak had forced London to evacuate. This viral outbreak turns its poor victims into mindless murderers; like rabies times one hundred! They meet up with Frank and his daughter Hannah and they make it to a military base, but all is not well. A final, three-way battle ensues between Jim, the military, and a swarm of the infected.
Review: First things first…THIS IS NOT A ZOMBIE MOVIE. Notice I am not yelling. There has been so much debate over this topic that it should not bear repeating. But it is imperative that you understand and take the movie into proper context.
This movie is actually considered a remake of a remake. The first of its kind was The Last Man on Earth (1964), featuring the one and only, Vincent Price. The remake of that film was The Omega Man (1971), featuring Charlton Heston. The original film of The Last Man on Earth (1964) was a zombie movie, but both The Omega Man (1971) and this film was not.
The reason this is not a zombie movie is because even though the infected use their teeth to attack the uninfected, does not mean they are eating them. They never actually show and/or imply that the infected eat at all, flesh or otherwise! This takes away two characteristics of the zombie: that zombies eat human flesh because they have to, and that zombies attack with the intent to eat, not just to kill. The infected in this movie are killing to kill…plain and simple. They are doing whatever they can to kill or infect those around them. Another major difference between zombies and the infected portrayed in this movie is that…zombies are dead! The infected in this movie are not dead…they are infected! Big…fuck…difference!
Anyway, now that that’s over with…this movie was fantastic! I loved the story, the gore, the acting; all were superb. This is definitely gonna be a movie for the record books. The story itself is not new. As stated before it is a remake of another movie…with some obvious twists (they should be obvious now). I liked that the infected were not zombies. Even though I love zombies and never pass up a zombie movie, no matter how bad the plot or title, I was relieved to see something a bit new. Not zombies, but humans infected with pure rage, like rabies meets…Hitler. I had never seen a movie quite like it in my life.
The acting was terrific for a Brit film. I was surprised that a very small handful of actors could carry the whole movie. But I guess when you introduce new characters here and there it helps. Each character was believable in their own way and was able to suck me right into the story…just the way I like it.
The gore was phenomenal. The effects used on the infected and the use of blood and chunks of “other stuff” were masterfully done. I am thoroughly impressed with Danny Boyle’s vision and mastery of his craft. Not many other films can have excessive amounts of blood and chunkies without going overboard. On top of the gore, the effects used to simulate a desolate London sent a cold shiver down my spine. Absolute isolation is, I think, on everyone’s worst fear list. Bravo Danny.
Rating: 24. The only reason I didn’t give it a 25 rating is because I think that the public would have liked to see more about the virus. I think a two minute explanation could have sufficed. But other than that, I loved the movie. If you haven’t seen it yet, what the hell are you waiting for? Get off your lazy ass and go get this movie…go…NOW! (24of25).
Buy this DVD at HKFlix.com
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