Where Are the Zombies!?
28 Days Later has been billed as the next evolution in zombie horror. This is hardly the case. While the first half of the film is an astonishing achievement in film-making, the second half leaves much to be desired. The first half of the film raises interesting questions, and makes the viewer think. The viewer, however, must stop thinking in the second half, as it deteriorates into a mish mash of gun fighting and non-zombie related violence.
The film opens with a group of rebels freeing caged monkeys from a clinic, where supposedly they were being tested on. Unfortunately for the people of England, the monkeys were infected with Rage, which turns those afflicted into mindless, raging beings, alive only to satisfy their bloodlust. The virus spreads, and soon most of England is infected with Rage. A man named Jim awakes, and finds himself in a deserted hospital. Confused, he leaves, and finds that the streets of London are deserted as well. Not a single thing is moving, except for Jim. These shots are stunning, and extremely atmospheric. This is without question the only scary part of the whole movie, because we aren't sure exactly what's coming.
After a run-in with a gang of the Infected, Jim is saved by survivors. One being the hard-nosed Selena, who would sacrifice anything to save herself. She leads him through the city, where eventually, they stumble upon the apartment of Frank, and his daughter, Hannah. It seems they have been recieving messages from a military base, so they decide to set out for it.
This is where the story begins to go downhill. The first half is extremely creative, with the shots of the city. The film shows how the survivors have adapted to their new home, such as piling buckets on top of a roof to catch rain water. But once they reach the base, it ceases to be creative and begins to become stereotypical. Wow, the military leader is corrupt. Didn't see that coming.
As far as horror movies go, this one does not stand up to the likes of Night of Living Dead. There are literally less than three scares in the whole movie, and they all come early. The rest is just gratuitous violence, however, being a zombie movie, this isn't out of place. I find it strangely ironic and sad that the human characters are often more violent than the zombies themselves.
So, while this movie isn't terrible, it is far from good. The way the film is shot is very well done, but what could have been a meaningful story was not executed properly. Had it stayed the course of the first half, this film really could have been something special.