Although “28 Days Later” doesn’t fit neatly into any genre, I’d say it’s more or less a post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror film. It’s directed by Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting,” “Shallow Grave”), and it’s something of an art-house movie. The dynamite first act of “28 Days Later” doesn’t deliver on its promises, and yet I still recommend this movie because it is a compelling drama with genuinely scary moments.
I was dazzled by the beginning of the film where well-meaning, but misguided, animal activists break into a research laboratory in Cambridge, England. They release a chimpanzee before they learn the primate is infected with some sort of virus that causes uncontrollable rage. The chimp immediately bites one of the activists and infects her, turning her into a rage-filled, zombie-like creature that mindlessly attacks non-infected humans. This single infection is the catalyst for a fast-moving plague that sweeps through Britain, quickly turning it into a wasteland.
Around the time of the lab break-in, a bicycle messenger named Jim (Cillian Murphy) is involved in a serious accident in London, where he is hospitalized.
He eventually meets other uninfected survivors, including Selena (Naomie Harris), Frank (Brendan Gleeson), and Frank’s daughter Hannah (Megan Burns). Realizing they can’t survive in London, these four people head in Frank’s taxicab for Manchester, where they believe there’s an army unit that may be able to give them sanctuary. But soon they find themselves facing a new set of harrowing circumstances.
“28 Days Later” is a good film, but not a great one. At least for me, the scariest aspect of the movie is how it brings home civilization’s fragility. The opening sequences are so strong I thought the film might be the kind of intellectual sci-fi that Stanley Kubrick or Andrei Tarkovsky have created in the past, but it’s not long before “28 Days Later” takes a different direction.
The DVD comes with bonus materials which I’ve listed on a separate page.
