It's all the rage

Greetings, and welcome back to my weekly film review. So far, this blog has been getting good feedback from people who have read it. I welcome any sort of constructive criticism any of you readers may be willing to give. The better I get, the more you all can enjoy it!

As you all may know, the next few months at the theater could be dubbed the Summer of Sequel. Most of the blockbuster films that will be released are second, third, and in one case, fifth installments of previous films, and this week is no different. 2002 brought moviegoers a chilling, yet refreshing take of the zombie genre with Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. In that film, a group of ill advised animal rights activists accidently release a virus that turns its victims into raging, homicidal maniacs, hence the term "rage virus." In 28 short days, the virus destroys pretty much all of London, and it's up to a group of survivors to stick together and try to make it to the next day. Boyle's film brought us face to face with our humanity, and we really got to see the willpower that one possesses when threatened with certain doom.

28 Weeks Later picks up during the aftermath of the carnage, where we learn that the infected finally died of starvation, and American led NATO forces moved in to start the cleanup and reconstruction. 28 weeks after the virus was first released, a section of London has been deemed safe for residents to return to in order to get on with their lives. Don(Robert Carlyle) is a father who is finally reunited with his children Tammy(Imogen Poots) and Andy(Mackintosh Muggleton). Don tearfully explains to his children that he, their mother Alice(Catherine McCormack), and a group of survivors were attacked by some of the infected, and that she didn't quite make it out. What he doesn't tell them is that he really left her behind during the attack in an attempt to save his own ass. I guess he figured that was much cheaper than a divorce. The kids defy military orders and manage to sneak past quite a few soldiers to take a trip back to their old house. There they discover that Alice is still alive, and soon soldiers show up to rescue the kids and quarantine mommy dearest. Don is thrilled to find out his children are ok, but not so much as it concerns his wife. The kids question him about what really happened, and Don invokes the Bill Clinton defense(it depends on what your definition of "I saw your mother die" really is). The medical staff, let by Scarlet(Rose Byrne) discover that Alice is a carrier of the rage virus, despite the abscence of any symptoms. She pleads with General Stone(Idris Elba;ladies, hands where I can see them at all times) to allow her to live so that she can study her blood to find a possible cure, but Stringer Bell ain't having none of that. A tearful reunion between husband and wife leads to the virus being transmitted, and before you know it, London Bridge is falling down and it can't get up.

The first film was all about people trying to protect themselves from the infected. In this one, all hell breaks loose and people are trying to protect themselves from the very people assigned to protect them;the military. General Stone declares Code Red, which means shoot first, second, and third, and fuck the questions. Watching innocent people catching bullets along with the infected almost makes you wonder just who the bad guys may be in this situation. One sniper in particular, Doyle(Jeremy Renner) is visibly disturbed by the all out massacre and winds up working to get Scarlet, Andy and Tammy to safety. Parellels between this movie and the current situation in Iraq will be drawn by some viewers. The infected could be substituted for insurgents, and London could stand in for Baghdad. When the city gets firebombed and walls of flame flow through the city, indiscriminately taking out whoever is unlucky enough to be still alive, it makes your wonder if this scenario could actually play out in the real world.

The film is not without its flaws. Zombie attacks are often shot with shaky cameras, and a mass decapitation scene via helicopter worked a bit better in Grindhouse, where such an over the top move seemed right at home. Still, the movie works as a solid follow up to its predecessor. Since Hollywood doesn't know when to leave well enough alone, the film ends with a pack of infected giving chase, a shot of the Eiffel Tower, and the feeling that this saga isn't quite done yet. All in all, I give the film 3 stars.