"28 weeks later” is a sequel to the popular 2002 cult film “28 days later”. Using the play on the numbers the film takes place 28 weeks after the events that took place in the first film. This is a highly entertaining film that is tense and for the most part a worthy sequel to the first film.
As with any sequel I generally ask myself a simple question. “Did we really need a sequel?”. It’s important for me to ask that question because I loathe films that don’t go to the heart of the original and expand on it. Think of films like “Aliens” or “Terminator 2”. They both not only continued the story but took the best elements of the first film and made them better. That being said I think this film works as a sequel, but it could go either way as necessary or not. Personally, I would have preferred a prequel with all the events leading up to the first movie.
The movie starts out with a flashback scene. We are taken back to sometime around the events of the original outbreak of the “rage” virus. A few survivors are hiding out in a cottage in the hillside hoping for rescue. We are introduced to Don and Alice (played by Robert Carlyle, and Catherine McCormick respectively). They are living in this world falling apart around them hoping their children survived the outbreak because they were on a school trip out of the country. Eventually the virus finds them and has them all fighting for their lives. Who escapes and why certainly helps build on the story later.
After a very cool postscript laying out the events that happened between the two films we are re-introduced to Britain. All of the infected have died of starvation and the United States Military has started clearing the country of the infected. Slowly people are being re-introduced into a “safe” zone part of the country in an effort to re-populate the country. This is where we meet the kids, Alice (Emily Beecham) and Andy (newcomer, Mackintosh Muggleton ). The kids are reunited with their father (Don) who we learned was able to escape and survive the outbreak by making it to a military complex. Things are meant to be normal in the safe zone, but there is a high military presence and a lot of anxiety.
It doesn’t take long for the children to escape the safe zone and stumble into their mother who happens to have survived as well. After being escorted back to the safe zone mom unknowingly infects someone causing a new outbreak. This is the part of the film I really liked in terms of writing. Rowan Joffe and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo do a great job of bring back the “rage” virus without insulting the audience. It’s very clever.
With the new outbreak it’s left up to a doctor named Scarlet (Rose Bryne) and a military sniper (Doyle played by Jeremy Renner) to try to save the children and get them out of the city after the military loses control. The doctor thinks the children are of some importance because of a link to their mother.
The movie basically becomes a cat and mouse chase game. The survivors try to escape the city and get away from not only the military but the infected as well. A helicopter pilot named Flynn (Harold Perrineau) who is friends with Doyle is enlisted to help as well. This leads us to one of the best scenes in the movie which pays homage in my mind to the great Romero classic “Day of the Dead”. You’ll know what I mean when you see it.
Unfortunately, the movie begins to have problems at this stage. The father who had become infected begins to sort of “chase” the children. This goes against the normal nature of the virus. It sort of gives the character a personality whereas previous victims of the virus are uncontrolled mad who kill anyone. A “hero” rage infected person just does not work.
In the end a few main characters die and some survive but ultimately we are left with a feeling of being satisfied. We are also of course set up for the eventually sequel “28 months later”. I recommend this film. I also would tell you 90% of it is as good as the first film. That 10% however leaves me wanting more and wanting to watch the original again.
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