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STAR RATINGS EXPLAINED
5 Stars Classic
4 Stars Excellent
3 Stars Good
2 Stars Fair
1 Star Tragic

POSTER ART
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FILM DETAILS
Certificate
TBC
Cast
Robert Carlyle
Rose Byrne
Jeremy Renner
Harold Perrineau
Catherine McCormack
Imogen Poots
Idris Elba
Mackintosh Muggleton.
Directors
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.
Screenwriters
Rowan Joffe
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Lopez-Lavigne
Jesus Olmo.
Running Time
TBC minutes


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28 Weeks Later (TBC)

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28 Weeks Later
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Plot
Britain has been emptied. There's nobody there. It's completely dead. And six months later the Americans arrive to reboot it back up again. But, of course, something goes wrong...

Review

28 Days Later  was a traditional British science-fiction/horror movie with added smarts and innovative style. This sequel extends the story in intelligent, suspenseful ways. Simply because it’s a ‘part two’, it isn’t as fresh, but enough changes are rung to stop it feeling like a remake. Like Aliens, it ups the action scale by bringing in Yanks with big guns, which — as George Romero has often shown — means even more peril for ordinary folks caught between plague and the authorities.
 
With Danny Boyle and Alex Garland otherwise occupied by Sunshine, a new creative team takes over. Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, of the outstanding and unusual Intacto, evokes what Boyle did on the first film without slavishly copying him. The prologue, which takes place early in the crisis, offers an old-fashioned zombie attack as hands crash through the boarded-up windows of a besieged house. It also serves to introduce an unusual protagonist, the weasely Don (Robert Carlyle) — who puts his survival ahead of all else.
 
After its first burst, the film hops ahead to the aftermath and takes a few creepy reels before the action starts again — but once the Raging and blood-spitting begins  it’s relentless, as panic spreads and inept attempts to eradicate the plague give a whittled-down band of survivors as many problems as the screaming infected.
 
The fractured British family are an interesting focus for the film: child actors Imogen Poots and Mackintosh Muggleton are terrific, while Carlyle and McCormack get the maximum impact from shifty looks, malign glares and freak-outs. The American contingent — scientist Rose Byrne, grunts Jeremy Renner and Harold Perrineau — offers thinner material, especially once everyone has to start running. 
 
The set-pieces, however, escalate with mostly excellent results: watching it all go wrong for the military — and their desperate response — is harrowing, but the tonal shift in a scene involving a helicopter and the infected on a heath which strays into Peter Jackson/Sam Raimi comic-horror territory is less effective. Momentum is regained, though, for a strong, dark finish.

Verdict
Bigger action, more amazing deserted (and devastated) London sequences and biting contemporary relevance, if a touch less heart than the original.


Reviewer: Kim Newman

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Your Reviews
Average user rating for 28 Weeks Later
Empire Star Rating

Enjoyed it more than 28 Days
Empire User Rating

More exciting and tense than the first film, more emotionally engaging and great acting from Carlyle, Renner and the head scientist is Stringer Frickin Bell. Managed to keep the pacing well, unlike its predecessor, which became terrible towards the end. ... Read More

Kieran94 About me
14:48, 30 January 2010 | Report This Post

Enjoyed it more than 28 Days
Empire User Rating

More exciting and tense than the first film, more emotionally engaging and great acting from Carlyle, Renner and the head scientist is Stringer Frickin Bell. Managed to keep the pacing well, unlike its predecessor, which became terrible towards the end. ... Read More

Kieran94 About me
14:48, 30 January 2010 | Report This Post

Enjoyed it more than 28 Days
Empire User Rating

More exciting and tense than the first film, more emotionally engaging and great acting from Carlyle, Renner and the head scientist is Stringer Frickin Bell. Managed to keep the pacing well, unlike its predecessor, which became terrible towards the end. ... Read More

Kieran94 About me
14:48, 30 January 2010 | Report This Post

28 Weeks Later Comparison To First Film
Empire User Rating

Hello Other Film Critics I Have Been Reviewing Films Since I Was 17 , Over The Last 10 Years I Have Watched More Films Than I Have Bathed.I Was Pleased To Hear About The Sequel To 28 Days But Only To Be Dissapointed , The First Time Shows A Real Time Situation Inwhich Creates Drama And Tension And Really Excites The Viewer , The Overall Acting In The First Film Is Execellent And Is Faultless But Comparing To The Sequel Was A Real Let Down.Acting From Reknown Actors Such As Robert Carlyle Was... Read More

Redrob993 About me
15:52, 08 September 2009 | Report This Post

Empire User Rating

tp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463854/]28 Weeks Laterhe US Army has started to repopulate London. A small part of the city (District One) has been declared a safe area and that`s where the survivors of the virus outbreak from the first are being taken to. Everything seems to be safe, but there`s someone inside the district that is a carrier of the virus... After the succes of 28 Days Later a sequel was just waiting to happen. We had to wait for it a few years but it did get made. And a rare thing... Read More

TheGodfather About me
21:43, 27 August 2009 | Report This Post

Nightmare City Rip off gets a sequel
Empire User Rating

NIGHTMARE CITY HAD RUNNING ZOMBIES FIRST, so BleeauurrggHH!! I dont know why they bother Romero's original DAWN OF THE DEAD is still the greatest zombie film of all time, unbeatable, not even the daft remake was as good. ... Read More

Horrorguru About me
20:51, 07 August 2008 | Report This Post

Empire User Rating

This didnt really do it for me, i was expecting something along the lines of the first but it just didnt deliver that same feeling of terror that 28 Days did so perfectly. Still i have to say it was mildly enjoyable and I would probably watch it again given the chance. Also i have to say the scene with the helicopter was amusing. ... Read More

Perrettyboy About me
19:19, 22 March 2008 | Report This Post

Weeks
Empire User Rating

<FONT FACE="Maiandra GD " SIZE="-1"><i>It All Begins Again... </i></FONT FACE="Maiandra GD " SIZE="-1"> <b>Imogen Poots</b>: Tammy <b>Mackintosh Muggleton</b>: Andy <b>Catherine McCormack</b>: Alice <b>Robert Carlyle</b>: Don Six months after the rage virus was inflicted on the population of Great Britain, the US Army helps to secure a small area of London for the ... Read More

alexisreaver2132 About me
10:37, 04 March 2008 | Report This Post

amazing
Empire User Rating

definately the best horror film of the past year...and with all the tension of terrorism and the more recent bombings in London, this has a striking sense of realism amongst all of the carnage and action...georga a romero may have created the zombie genre but this has just made it better...28 days was revolutionary...28 weeks is beyond the boundaries that many horror films have stuck to for years, this is a new class of horror film and a real cinematic gem that doesnt fall into any horror genre ... Read More

joshpinder About me
12:17, 10 February 2008 | Report This Post

28 YAWNS LATER 2
Empire User Rating

i really wanted this to be brilliant because although 28 DAYS LATER was boring it had a great romeroesque premise. anyway there is only so many times you can look at deserted london in awe. the kids are annoying. psychic zombies (infected yeah whatever). and a lack of any real oomph. the opening NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD tribute at the farmhouse was brilliant. a average sequel to a average movie. dissapointed. ending was good though. it seems to me the 28 FRANCHISE has great openings and endin... Read More

Horrorguru About me
23:01, 11 January 2008 | Report This Post

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