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28 Weeks Later
First of all, i am rather bias to films that show Britain as it is, not ****** American bad teeth or cockney/posh stereotypes and show off our capital. On a side note though, Wembley Stadium- product placement much. Anyway, Weeks is a good zombie film, though not spectacular or as good as Days. While it pulls off what it's doing well, there's no sucker punch in it or real **** me is this happening, it all seems mildy irrelevant, especially when we pretty well know the worst outcome. A good zombie ('infected', whatever) film has that impending sense of apocalypse, the no matter what we can't escape, something Days nailed (until the end), it left the impression if you meet the infected it's a truly life threatening pant pooing moments. Here, there's none of that, the people we're following hardly encounter the infected and what we see of the infected is so restricted they have no relation to the outcome or characters path. But that was always going to be a plot problem when the population is so limited; however the spread of the infection was quite impressive, though the military's idea of protection WAS absurd.
It's hard for me say more than i liked it. It didn't fall into cliche which is respectful, the army were mostly a contrast to Day of the Dead, and i loved the fact the General didn't show compassion, he knew what needed to be done and did without qualms. The digital and hand held shooting was part of what made Days so effective and it works here just as well, just as Godspeed You! Black Emperor's song East Hastings works brilliantly, especially in the awesome opening. In all i think it suffered from not having any drive, the characters motivations seemed too scripted and there wasn't the tension to make it compelling viewing especially where the child leads weren't all that, i'd have preferred the mother to replace the sons role. We all know the helicopter is there and they have a way out, there's no ambiguity and when their only encounter with infected is over so effortlessly it removes all sense of horror. Although it conflicts with what i liked about the Generals orders, the fact we're shown one soldier goes out to save people, i found it hard to buy into the faceless military being so cold.
Most of my problems were kind of what the film had going for it, military threat over infected but I still felt cheated. OG was right in saying it's better than the 'Splat Pack' rubbish, it's a mature horror film that doesn't rely on gimmicks to draw you in, instead tries for a more accurate reality, which almost works but i never felt any empathy or tension and his assessment of character motivation is far from the mark in my book, the two main soldier leads loved helping the kids out. I dug the perspective the film took, with the voyeursism as much as the emotional reunion; was a nice touch but 28 Weeks Later never grabs your nuts and wrenchs them along the floor; after the beginning it just gives them a tickle and an easy way out.
What was with the Christopher Ecclestion look-a-like as well?
Spoiler:
Was nice to see the French get a bit of a kicking though.
First of all, i am rather bias to films that show Britain as it is, not ****** American bad teeth or cockney/posh stereotypes and show off our capital. On a side note though, Wembley Stadium- product placement much. Anyway, Weeks is a good zombie film, though not spectacular or as good as Days. While it pulls off what it's doing well, there's no sucker punch in it or real **** me is this happening, it all seems mildy irrelevant, especially when we pretty well know the worst outcome. A good zombie ('infected', whatever) film has that impending sense of apocalypse, the no matter what we can't escape, something Days nailed (until the end), it left the impression if you meet the infected it's a truly life threatening pant pooing moments. Here, there's none of that, the people we're following hardly encounter the infected and what we see of the infected is so restricted they have no relation to the outcome or characters path. But that was always going to be a plot problem when the population is so limited; however the spread of the infection was quite impressive, though the military's idea of protection WAS absurd.
It's hard for me say more than i liked it. It didn't fall into cliche which is respectful, the army were mostly a contrast to Day of the Dead, and i loved the fact the General didn't show compassion, he knew what needed to be done and did without qualms. The digital and hand held shooting was part of what made Days so effective and it works here just as well, just as Godspeed You! Black Emperor's song East Hastings works brilliantly, especially in the awesome opening. In all i think it suffered from not having any drive, the characters motivations seemed too scripted and there wasn't the tension to make it compelling viewing especially where the child leads weren't all that, i'd have preferred the mother to replace the sons role. We all know the helicopter is there and they have a way out, there's no ambiguity and when their only encounter with infected is over so effortlessly it removes all sense of horror. Although it conflicts with what i liked about the Generals orders, the fact we're shown one soldier goes out to save people, i found it hard to buy into the faceless military being so cold.
Most of my problems were kind of what the film had going for it, military threat over infected but I still felt cheated. OG was right in saying it's better than the 'Splat Pack' rubbish, it's a mature horror film that doesn't rely on gimmicks to draw you in, instead tries for a more accurate reality, which almost works but i never felt any empathy or tension and his assessment of character motivation is far from the mark in my book, the two main soldier leads loved helping the kids out. I dug the perspective the film took, with the voyeursism as much as the emotional reunion; was a nice touch but 28 Weeks Later never grabs your nuts and wrenchs them along the floor; after the beginning it just gives them a tickle and an easy way out.
What was with the Christopher Ecclestion look-a-like as well?
Spoiler:
Was nice to see the French get a bit of a kicking though.