28 Days Later... Movie Review

28 Days Later... - 6/30/03

Directed by: Danny Boyle

Written by: Alex Garland

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Megan Burns

This is the third film that has come out in the last few years that has been a smart thriller/horror film shot on a low budget. Strong story, strong concept, strong acting, strong directing.

The other two are Session 9 and The Blair Witch Project (and yes, for all its hype, still a very effective movie). Session 9 is a brilliant film... and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys thrillers. I don't have to say anything about the Blair Witch Project.

Trainspotting was an incredible film, taken from a brilliant novel. It took a special kind of storytelling to bring the story to the screen, and Boyle did an incredible job with it. Everyone associated with that film did wonderfully. Unfortunately, it's the only Boyle film I've seen. I didn't have much interest in The Beach (although it was taken from the novel by Alex Garland, so it might be worth looking into)... and I'm looking forward to finally seeing Shallow Grave, which came out in 1994.

I was interested in this film for a number of reasons. One was that it was a low budget film... rounding out at $15 million dollars... and the second was that the entire film was shot on digital video. After last years Full Frontal, I was a little concerned because, even though I enjoyed Frontal, it was very fuzzy. Suffice it to say that Boyle and Anthony Dod Mantle (the DP) did incredible jobs with the photography of this film.

Don't go into this film hoping to see Night of the Living Dead, 2003. This film is more about atmosphere, rather than zombies. Zombies are defined as:

1. A snake god of voodoo cults in West Africa, Haiti, and the southern United States.

2. a. A supernatural power or spell that according to voodoo belief can enter into and reanimate a corpse.
b. A corpse revived in this way.

3. One who looks or behaves like an automaton.

4. A tall mixed drink made of various rums, liqueur, and fruit juice.

Ok, so this film doesn't have to do with the Zombie drink, and it doesn't have to do with corpses revived. Nor does it have to do with beings that are automatons... it's a film about infected people who are crazy with rage. That's it. They're not zombies, they're not the undead. They're sick, infected people who are no longer themselves.

28 Days Later... deals with the lives of survivors, in a very intelligent, realistic manner. We travel with them, trying to find other survivors, battling infected people... and we suffer with them and laugh with them... from beginning to end.

As I stated above, Alex Garland was the novelist who wrote The Beach... so I'm not familiar with his work, but this script was very intelligent. The characters were well developed, the dialog was great... everything flowed very well, with the ups and middle ground working together very well.

I was very surprised about how well the actors did. Surprised because this was another example of 'experimental' filmmaking, with relatively unknown actors, low budget, and a notoriously difficult genre to get right. Murphy did a great job as the main character, Jim. I enjoyed watching him and his characters transformation. Naomie Harris also did a great job as one of the original survivors. And for her second feature, Megan Burns did a great job as well. I was impressed with all of the actors, not just the ones mentioned. From the infected, to the army soldiers the group finds later on in the film... everyone did well.

Boyle has, this past year, directed a short sci-fi film he directed called Alien Love Triangle. I hope this is something that will be seen domestically... it's the first I heard of it. Slated for 2004, Boyle has a comedy coming out called Millions... and it sounds like a fun movie! Here's the logline, for those interested:

Two young boys come across the loot from a bank robbery, but have only a week to spend it before the UK switches to the euro.

Fun! So, I'm looking forward to another feature by Boyle. 28 Days Later... was a fantastic piece of atmospheric thriller/horror, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the genre.