I won’t lie. The main draw for me in this film was Robert Carlyle. I first saw him perform in Cracker he played a mentally unbalanced chap named Albie. He was completely believable in the roll. I then saw him in the excellent Trainspotting, directed by Danny Boyle, playing the scary Begbie. I became a life long fan as a result of his performances in those two films. So when I saw that he was going to be in 28 Weeks Later, I knew I had to see the film. He was the only reason, because Danny Boyle would not be in the driver seat for this iteration of the Rage saga.
Unfortunately the small cozy feel that 28 Days had is gone. It has been replaced with literally hordes of people. I personally think the film suffers because of this. It’s scope is wider and encompasses a broader area. These elements along with having a different director, changes the pacing, feel and direction of the film.
Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo 28 Weeks Later starts with a couple, Don played by Robert Carlyle and Alice played by Catherine McCormack who are in a fortified farmhouse with four other people. They are all essentially trapped and it appears that the Rage outbreak is alive and well and spreading across the country.
A horde of infected break into the house and start attacking everyone. Don runs to the end of the hallway and climbs out a window. He jumps down to the ground and looks up to see Alice looking out of the window and screaming for Don to help her. Don is in complete flight mode, panicked and desperate, he runs to the river outside the farmhouse. Hot on his heels are hordes of infected and their number increases as Don gets near the river. At the river he gets in a motor boat and barely escapes the area.
28 weeks later, all the infected have starved to death. An American NATO task force has been dispatched to England to begin cleaning up the mess and repatriating people who were outside the country when the Rage epidemic swept the country. Alice and Don’s two children, Tammy (
Imogen Poots) and Andy (
Mackintosh Muggleton) are among the first groups to be allowed back into the country. During a medical examination Major Scarlet Ross (
Rose Byrne) notices that Andy has different one blue eye and one brown eye. Tammy and Andy explain that their mother also had different coloured eyes.
Tammy and Andy are reunited with their dad, Don. He lies and tells the children that he saw their mother die. Don also explains to the children that he is the head maintenance man for the safe zone and that he can access any area in the building.
Tammy and Andy decide to sneak out and go to their old house to get some pictures of their Mother. They are seen by a sniper, Sergeant Doyle (
Jeremy Renner) who reports that the children have left the area. Once the two children get home they find more than a picture, they find Mum . Miraculously still alive she has somehow made her way back . Just as Mum and the kids find each other, the Army arrives and takes them all back to the safe area. All three are placed in quarantine and Mum is separated from the children and has tests done to see if she is infected.
Both Tammy and Andy are furious with Dan and want to know what really happened. Dan is in a state of shock and says that the children have no idea what it like during the outbreak. He then goes to see Alice using his all area pass. Meanwhile Scarlett has discovered that Alice is carrying the virus but is not showing any of the symptoms.
Don enters Alice’s quarantine area and begs her to forgive him for running away. Alice does and they share a kiss. As the saliva comes in contact with his lips, Don is instantly infected. The virus screams through his system and he kills Alice with his bare hands. Don then single handedly sets about infecting the safe zone.
At this point in the film we sense that, like a house of cards, the safe zone is going to fall apart. The virus shoots through the facility with the speed and violence of a tornado. Scarlett grabs Tammy and Andy and they make a run for it. Along the way they pick up Sgt Doyle and the small group try to get out of the now infected safe zone.
Throughout the rest of the film Don unrelentingly goes after Andy. I don’t know if this is because he shares his mothers eye colours or some other reason. It is never explained in the film. What is apparent however, it that just about every occupant of the safe zone is now infected. Before Doyle gets taken out of the picture by a flame thrower, another sniper arranges for a helicopter to collect the small group of survivors.
The film is very well paced, but I felt that Robert Carlyle was the most interesting thing in the film. That is not to say the film isn’t good, it just isn’t as great as the first one. Losing Danny Boyle meant losing that sharp focus and intense feeling that 28 Days later had in spades.
Still if you are a Carlyle fan, it is worth the time spent watching the film just to see his performance.
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