Film Reviews

28 Weeks Later..

• Rating:
• Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
• Starring: Imogen Poots
• Details: UK / 90mins (16).

Set, as the title suggests, 28 weeks after the outbreak of the rage virus that ravaged London, the first wave of survivors are returning home, albeit confined within a fortified section called District 1, an area patrolled incessantly by the American army. Don (Carlyle), who left his wife behind to be attacked by those infected, attempts to build a new life with his children - Andy (Muggleton) and Tam (Poots) - but a carrier of the disease somehow infiltrates the 'safe' zone and Don is inadvertantly responsible for setting the whole circus in motion again. One of those rare sequels than measures up to the original, 28 Weeks Later is a welcome surprise - an Aliens to Alien. After a frantic and frankly scary opening, the action takes a while to kick off again, but once it does it's chase-chase-bite-chase-kill-chase right up to the climax. Director Fresnadillo keeps up Danny Boyle's hand-held camera technique, sharp editing and bleached-out colours of the original, and never allows the action a moment's peace. Both inventive (death by helicopter takes on a new meaning) and referential (Land Of The Dead gets the odd nod), Fresnadillo also makes time to draw parallels between the rage virus and American foreign policy in one tough sequence. If you're a fan of the original, there's plenty here to sink your teeth into (pun intended) - and there's even a hint at a third instalment.

Review by Gavin Burke