A major blockbuster launched last week: 28 Years Later is the zombie movie threequel that’s receiving rave critical reviews. And with director Danny Boyle back at the helm, that might be no surprise.
The second instalment in the movie trilogy, 28 Weeks Later, was actually released 18 years ago, in 2007, but has come storming back into the charts. It’s on both Netflix’s and Amazon Prime’s Top 10 scoreboards.
However, 28 Weeks Later wasn’t a Boyle movie, it was instead directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, and feels like quite a departure from the original. There’s no Cillian Murphy either, but Jeremy Renner and Idris Elba do both star – if you can remember?
28 Weeks Later trailer
What’s 28 Weeks Later about?
If you’re new to the whole 28 series then I’ll summarise the first movie. A courier (Murphy, playing ‘Jim’) awakes from a coma in a London hospital bed, IV lines still connected, a month after a viral outbreak has caused a zombie-like mutation and inevitably apocalyptic events.
The sequel, as its name suggests, runs 6 months after those original events. It’s also based in London, but is about humanity’s return to re-establish itself in society. But not all goes to plan, as the virus has evolved and not been eradicated – as thought by the US army, which is helping with the public’s return.
Cue Renner, playing Sergeant Doyle, who helps in the rescue of humanity’s youngest resident – a 12-year-old boy. That vision of hope, of humanity’s future, is worth saving in his mind. How timely, therefore, that US politics are at the fore for other reasons today.
Is 28 Weeks Later any good?
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Overall, 28 Weeks Later was moderately received, netting 73% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audience ratings sit lower overall, however, at just 66% positive.
The sequel is a very different movie to the original movie, though, which is why many reviewers struggled to find the supposed humanity of the story to really resonate on screen.
The absence of Murphy and addition of Renner and the likes of Rose Byrne only furthers the Americanisation of what was such a British film.
That original is still the highest-scoring of the three movies, with an 87% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score. It’s worth going back to watch just how lo-fi and haunting it is – like the thinking person’s zombie movie.
