“When days turn to weeks…
Twenty-eight weeks after the spread of a deadly rage virus, the inhabitants of the British Isles have lost their battle against the onslaught, as the virus has killed everyone there. Six months later, a group of Americans dare to set foot on the Isles, convinced the danger has passed. But it soon becomes all too clear that the scourge continues to live, waiting to pounce on its next victims.” – Letterboxd Synopsis
I didn’t know what to expect when coming into this movie. Really, that extends to this entire franchise, but I’ve heard good things about 28 Days Later. I’ve also heard good things about 28 Years Later, though it is definitely more divisive, and earlier this year, The Bone Temple has been highly lauded. This leaves this movie as sort of the black sheep of the franchise. But after being slightly disappointed by the first movie, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this one.
This starts off pretty standard. A group of survivors doing just that. And eventually they’re overrun by zombies, and this man leaves his wife and everyone behind as they plead for his help. Then, with the help of info screens, this movie establishes some very interesting plot/lore bits. After the time skip, we learn that the zombies have pretty much completely died of hunger. The belief that the virus was contained to the UK, and this movie confirms that with the presence of NATO and the US creating a zone that is not only rebuilding, but actively bringing people back as the area is healing. Which is all interesting, and the movie focuses on Don (the guy who left his wife in the intro) reuniting with his kids who were abroad when the outbreak started.
This movie takes place over like maybe 30 hours? Which makes the pacing so tight and fun. Knowing that there are clear destinations in mind and multiple threats at their heels makes for great tension. And Jeremy Renner as the point man soldier guy is just amazing. He really hard carries this movie. There’s nothing more to him than an elite soldier with a good heart, but man does he knock those traits out of the park. He is the star of this movie. Which is really a point-A-to-B action film. Head scratching plot points and all. Seriously, I don’t know if something got left on the cutting room floor that would better explain to me why the code red was just so awful to start? But man, were the early military decisions so baffling that they felt like something that would happen in 2026.
The main group outside of Jeremy’s character and other soldier buddy are woefully forgettable. I see what they tried to go for with this family dynamic, and I don’t even think the kids are bad actors or gave a bad performance. They just didn’t do anything outside of the inciting incident. Which is funny considering the heavy lore and story implications and ramifications they both have. As we learn early on and see in the ending. They just existed, though. Same for the doctor that keeps them safe. The really interesting characters and story are with the father and the mother, but that doesn’t last nearly long enough as I would have liked. But have no fear because Jeremy Renner was in his bag. He was insanely locked in as this great soldier with a good heart in an awful situation. I also loved the guy from From’s performance too and their relationship. Both of them make up for the extreme lack of anything else going on. And usually, while I’m doing the editing part of these, I actually put the characters’ names in, but truthfully it doesn’t matter.
I genuinely hope the next two movies don’t go as hard with the shaky cam and jump cuts. This one chills out a bit of the way in, but the beginning of this movie is a rough watch because of all of that. Otherwise, just like the first movie, I loved the grounded feel and direction of this one. It’s just as gnarly, and has its own fair share of straight up cool ass shots. And I guess that one track is just the theme song to this franchise, cause it played here, and it hit just as hard.
So yeah, I ended up enjoying this movie more than the first one. Outside of the so-stupid-it-feels-real plot points, this was a solid-ass action movie carried by Hawkeye himself. While I would definitely describe Days as a comfy watch, this was straight fun. I had a blast watching this.
28 Weeks Later – 7/10
