Yeah, I know it has been out for awhile, and every other monster movie geek in the world has already seen it, but I finally got around to watching 28 Weeks Later last night. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463854/
Starts out interesting, same basic feel as the first one, which I enjoyed, and then the set up is pretty cool, with NATO (led by us, obviously) is resettling London. There’s tons of troops around, and everything seems under control.
Then a couple of idiot kids sneak out, find their mom, and bring the infection back into the safe zone. Rage virus fun ensues.
But overall, I disliked this movie. In fact, it annoyed me. You’ve got the US Army there for weeks, complete with tanks and air cover, and their plan for an outbreak is to take everybody out of their high-rise apartments (where you could hold off Rage Zombies for days by controlling the lobby) and then herd everyone into one big room, where apparently they decide that it isn’t worth, oh, I don’t know, locking the friggin’ door, or placing a guard on it.
I watched that part and just thought for myself, how stupid do you think Americans are? Jeez… Then the Rage Zombies get loose, so the snipers start shooting people, and of course, since everybody else in the enlightened world knows how barbaric and savage American soldiers are, we immediately panic, lose control and carpet bomb the place.
The only Americans that don’t suck are a sniper that goes AWOL, and a 25 year old hottie that I’m supposed to believe is a Major, and the head medical officer for resettling
Whoever was their technical advisor needs a good scissor kick to the neck. Apparently poison gas that is lethal to a hormone charged Rage Zombie in about 5 seconds, can’t get through one of those high-quality, air-tight British automobiles. Secondly, I’m sad that I wasted all that money on buying myself a good gas mask, when all this time all I had to do was cover my mouth with my shirt to stop mustard gas. Oh well, at least I look cool in it.
As a gun guy, I loved the how the sniper’s EO-Tech was a magnifying optic with crosshairs when he looked through it, especially since he was looking through his night vision device while doing it, during daylight. And the night vision was the most idiotic effect I’ve ever seen. I’ve got night vision, and you can see more than three feet with it. Batteries must have been low, since he was using it all day.
Then for some reason, the helicopter pilot flies the survivors to
I’m a lot more open to shutting my brain down during low budget movies, but for high budget theater movies, I’ve got to hold their plotting to a higher standard. Overall? Blah. Didn’t have the intensity of the original, and it was dumber.
I too was less than impressed, particularly with the opening scenes. I mean, who would be holed up in a farm house and not have so much as a club to defend yourself? One guy has what looks like a foot long crowbar, might as well be a feather pillow. Check the barn you limey wing nuts, I bet there is an ax or at least a good shovel to swat the infected around with. Don’t get me started on their complete failure to board the windows with something stronger than balsa wood. They should have called the movie “Natural Selection In Action”.
According to French law, a riot has to go on for at least two weeks before the authorities can do anything about it. and even then their first act must be to arrest the first policeman to respond to the problem.
I loved the first one, but the second let me down as far as how everyone (especially the Americans) handled the unavoidable outbreak.
I can kind of understand why the military did not want the civilians armed and trained, you know, just in case. I don’t agree, but…
And then herding everyone (Unarmed!! and unguarded) into one big, ill lit area… with a backdoor?!?
Wouldn’t it have been safer to make each apartment a “Safe Room” with a few day’s or week’s worth of supplies, and each floor secure from the other floors? Then they can drop some troops on the roof, gain control of the stairwells and clear each floor, one by one. Walk up to an apartment door and knock. If nobody goes apeshit on the other side, that’s a good sign, right? =)
Oh, and the kids… yeah they weren’t Raging, so “obviously” neither of ‘em were infected… but what about their blood soaked clothes? Yeah, you two are flying nekkid or not at all.
This was my thinking while watching it.
Other than those points, I was able to disengage my brain enough to enjoy it.
I thought 28 Days Later was REALLY bad. Apparently, most Americans agree with me judging by the speed with which the DVD has ended up in the bargain basement rack at Walmart.
I haven’t watched the movie, yet.
“their plan for an outbreak is to take everybody out of their high-rise apartments (where you could hold off Rage Zombies for days by controlling the lobby) and then herd everyone into one big room”
That was the plan at NOLA…
The two corrolaries of these films:
1 – If you’re a trained professional soldier, you have zero situational awareness and your concept of tactics is “empty the rifle on full auto while yelling.”
2 – Mindless or primitive monsters are smarter than thinking creatures, which is why no humans lived during the time of the dinosaurs. (Yes, I know… I’m making a point of the stupidity of the writers.)
Sometimes, I think the “trained professionals” sent into these movie situations are the lamest washouts in the service. “What? The guys we sent to zombie-plague ravaged London died? Oh wait, THOSE MORONS? Nevermind.”
And yet, in Predator, we had smart, capable heroes who were defeated simply because the Predator was smarter and had the advantage of surprise on them. When the monster’s dirty tricks were made more apparent, then he had his lunch handed to him.
I watched it Saturday. Or tried. The kids escaping the island by walking across an unmined, unfenced, and un-motion-sensored bridge was painfull, but when I got to the point where the husband/janitor walks right into the quarantined safe room where his wife is (unguarded) and my brain tried to beat its way out of my skull. I had to shut it off after the zombie guy got into the safe-room in five seconds because the door wasn’t locked, while the hot-chick was taking the kids OUT of the armored locked isolation ward.
What a shitty movie.