28 Days Later Film Review

Believe it or not in just a few days time the sequel to 28 Days Later finally comes out with even that films sequel due out in January of next year. As such I thought that it was only about right that I finally check off another film of my every growing and yet somehow never ending list of things to watch with this film being one of the very few films that i've only seen bits and pieces of but have never watched all the way through until today and so then join me as I review the film that proves that London would actually look a little bit more better after a Zombie outbreak with the film in question being called simply just "28 Days Later" enjoy.

The plot of this film is 28 days after a zombie outbreak occurs in London a bicycle courier who was in coma prior to the outbreak wakes up and now has to find away to survive in this new world. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad with this films plot being oddly refreshing as not only do we get to see what it was that cases the outbreak in this film but we also get to see something that we really hadn't seen before and that's the fact that we are finding out more about this outbreak as Jim himself does which is such a great little idea as not only does it make Jim essentially the audience surrogate but it also means that the plot of the film can come off across as being new and fresh again even tho the very core idea of someone trying to survive a zombie outbreak is a tale as old as time it's self and to give this film some credit even tho it's central plot is a little bit on the weak side of things it is a plot that is a really well told with this films plot taking a unique approach to it's story by revealing in the smaller moments that we all take for granted as now even changing a wheel becomes somewhat of a plot point due to the fact that it occurs in the middle of a zombie outbreak and while this films plot could have been alot more better as it could be argued that we don't really need to see what it was that caused the outbreak in the first place as that then takes away time from developing the plot alot more then what the film already does in the first place with this film plot also bein really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Batman Begins star Cillian Murphy as Jim , James Bond star Naomie Harris as Selena , Harry Potter star Brendan Gleeson as Frank and Megan Burns as Hannah. Also starring in this film is Noah Huntley as Mark , Stuart McQuarrie as Sergeant Farrell , Ricci Harnett as Corporal Mitchell , Leo Bill as Private Jones , Luke Mably as Private Clifton , Junior Laniyan as Private Bell , Ray Panthaki as Private Bedford , Sanjay Rambaruth as Private Davis , Marvin Campbell as Private Mailer and Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston as Major Henry West.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. Which is something that's both not all that surprising and yet at the same time very surprising it's not all that surprising in the way that alot of this films actors have turned in some really good performances in other films and are some really good actors and here it makes sense that they would turn in some good performances in this film but at the same time it's not all that surprising because of the fat that those same actors were unknown actors when this film was being released and therefor it would have been quite foolish of anyone to expect a good performance from them and yet that's exactly what we get in this film with the actors performance in this film being a testament as to how good of director that this films director Danny Boyle really is as he knows how to get a good performance out of his actors much like he knows how to pick his actors for his films as all pf this films actors are cast perfectly in this film so much so that it hard to picture quite literally anyone else playing these roles with the best actor in this film being quite hard to decide as it's a three way tie between Christopher Eccleston , Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris as all three of them just bring something to there characters that makes there performances standout not that all of the other performances in this film are bad because there not it's just that there's happens to be the best of the bunch with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so goo that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

What helps to set this film apart from other zombie films out there is the fact that revels in the smaller more human moments. Be it showing Selena comforting Jim when he finds out that his parents died while he was in the coma or Jim making a joke when the taxi breaks down in the tunnel the film is filled to brim with moments like that and what is does is it makes the characters feel not only more human but also alot more real as well as well and as a result of that is the fact that when they do get attacked by zombies you do feel for them as the film has taken the time to make them feel more real with this being the very things that alot of horror films and heck even this films own sequel failed to do as alot of them just give us the bare bones of a character and that's really it and yet all of the characters do feel fully formed and with them having those more quieter moments it does allow for the characters to become more human and show us there human side and yet when the film does decide to drop that aspect of itself when the group reach the Army Base in Manchester it oddly feels right as the soldiers aren't meant to be human anymore as they've become so used to fighting these zombies and even keeping one of them tied up basically as a pet it's something that makes them feel less then human which is something that does contrast nicely with characters like Jim , Selena and Hannah all of whom feel more human because f the fact that they do care for one another something which quite clearly isn't true for the soldiers at the Army Base anymore as those characters whilst they are villains they feel more like cartoon villains because of the fact that they've had there humanity stripped away from them much like the zombies of this film have had there humanity stripped away from them.

As someone who lives in the UK it does feel really weird seeing places like London and Manchester be empty. However tho at the same time having a zombie film set over here in the UK does also help to make the film standout there are very little zombie films let alone mainstream zombie films that are set here in the UK which doesn't make as as this film proves you can get not only some really nice looking shots in this film but more importantly then that you can get some really good scares out of many of our locations all of which help to sell the UK as a good place to set and film your horror film in and top of that is the fact that it would help to set any horror film apart from one another as plenty of them have been set in America even those that aren't made in America still have them set there nine times out ten with this film even making great use of it's main London location by not only giving us some of the more touristy spots like Big Ben and Buckingham Palace for example but also giving us some the backstreets of London and just giving us a location that's meant to be in Manchester which is a city that big hollywood films refuse to name drop in any film set in England for literally no good reason and yet here because of the fact that the director is from near Manchester it gets alot of attention it just would have been nice if they in stead of filming in Milton Keynes if the makers of this film actually filmed the scenes that were set in Manchester actually in Manchester itself as that would have added an extra touch of realism to the film much like how filming the London scenes in London helped to ground the film in some sort of realism as well.

What this film does shockingly well is show us the breakdown of society as we know it to be by not only telling us that at the very least the UK government has been wiped out but so has all forms of communication. Which was a nice touch as it now means that the heroes have to figure out how to kills these zombies as there fighting them and not have it be spoon fed to them on the news which is more realistic and even the fact that the group encounter a group of corrupt soldiers also helps to sell that point as in the real world we would think that the soldiers are here to protect us as that's what they say that there going to do but now that that code of honor if you will has been lifted we now get to see them for as they really are and while that does also make them just as human as the rest of this films characters it also makes them a more constant threat then the zombies are as the group can and frequently do outrun these more faster paced zombies and yet you can't outrun a bullet let alone one that's been fired by a trained soldier which is something that does make them as more of a threat then what the zombies are with it also proving that not only has there been huge breakdown in society something that we see all throughout the film with characters more then willing to stab the other in the back if it means that they would get either some food and water or a place to stay or if the characters have just flat out gone insane not due to the virus but due to the fact that they've been on their own for a long time which would be something that would drive anyone insane and the fact that this film is willing to skip over showing the falls of society and just straight up tell us that it happened and then show us the aftermath could be argued makes the breakdown of society all that more scarier as now we the audience are now forced to picture just how it happened exactly.

While this film does have alot of things going for it it does also have quite a few things that are working against it as well. Like the fact that the characters of Hannah adds nothing to the film after her dad gets infected with her character literally being there just so that the film can have another female character in it's main cast and that's really it as you very easily could have had that character be written out of the film and nothing in regards to the main plot of the film would change as that's how little that her character adds anything the main plot of this film with other thing that works against this film being the fact that the reveal of Major Henry West being a bad guy really does come out of nowhere as while he is a solid villain in his right the build up to him being revealed as evil really isn't there and as such it does come out of nowhere when it's revealed that he's this evil character and while that wouldn't be  bad thing if he was more of side villain that's actively working work with the main villain he's not tho he's meant to be the films main human villain and yet he's treated more as an afterthought in the film with him not even doing anything memorable in the film which is something that does work against the film as while his actor Christopher Eccleston is indeed a rally good actor in his own right the writing for his character just isn't there this is despite the fact that this films script is on the whole really good with his character not even being given a reason as to why he's evil which granted does work in the fact alot of his squad are pretty much insane in the first place but the makers of this film still should have given a reason as to why he is the way that he is as that would then help us the audience learn to hate him even more then what we already do in the first place.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and fifty three minuets and seven seconds. Which is alot longer then what it really should have been as while yes granted this film really does have the right amount of pot there to really cover that amount of running time when you think of zombie films let alone ones from the early to mid 2000's you don't think of them of being almost two hours long instead you think of them as being around about one hour and thirty minuets long which is roughly how long that this film should have been as it doesn't use it's running time wisely as while the plot of this film is as developed as it will ever be in certain aspects like explaining what the caused the outbreak in this film it doesn't really develop alot of other things as the film doesn't take the take to tell us why these zombies are not only affected by sound which is what causes them to come running towards to you but it also doesn't explain why these zombies run either and while it could be argued that not telling us why they run makes them all the more creepier as it does come out of nowhere it also would have helped to develop the world that this film takes place in if the makers of this film did tell us why these zombies can now run with the film not really developing it's characters all that much as characters like Frank for example don't get alot of time to get across just what there personalities are and what there backstory is with the same thing even being true for Hannah as well this is despite the fact that both Selena and Jim get fully developed and yet the films third main hero character gets nothing which makes her character all the more pointless and it would have helped the film out if her character was written out of the film with the remaining screen time being given the developing the rest of this films characters but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a zombie film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual horror that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual horror that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. As while this films does mainly rely on jump scars for it's scares they are really effective as the film doesn't use any of the tricks that clue us the audience in on the fact that there might be a scare coming which makes it all the more scarier when something scary does happen with this film being a perfectly good example of how to do a good jump scare as by having the film mainly set in open environments for large portions of it's running time it really does mean that a zombie can and in some cases does come out of anywhere which is a very simple trick but it's one that works really well with the best in this film being the attack on the tunnel as all of our heroes are basically trapped between a wall of broken down cars behind them and so when the zombies do indeed start sprinting into the tunnel we the audience really do start to feel scared for our characters because there's no way that they can get out of this situation and so they all have to use there wits and smarts to get out of the tunnel which they just about manage to do and while there joy is short lived it's the very fact that they've just survived this kind if situation in a unique setting that helps to set it apart from all of the other zombie attacks in this film which while they are effective in their own unique way won't ever come close to topping the the zombie attack in the tunnel in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Overall 28 Years Later has alot to live up to a this film is just so good and more then holds up all of these later as the makers of this film weren't bothered about planting seeds for a sequel something which could be the case for 28 Years Later due to the fact that it's sequel is out in January as instead the makers of this film put both character and story first which is something that makes this film a really good film in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old exactly an 8.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official 28 Days Later fandom wiki page , Tenor and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.