28 Weeks Later

Robert Carlyle in 28 Weeks Later (dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007).



Raymond Waring.



Mackintosh Muggleton and Imogen Poots.

Scary as hell, just like the first one. The big helicopter set piece in the middle of the film hits and misses at the same time, just like the blades: it's realistic enough to evoke the real horrors of war and terrorism, but hyperbolically silly enough to undermine itself. The really freaky moments are the quieter ones that take place in dark, claustrophobic spaces strewn with harmless but unnerving corpses. Some reviewers have made a lot of the role played by the American military in the story, trying to find a commentary on current events (Iraq? New Orleans?), but it's hard to distill a coherent critique from a fictional situation in which the abuse and the proper use of power end up indistinguishable from each other and equally inadequate. Oh, wait.