Review: 28 Days Later (2002)

People in the Movie: Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins, Inception), Naomie Harris ( Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3, Skyfall)
Director: Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire)
Pigeonhole: Thriller / Horror/ Zombie

Basics: **spoiler alert** A man named Jim (Murphy) awakens from a coma in a hospital in London.  He wanders the seemingly empty hospital yelling for assistance, but to no avail.  Jim proceeds out to the streets seeing signs of "trouble" but still no people are visible or responding to him.  That is until he comes across a church and is attacked by a small group of people who seem seem to be suffering from some kind of disease.  The attackers all appear to be crazed, bloodthirsty lunatics, resembling something more animalistic than human.  At the last moment before certain death at the hands of these monsters Jim is rescued by Selena (Harris) and Mark, who blow up the attackers with a Molotov cocktail.  The three leave the area to a hideout in the London Underground and then tell Jim about what has happened while he was in a coma.
An infection broke out which spread very quickly and turned the populace into beings like the ones they just encountered.  The government was unable to quell the spread of this virus and society has basically collapsed.  They tell Jim that they heard the infection was reported in Paris and New York, too.
Mark is soon killed, but Jim and Selena meet up with 2 other survivors hiding out in some apartments; Frank and his daughter Hannah.  Frank plays a recording he has heard being broadcast about a military blockade near Manchester, where they supposedly have found the cure for this infection.  The group of 4 leave for this location, but soon learn that the infected are not the only people they should fear.

Recommendation:  This is an excellent film that is far beyond a typical zombie/ horror/ splatter film - so don't let those monikers scare you off.  This film is as much survival story and/or post-apocalyptic human story as it is a horror movie.  'R' rating is for violence, language, and brief nudity.

What I Liked: I personally don't even think "zombie" is a correct descriptor to use when talking about this movie.  The characters used the words "rage" and "infected" when speaking about the monster like former-humans who were attacking the remaining population, which I think fits perfectly. 
- The opening sequences, both in the lab when the activists release the infected chimp to start the initial contagion, and then Jim awakening from his coma were both perfect.  From the moment the chimp attacks the first activist, to when Jim  finally encounters some of the infected, was extremely tense and almost felt like a dream/nightmare sequence.  Very well shot and directed.
- The characters throughout the film were well cast, and well acted.  No one appeared out of place or whose on-screen demeanors did not fit.  Murphy and Harris especially shined in their roles.  Murphy maintained the somewhat innocent victim of circumstance until the end and transformed beautifully, while Harris showed what a person would do in order to survive many life threatening situations.
- I was very impressed with the shots of London as an abandoned "ghost town",  it did not look mocked up with a bunch of special effects.  The film, in general, has a very organic feel without it being the handheld POV style horror film that is dominating the horror landscape now.  The look and feel of the film, overall, is near perfect, in my opinion.
- I liked the idea that once pushed so far, Jim transformed into something as intense and angry as one of the infected.  Boyle made an excellent metaphoric point that maybe the infected and humans were much more similar than we would like to admit in our own minds.

What Was Questionable: As I noted above, I do not consider this a zombie movie, per se.  The promotion of 28 Days Later touted it as "the new vision" of zombie movies.  Fair enough.  The vampire as a character has split into many different forms and figures in the movies, so in theory zombies can too.
- The plot element that the group of soldiers put out the broadcast solely to lure to women to capture and rape seemed quite ludicrous to me.  I understand that Boyle and Alex Garland (the writer) were trying to illustrate that faced with the surrounding circumstances, even upstanding military personnel would degenerate into thugish cavemen with guns - no better than the infected.  I just think that it could have been executed better, personally.

In Conclusion: 28 Days Later is is very much worth seeing, even for non-horror fans.  I feel more of the focus is on the human actions and reactions in the face of this viral apocalypse.

Extras:
- There were several alternate endings that should be checked out on the DVD/ Blu Ray
- The US release for this film was actually 2003
- The sequel is called 28 Weeks Later and was out in 2007