Eradication. Sterilization. Re-Population. Re-Infection.
Last night, on a whim, SD and I went to go see 28 WL. Well, we were going to pick up something from the store and have dinner -- so since we were there and with nothing to do ... this is how zombie movies get seen by the non-hardcore, not must see, not really living dead fans.
It seems so long ago that we saw 28 Days Later ... I think I actually blogged about that one. Okay, so time is flying by ... get to the point, right? Well, this time we have a new director, a new cast, etc. so my expectations were pretty low, actually I'd been on the fence all week about seeing it
The premise is this, the movie follows a new family, whose members have been separated from each other during the outbreak of rage virus. The parents are hiding out in a farmhouse with other survivors, their hideout gets attacked ... and in a moment of moral failure, rather than help his wife to escape from trouble ... the husband decides to run away and save himself. Needless to say, it becomes complicated when his kids return from their field trip to Spain ... how to explain their mother's "death". The story revolves around that moral choice failure, because as we all know from watching Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, any other sci-fi or horror ... often that will come back to bite you in the ass.
The other larger issue is one that comes with post-apocalyptic scenarios, such as when should rebuilding begin after a tragedy, when is it safe to return, and when are you sure that it is over -- it also paints a pretty grim picture of what kind of choices may have to be made to save the greater good -- and paints humanity with a dark, unattractive shade of selfishness
At the end of the day, the two aspects work fairly well together as a popcorn survivalist action movie ... I thought the opening minutes of the movie were well set up to turn on the suspense, however, the "scary" or horror parts were spotty. Overall, it's not that scary or heavy on the suspense
It's pretty draw a straight line from A to B in terms of let's get our main characters from here to there, through this challenge and that, and then roll credits. Along the way, it's a fun thing to get caught up in. I felt a lot of other reviews over-thought it and got real philosophical with it, I just don't think it holds up to that kind of analysis without adding to what is there because what is there on the screen really is not much
In the final analysis, it's mindlessly entertaining, and brief enough where it wraps itself nicely before the flaws and omissions start screaming at you. Our grade: B-/C+
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