~ 28 Weeks Later ~

I've seen this earlier this week. At first, I didn't really wanna see this as the ad didn't seem too interesting. Especially with the looks of it. kinda looks boring, ain't it? But trust me, its all good. 28 Weeks Later is a ferociously entertaining thriller with sympathetic characters, stunning set pieces and pulsating excitement.

The ante on the story of Great Britain's population being almost completely wiped out by a virus that induces in human beings instant rage and the almost unstoppable impulse to kill. It should prove explosively infectious at the boxoffice.Six months after being declared safe from infection, Britain is being repopulated with evacuees and those lucky enough to have been away at the time of the outbreak. Joined by pockets of survivors, they are housed in high-rises on the Isle of Dogs in the east end of London. The place is a heavily guarded fortress with constant surveillance by the U.S. military, whose snipers spy on the inhabitants as much as potential invaders.The remainder of London and the rest of the country are empty of people, but security is maintained at the highest level because of the instant and deadly fury unleashed by the virus. Inevitably, however, the security is breached, and when it does the inmates are at risk as much from their military masters as from the infection.

Robert Carlyle stars as Don, a man whose children, Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton), were on holiday when the outbreak occurred. He has a guilty secret, as the film's opening sequence shows him and wife Alice (Catherine McCormack) with some other survivors in a remote country house attacked by hordes of the infected. Don manages to escape but leaves his wife to her fate.When Alice surprisingly shows up, medical officer Scarlet (Rose Byrne) discovers that she has a gene that protects her from the virus, and son Andy has the gene, too.When unflinching Gen. Stone (Idris Elba) escalates security to Code Red, Scarlet and Special Forces Sgt. Doyle (Jeremy Renner) risk their lives in order to get Andy and Tammy to safety.

For once, there is a happy absence of misogyny in a horror movie, though the body count is high as a result of Fresnadillo's expert technique and imaginative eye for carnage. The frenetic pace allows him to make his points vividly without dwelling on the horror so that the film speeds along to its shattering climax and cautionary coda.

Note: “28 Weeks Later” is not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. It is brutal and almost exhaustingly terrifying, as any respectable zombie movie should be. It is also bracingly smart, both in its ideas and in its techniques. -New York Times-