Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
liked it.
Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland (and Boyle's longtime collaborator, producer Andrew Macdonald) bounce back from the relatively big-budget debacle of
The Beach with 28 Days Later, a kinetic low-budget horror film. The filmmakers gratefully acknowledge their debt to a bunch of classic horror and science fiction movies, especially George Romero's
Living Dead films. There's even a kickass black woman (
Naomie Harris) who saves the hero's neck like in
The Omega Man. But 28 Days Later has its own style. Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (
The Celebration) uses digital video surprisingly effectively, adding to the film's gritty immediacy, with a few nice surreal touches (e.g. the painted flowers along the road) thrown in. The dark inflections of John Murphy's bass-driven score help moves things along, too. The story is simple and lends itself to allegorical readings, with its somewhat pro forma anti-authoritarian slant. There are a few nicely played shocks, and some amazing, haunting images of a deserted, "Rage"-ravaged London. The recently comatose main character, Jim (
Cillian Murphy), begins as a cipher, but gradually comes into focus thanks to Murphy's soulful performance, and his chemistry with the fierce Harris.
Brendan Gleeson (
Gangs of New York) maintains his excellent track record as a lovably gruff father vainly trying to keep some sense of normalcy in his young daughter's life. Things get a little ham-fisted in the last third of the film, bogging down a bit when the ragtag group reaches a military outpost in northern England and predictably finds something even worse than the diseased lunatics they're fleeing. But for the most part, 28 Days Later is a good, scary horror film, and a worthy successor to the forebears it references in nearly every frame. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide