28 Weeks Later
Monday, September 17th, 2007
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- Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
- 2007
I was very eager to see this sequel after I had much praise for 28 Days Later. Although Danny Boyle was not to direct this one, he was still a very influential member of the production team. I was also not surprised at all to see that, to much criticism, that the style of the film was completely different.
Whereas 28 Days Later was subtle, slow, deep and portrayed realistically, 28 Weeks Later is much more sensational. Films that have a heavy family element can be great. I have nothing against child actors. I do however have a lot against child characters - especially the kind in this film. They are stupid. The boy has no emotions. The girl looks twice her supposed age.
The plot also has a lot more holes. The situation that allowed the outbreak of re-infection is just totally outragous and demonstrates the complete ineptitude of the United States Armed Forces. How the infection was allowed to spread to the civilian population without being exterminated by a soldier with a big gun is also beyond me, but then I guess we’d have no movie.
Once the outbreak took over, I was pleased with the accelerated pace of the movie, and it took on much of the traits that made the first one so good. A group of people trying desperately to escape and survive total chaos brought on, this time not only by the infected but by the intervention of rapid military response.
It would have been so easy for Hollywood to destroy this. In truth, they didn’t do it many favours either, but the film is still enjoyable - at least the first time you see it. 28 Weeks Later is good for entertainment value but don’t count on any awards being handed out.
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28 Days Later
Monday, September 17th, 2007
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- Danny Boyle
- 2002
I really liked this movie for some reason. It’s quite slow to start with and much of the story that occurred within the previous 28 days later is left to speculation and imagination. Whereas a lot of reviewers of this film ramble on about how the terrifying concept delivers and terrifying film, I was more absorbed by intrigue.
The idea of a virus that requires the most minimal of exposure from an infected sample of blood or saliva that could turn any person in to an outraged and demonic being hell-bent on attacking anyone who doesn’t share that same virus is totally out of the world of reality, but forgetting the science behind it, this movie makes it seem like a real possibility and genuinely gets you thinking about how fucked up it would be should it actually happen - and what would you do?. This is what I loved about this film.
As you’ll see if you watch the sequel, the absence of Hollywood in the production of this flick makes takes all the sensationalised crap you get from guys in camouflage with big guns blowing the heads off of people and focuses on a small group of young people simply trying to survive. This is much more in touch with the average person and it’s a nice change.
The acting, script and screenplay are all very good. 28 Days Later does suffer from the token love element and there are a few issues that always bugged me. I can’t believe that the central character Jim was able to walk around London, the most heavily and densely populated city in the UK, in broad daylight, for some several hours before encountering an infected. We can however, overlook this because it is this scene alone that sets the opening for the surreal tale of a bleak, empty, futureless Britain.
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Alien 3
Monday, September 3rd, 2007
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- David Fincher
- 1992
Its around the 2nd sequel mark that you start to feel that someone was really out to milk this franchise. On the back of the success of Alien and Aliens, Alien 3 was inevitable at some point. To be fair, I’ve probably seen this movie in its entirity once, and then watched odd bits and pieces of it now and then and it’s unlike me to struggle to remember this film in any detail, which just goes to show what a poor take on it that is. Compare that to the dozens of times I’ve seen Aliens and the disparity is obvious.
From what I do remember, the film does a good job of keeping the suspence as we go back to having just one alien. I can’t help but feel the plot lacked any really depth - a prison full of idiots, basically.
David Fincher is the director, and how many of his other films can you name? Yea, me neither. This is only on my shelf to complete the collection.
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Aliens
Friday, August 24th, 2007
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- James Cameron
- 1986
Simply brilliant. I am torn between this and Black Hawk Down as my favourite film of all time, and whilst I struggle to qualify why I praise Black Hawk Down, I can sing the praises of Aliens for days. It’s simply the ultimate sci-fi, horror and action flick.
It’s in the fortunate position of be being a sequel and as such the story is set up and ready to go from the first minute. It’s long too with a runtime of well over 2 hours on the extended edition.
This movie is almost as old as I am and goes to show that modern film making techniques might provide a quick thrill but don’t have anywhere near the longivity.
The marines are badass, the aliens are even more badass. The only slight pitfall is having an annoying little blonde girl as one of the lead characters.
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Alien
Thursday, August 23rd, 2007
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- Ridley Scott
- 1989
Alien was a ground breaking movie and film making at its best. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I love this film (unlike its immediate sequel, which is ace!) but it definately tugs at the heart strings. Based on concept and delivery alone, this film scores five stars. The cast and crew do an absolutely superb job of pulling together a story that has thrills, action and edge of the seat suspense. This is definately what Sigourney Weaver went to acting school for, and she totally sold herself out in some of her recent stuff.
Some might say the moderately slow start to the movie is boring and enough to develop an underlying grudge that will ultimately put you off the entire film, but if you can overlook that this film is a real winner and worth watching, if anything, to see what all the fuss is about.
I bought the two disc special edition for my collection as it was a mere £6.99 on play.com and as this is the predecessor to what remains one of my favourite films of all time, I had to have it.
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