This
post-apocalyptic horror movie by Brit director Danny Boyle of
Trainspotting fame about a world devastated by a new killer disease
that turns its victims into mindless killer "zombies" plays upon our
fantasies of how one would survive without the usual amenities of
civilisation.
As anyone who has ever gone roughing it in the woods would know, living
without running water, electricity, fridges, etc. may be fun for a
weekend, but wouldn't be particularly appealing as a permanent lifestyle.
Add to this the collapse of law and order and we're in
Mad Max territory -
but with zombies and
(unfortunately) without the cars . . .
A 20-plus minute making of documentary included on the disc tries to
make a case about how plausible the idea of a new killer disease might be
- but hey, this is just typical media-inspired culture of fear
mongering. Just what the hell was Sars about in any case?
The new virulent killer disease in 28 Days Later is "in the blood"
thus
making it a parable for Aids and later on the movie plays upon our dread
of rape. However, 28 Days Later is a mixture of
The Omega Man and Night of the Living Dead
and ultimately is more about any survivalist fantasies one might harbour .
. .
THE
DISC: This is the Region 2 (UK, Europe, etc.) disc. Menus are animated
and when one puts the disc into the player it immediately starts playing
trailers for a whole lot -
and I mean a lot - of other 20th Century Fox
releases, ranging from anything from the
Solaris remake to Bulletproof Monk.
Of interest is the trailer for Master and Commander, the upcoming
period piece set at sea tarring Russell Crowe in heroic mode as the
commander of a British sailing ship. After the recent success of
Pirates of the Caribbean it'd be interesting whether audiences would
go for another action movie set in more or less the same genre and time
frame, even though Master and Commander seems more Mutiny on the
Bounty than the fantastical Pirates . . .
Otherwise,
there is what should be really standard on most DVDs: trailers, deleted
scenes, alternate trailers, gallery, publicity material and the
aforementioned making of documentary which is more promotional fluff
than anything really informative or substantial.
Of interest are the deleted scenes and the various alternate endings which
give the impression that the film-makers had a more downbeat and
depressing ending in mind before the money bosses no doubt interfered.
Incidentally, even though 28 Days Later was originally filmed on
digital film, the movie didn't particularly translate well to the DVD
format. When it comes to the film's more murky scenes and camera
movements, the compression used has a problem handling greens and browns
occasionally. This results in a wave-y effect similar to what I've seen in
the official Star Wars VCD, although not
as bad. There is also some colour bleeding. At times I found it
distracting, but overall it isn't too bad perhaps. Still, one is somehow
disappointed. Will the Region 1 NTSC DVD be any better? I don't know.
WORTH IT? A satisfying, but not quite rewatchable movie, 28 Days
Later might not be anything new for SF fans, but is still worth
checking out.
RECOMMENDATION: A decent rental.
