The brits sure got it together. Cheers, mates. *clink*
I enjoyed this movie better by not knowing anything about it, so anyone who hasn't seen it in the cinema and likes scary action-flicks, read no further.
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This is probably one of the best post-apocalypse survivor movies I've seen, absolutely the most realistic, and over in the zombie-category, number one. I really hadn't counted on something with a "Day of the Dead"-inspiration.
See, I didn't know about the disease before watching, just that some dizzy young guy woke up in an empty hospital.
The zombies (well, lesser humans, technically) are the best I've ever seen. Such fervor and drive, it really was scary. And those screams and the panting, I don't even want to think about it.
Just in the first scene, were the director (Danny Boyle) uses the clamour of the chimps in their cages to offset you, I sensed this was a bit different from other movies.
Now, the typical american movie, even the fairly new "Resident Evil" (which was scary in its own way), uses more detached camera angles, not quite so intrusive sound effects and relies more on the background score. Just enough to paint a faint barrier between the screen and you.
This movie was like you were there, and you were dangerously close. And not in that overdone, confusingly shaky "NYPD Blue" way. The camera quality sometimes almost reverted to surveillance camera feeling, lending a feeling of authenticity.
Not the perfect, "Ridley Scott"-ish, crystal clear, sterile quality.
Especially the environmental shots were good, the city landscapes. That was post-apocalypse. It's like the crew had spent a month's vacation in Chernobyl.
The cast of "28 Days Later" was good. No big names, smart move. I've never seen the lead actor before but he really "had" it, as fas as "desperate, well-meaning though approaching borderline"-people go. He kinda looked more of a zombie than the real ones, actually. Those cold eyes, the malnoursished body frame.
The zombies in the church were the worst, the way they snapped from sleep to that panicked, frozen stare, when stirred. Damn. It'll come back to haunt me, I'm sure.
Also, I'm glad they kept the genuinly british feeling to it. The typical rows of white terrace houses, the typical SA-80:s and Harriers. The black, original british taxi.
Oh, oh! Soundtrack! Sometimes very Starsailor-ish, great move, just the right feeling to it. Ironic that my brother, who dragged me out of my flat to the cinema tonight (though I chose the movie), lended me Starsailor's "Love is here" album last week. I haven't listened to it until just now. :-)
The last "violent" scene was probably the worst as well. A real eye-opener. Almost beat Gaspar No�'s "Irr�versible". Second thought, no, not really. And I wouldn't want to see the movie that beats "Irr�versible" in the first place, poor Monica Belucci.
I liked the ending as well. Prudent, just-enough. Everyone in the cinema thought it was over when the cab ran into the closed gate, of course.
A pity Danny Boyle passed on directing "Alien Resurrection"...*snort*
So, opinions?
Posted by Fleet-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
I've heard of this movie before, but I can't remember where though. It sounds just as scary as Resident Evil. Isn't Monica Belucci going to be in the two Matrix movies this year?
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
She is, yes. She speaks excellent french, as well.
Posted by Fleet-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
Ah, je parle francais un petit peu aussi.
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
And how do small Australians react when you speak to them in French?
![[Frown]](frown.gif)