'28 Years Later' by Danny Boyle Review: A history of killing

For the most part 28 Years Later went over me. But this isn't because I wasn't interested; I certainly was! But living in Armenia now, it's not likely that this country gets a whole lot of unique cinema releases. I had to wait for a digital release in order to watch it. But that didn't stop me from catching wind of the various promotional material on the Internet: the many little advertisements and behind-the-scenes clips which showed the technical process of shooting the film, and one particular piece of narrative that they really went with: the use of iPhones to shoot the film. A little loosely defined given only some parts of the film used them, and the rest of the film was utilising various cinema cameras and cine lenses. Still, anyone that knows of Danny Boyle would understand that he doesn't care for the technicals that much, merely seeing each part of the process as a tool. The iPhone simply useful for certain perspectives in environments certain other setups would not have been able to easily reach, instead offering additional immersion into the scenes. I'll speak a bit more on the technicals later.

28 Years Later was something I still remained quite sceptical of, primarily with there being a comic book that was released many years ago which almost served as a bit of a finale to the brand. And with Boyle being so against making a sequel in his previous talks whenever the film was mentioned. A sudden announcement of a sequel in this era of reboots, remakes, and sequels that don't offer much didn't spark high confidence in me, especially once I saw the casting which felt a bit too reliant on bigger names, where the previous films felt more grounded with actors from the UK that pretty much only those from the UK would've likely recognised. Low budget, small and mostly unknown casts, the films offered something unique to the already stale zombie genre. That said, I will admit that 28 Weeks Later is definitely the weaker title of the two, perhaps three films. This film picks up with the remaining people of the Scottish Highlands, where the last of the UK's survivors reside. Locked off by the water from the larger islands, where the threat remains and continues to haunt. Starting off with an introduction that shows how those in some areas still see the virus spreading.

A great touch to the film is how the people that have managed to survive on these islands don't have your typical southern English accents, more northern ones, a nice attention to detail that speaks on how much of the south would've been wiped out, and had not made it all the way north. I really liked how this was done, it made the world feel a bit more real in that sense. But the directing and cinematography ensures that things don't feel natural and safe, there's always something with the lens choices which makes things seem off. Whether it's the perspectives used to make something seem more threatening, or the effects of the lenses themselves: large blurring of surroundings from vintage glass. Strong chromatic aberration which adds a halo type of blue to highlights. Most of the time the film industry tries to avoid such effects from lenses, though here it's used to make everything have this bloom to it, like it's some nightmare that can't be escaped. The way things look also produces this overlooker type of environment, as if the viewer is this distorted zombie figure watching from afar.

Much of the film's narrative explores the concept of killing, showcasing scenes from films that portray medieval times, all the way to the Second World War. It explores this concept of what's animalistic and brutal behaviour, and whether that itself is natural. A comparison to the infected, given it's something massively out of the ordinary but still displays the same sort of acts that have been unfolding for centuries: death, killing, and plenty of slaughter at the hands of men holding weapons. One line in particular speaks on this: the more you kill, the easier it becomes. It's quite a straightforward thing to say regarding a zombie film, honestly. But I don't think it really bothered me, the film itself is done in such creative ways that the main 'thing' the film is trying to say just wasn't a question of mine. So many thrills and creative perspectives that the pacing, while up and down, still feels like it's enough to bring out that animalistic anxiety within. The original films did something similar in showing how survivors still turn into similar violent beings as the infected.

Of course the doom is amplified by the idiocy of a child, though. One that was taught the ropes but is too emotional with the attempts to protect his mother, who appears to be rapidly decaying from what appeared to be some sort of mental disorder that remained untreated. This serves as a nice contrast the previous points, where man while violent, is still obscured by their lack of rational thought due to emotional attachment to things and people. I was glad to see that the film wasn't just a copy of the previous narrative structures, it felt unique. Beautiful in its cinematography and with a story that stood out compared to the rest.