Don’t kill the messenger.

28 Weeks Later, the Fox Atomic sequel to 2003’s critically acclaimed 28 Days Later, bowed at theaters throughout the US this weekend and through all the blood splatter and corpses, earns a meritorious point of honor; if you bought a ticket you most certainly knew what you were in for. That is unless, like me, you didn’t catch the first film and you haven’t been to a horror movie in a few years. I have to admit that for much of the film I was a bit floored at the ferociousness of the bloodletting. But in a weird way, I was impressed at the stark blatancy of such savage images. After all, the film is about the reemergence of a virus called “Rage” that takes effect in only 20 seconds from exposure. The virus is passed through blood and saliva when “the infected” attack and tear into their prey with their teeth. The attacks have all the subtlety of a pack of hyenas chasing down a sick baby zebra. There isn’t a part of this plot that isn’t obvious from it’s trailers or it’s biohazard themed posters. And let’s not forget that this is a sequel that even by it’s title, makes it clear that we are embarking on a journey continued. Thrill to the carnage or become nauseous but don’t say you weren’t warned.

Then there’s the distributor’s pedigree. Fox Atomic, a division of 20th Century Fox was set up in 2006 to handle projects marketed to young adults. The release slate so far? Do the titles The Hills Have Eyes II and Turistas help clue you into how Fox sees it’s target audience? No gripe, just another example of why you have to respect what’s going on here. This is a product that emphatically gets it’s audience and doesn’t shy away from grabbing them by their necks and yanking their eyes to the screen. And likely all to their somewhat demented delight. To be fair, Fox Atomic is just underway and indeed will be peddling a sophomoric comedy later this summer titled The Comebacks. Given the worn sports premise of the goof-ball loser team, this one plays college football, and the wacky coach that has to find a way to win, played here by now klutz comedy veteran David Koechner, it will be interesting to see if  the movie will be as in-your-face with gross out and moronic humor as it’s scream-fest siblings are with blood and gore. My guess just from reading the advance press is that once again they’ll be no surprises as to what lands on the screen.

So what’s a Critic to do?

Kudos and backslapping go to the moviemakers then, for making a movie that has no qualms about exploitative brutality, complete abandon of civility and a wink and a nod to deliberate shock value. But the real applause is for saying so. There’s no contrived artistic angles, no philosophical meanderings on the brutality of men in crisis and no festival award winner, honors-bestowed-upon bragging. The poster’s iconic image of a biohazard symbol is exquisitely telling. There’s some nasty toxic stuff here and the possibilities may not be pretty. The most contrived part of the marketing campaign may be the title itself, a little too clever especially when extended into the brief expositive titles in the first moments of the film. As for deeply meaningful subplots about US military intervention and the use of indiscriminate force to stem complete societal breakdown, they lurk only in the reviews of critics who just can’t get past the fact that this movie’s story lies 100% on it’s surface. If you’re paid to review movies you find something to review and if you have an ego about what you find, you’ll find something profound. Ramblings about militarization. Political philosophy and the US as world cops. Nobility and survival and inhumanity, oh my. Forget watching limbs torn off and soldiers opening fire on the general populace, this searching for deeper meaning crap can really bring up reminders of lunch.

It’s just a movie. A summertime, make you jump kind of movie. If it were real you would definitely be having less fun. We’ve seen this stuff before so the moviemakers take us a little further. If we were in Emeril’s kitchen he’d be saying,”BAMM, let’s kick it up a notch”. That they did. In all of the reviews I read, I kept seeing references to zombie movies. I’ve never seen zombies on film like this. In the original 28 Days Later, we were presented with something more vicious. You aren’t watching George Romero here and this sure as hell isn’t a lot of restless cemetery tenants out for a moonlight snack. In 28 Weeks, nothing is moving slowly, not the virus, not the consequences and not the response. There’s no scene where authorities discuss options, there’s no debate about the use of force and there’s no reflections on inhumanity. There are people infected and you stop them by killing them. Last man standing. Go. These aren’t zombies so much as they are biological terrorists, viral suicide bombers. They are slaughtered without pause as they themselves race to bring down new victims. Maybe zombies on crack, a sign of the times in the evolution of movie monsters.

Delivering on the pitch.

In keeping with culinary metaphors, 28 Weeks Later is the hot-dog on the grill of summer releases. There’s nothing good for you in there, but if you like the taste, it’s part of what makes summer so much fun. Building on the success, critical and otherwise, of 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later continues unabashedly in step with it’s predecessor. If you had fun seeing the first you will likely enjoy the new go ‘round. If you didn’t see the first and curiosity’s got you, give in. In spite of the brutality, there’s a tone struck here that somehow let’s you remember that it’s all just entertainment. If there’s not a thing that draws you in from the trailer, stay home and wait for the next summer blockbuster to drop, there are plenty of studios lining up to take a stab at your wallet. But with 28 Weeks Later, if you buy the pitch, you buy the movie. Now there’s something they should give an award for in Hollywood. Maybe when the DVD is released they can quote me on the cover... “It is what they say it is! See it if you want to.” ...Moviedozer.com

28 Weeks Later was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and was written by Rowan Joffe, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Jesús Olmo, and E.L. Lavigne. 28 Days Later had it’s US release in June of 2003 and was distributed in the US by Fox Searchlight Pictures. It was directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland.

Friday, May 11, 2007