Horror fans were ecstatic when they found out that director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland were returning for 28 Years Later, the first film of a new trilogy. Boyle and Garland are both accomplished filmmakers, but, for many, 2002’s 28 Days Later will always be their masterpiece. It’s what introduced many of us to Cillian Murphy. Two decades later, 28 Days Later is seen as a horror mainstay, but before you see the third film, let’s not forget the second, 2005’s 28 Weeks Later. Although Boyle and Garland weren’t that involved, it’s still a fun watch starring some of Hollywood’s biggest names, such as Jeremy Renner, Rose Byrne, and Idris Alba. If you missed it the first time around, catch up on it now. Despite its flaws, it’s well worth your time.
Why Didn’t Danny Boyle Return for ’28 Weeks Later’?
Danny Boyle was already an accomplished name before 28 Days Later, with films like Trainspotting and The Beach. He kept right on going after the success of 28 Days Later. While promoting his following film, Millions, in 2004, Boyle told SCI FI Wire that the plot for 28 Weeks Later would revolve around Britain being abandoned after the outbreak, but now, 28 weeks later, the United States military attempts to bring people back in before all hell breaks loose again. Boyle said, “It’s got a good idea in it, I like that,” but he did give two unfortunate updates as well.
Even though Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris‘ characters survived the events of 28 Days Later, they wouldn’t be returning for 28 Weeks Later because “they’re too busy.” Harris was going to be in the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, and Murphy was cast in Christopher Nolan‘s Batman Begins, so 28 Weeks Later would tell a different story with new characters. That wasn’t a bad idea, but what did suck was that it would be told with a new director as well. Boyle announced that Sunshine would be his next movie, adding, “28 Weeks Later will be done, but I probably won’t be directing that. I’ll kind of be an executive producer.”
’28 Weeks Later’ Has a Shocking Beginning and Ending
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo took over the reins as director, as well as co-writing 28 Weeks Later. He impressed with his first feature film, Intacto, but his second had an impossible task: it had to follow a film that had become instantly iconic in the genre. Telling the same story all over again would have been lazy, but telling the next chapter could also have its share of issues. 28 Days Later is a terrifying horror film, but part of what makes it work is how it takes a smaller approach to a worldwide collapse. We’re following a small group of people, and the terror is in wanting them to survive.
28 Weeks Later is about what comes next. If the first movie is about survival, the follow-up is about rebuilding after the threat is thought to have passed. When everything inevitably goes to hell, it turns into an action war film, led by Jeremy Renner as a sniper named Doyle, Rose Byrne as Scarlet, an American medical officer, and Robert Carlyle as a husband and father trying to do his best amid the chaos and protect his children. We get to see the breakdown through their eyes, whether it be an attempt to contain another outbreak or to help those in need.
You can argue that there are so many characters that it’s hard to get too close to any of them, but that chaotic approach also created some very intense moments. 28 Weeks Later is bookended by two unforgettable scenes. The first starts with a quiet moment where we meet Don (Robert Carlyle). But just minutes in, we get one of the most intense chase scenes you’ll ever see in a zombie movie, right after Don has been forced to make a heartbreaking choice. The tone is set straight away and doesn’t let up. We won’t give away the ending here if you’ve never seen it, but it goes both for the heart and the jugular, while also promising this isn’t the end.
’28 Weeks Later’ Is a Deeply Political Film
The first rule of movie sequel making is that the second movie has to be bigger in every way. For 28 Weeks Later, that meant more monsters, bloodshed, gun fights, and explosions. This does not mean that it is a simple action movie, however. It’s, in fact, a deeply political one, just like 28 Days Later was. Boyle’s film was an unintentional comment about 9/11, as it was being filmed when the terrorist attack happened. If 28 Days Later is about the outbreak of a new terror, so to speak, 28 Weeks Later is about trying to rebuild in the aftermath. You can find its real-life equal in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which were ongoing at the time of the film’s release. In both fact and fiction, the U.S. military is in a foreign land, and no matter what they do, they can’t meet their objectives. It’s a dark, hopeless movie, making 28 Weeks Later feel so much like a George Romero commentary on society, even when it has the polish of Hollywood.
28 Weeks Later is about the breakdown of a traumatized society. As soon as the U.S. military discovers that zombies are still out there, they see bombs as the only way out. Kill everyone, whether they’re infected or not, and restart from there. Some of our protagonists are for this approach, while others oppose it, so we get not only a clash between humans and monsters, but vastly differing opinions among our heroes. It is a deeply political film that exposes humanity’s flaws, making it as scary as anything else created at the time.