Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ’28 Weeks Later’

Written by Scott Edwards

I do love a good disaster movie every now and then, and one set in the apocalypse will work just fine. I really liked 28 Days Later, so I was sure that I would like the follow up, even though it came out five years later. One of the things that I was worried about in this film was how they would handle the world after the outbreak and if the outbreak ever ended. You didn’t see any other survivors in 28 Days Later, so you were left to think that they were running around in little bands all across the English Countryside, or at least that is what I thought. Well, I guess it is time to jump right back into the world of 28 Days Later with its sequel...28 Weeks Later.

Six months after the infection has been eradicated, the U.S. Military is trying to move people back into London. With District One completely virus free, the military has units stationed all around the city to make sure that nothing bad happens after they reintroduce more people back to the area. While the medical team is working endlessly to make sure that no signs of infection make it into the city from the camps, Scarlet is surprised to see a couple of kids coming through her screening room. Not thinking that it is safe to have them be sent back to the city at this time, she is overruled as there are not enough resources left in the camps and they need to be moved.

Brother and sister, Andy and Tammy have made it back to London and see their father Don for the first time in months. As Don has been a worker in District One, he holds a valuable key card that gives him access to all sorts or places that most people do not get to go. While he tries to get his kids set up in their new apartment, Don promises that they will get a new house and soon. Trying to explain to the kids why they cannot go back to the old house, Don breaks down about his failure of trying to keep their mother safe when trying to stay away from the infected. Fearing that he is forgetting his mother’s face, Andy has a problem of his own, but Tammy knows of a way to keep that feeling from getting worse and the two are able to break the perimeter and find their way home once again. But when arriving, they find that there is someone else in the house, someone that they thought was dead.

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The children’s mother Alice is alive and has survived a bite from one of the infected. Being taken into quarantine, Scarlet finds out that the woman has infected blood, but seems to be immune to the effects of it.  Needing to do more studies on Alice and her blood, the general orders her to be killed before the infection can spread throughout the safe zone.  Before the order can be carried out, Don is able to find a way inside of the medical center and see his wife once again. After being forgiven for leaving her for dead, Don kisses his wife and becomes the thing everyone has feared, infected. Killing his wife and making his way out of the facility, the district is locked down so the virus can be eradicated before it spreads to anyone else. Locking all of the citizens of the district in an underground structure seems to be a good idea, but Don and his keycard are able to breach the defenses and start the infection all over again on a grand scale.

While always worrying about the lack of action on his watch, Doyle and his friends are finally given a chance to use their training. As the population of the district filter out of the garage, the men are told to target only the infected. But that order only lasts for a few moments when Code Red is yelled over the radio and now everyone has become a target. As Doyle takes his shots, he sees young Andy running through the streets and gives up on his orders. Finding where Andy, Tammy and Dr. Scarlet are held up, Doyle tries to come up with a way to get them out of the city before they are killed by friendly fire, or worse, become infected. Leaving the city is easier than it seems for the small group of survivors, but what they did not expect was to be hunted by the soldiers who were sworn to protect them, or have another batch of infected roaming the streets once again.

This is actually the perfect type of follow up to 28 Days Later, it has enough hope to start over again and one little mistake makes it all fall apart. It was very nice seeing how quickly the virus could spread in a group of people, you never got to see that in the first movie since everyone was already dead or infected. I was worried that they would change the virus and what it did since this strain has been kept in someone immune to it. I think that originally this was going to be a new breed of infected and there are a few scenes where you see that the infected are still moving after taking injuries that would kill them normally, but then they are able to be killed with gas, so I am not sure what they were trying to do.  Besides that, I loved watching the breakdown in the system and even though it may be next to impossible to survive this infection once it hits the streets, there may be a chance with the blood from Alice and one of her children, just saying. Stay Scared.

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