28 Weeks Later

28 Weeks Later is a 2007 British post-apocalyptic action horror film, and sequel to the 2002 film 28 Days Later. The film was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, and was released in the United Kingdom and in the United States on May 11, 2007. It was mostly filmed in London, England with some scenes also being filmed in the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.^[1]

Plot

Don (Robert Carlyle) and his wife Alice (Catherine McCormack) prepare dinner for their family that are the only survivors in a heavily reinforced cottage somewhere in rural, Rage virus-infected Britain. As they eat their meal, they suddenly hear a young boy banging on the door begging to be let in. At first they argue not to open it due to the rage virus' outbreak. Don opens the door to let the child inside, who says he is from Sandford and has been fleeing his parents who are now infected. Moments later, a pack of the infected discover the hideout and break in, quickly overwhelming the group. Alice refuses to leave without the boy; Don abandons Alice and escapes in a boat, emerging as the sole survivor.

Britain is quarantined.

Over the course of 28 weeks, the Infected have all died of starvation and Britain is declared relatively safe again, allowing for re-population. The re-construction of Britain began. The process proceeds throughout the weeks.

An American-led NATO force begins repopulating the country with both old and new residents. The chief medical officer of District 1, Major Scarlet Ross (Rose Byrne), is startled by the sudden arrival of children. Among the children are Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton), Don and Alice's children who were in Spain during the initial outbreak. At 12 years old, Andy is the youngest person in Britain, and during their subsequent medical inspection, Ross notes Andy's heterochromia, a trait he inherited from his mother. Andy and Tammy are subsequently admitted to District 1, a heavily-reinforced, fully functional section of London on the Isle of Dogs guarded by the United States Army, including a detachment from Delta acting as a rooftop unit observation team. With them are a sergeant, Doyle (Jeremy Renner), and an observation helicopter pilot Flynn (Harold Perrineau). The children are reunited with their father Don, who is now head caretaker of the district. Inside their new penthouse, Don tearfully recounts his escape, saying that Alice was killed by the Infected, but misrepresents the truth, saying that he witnessed Alice's death, to hide the fact that he fled and abandoned her to her fate.

The next day, the two children slip out of the safe zone to return to their old home, where Andy discovers Alice, disheveled but alive. Andy and Tammy are recaptured by the US Army while Alice is decontaminated. A blood test reveals that she is infected with the Rage virus, but not displaying any symptoms, labeling her an asymptomatic carrier, as evidenced by her eye. Though Ross wants to keep Alice alive to seek a possible vaccine or cure, she is overruled by her superior, General Stone (Idris Elba), who wants Alice killed to prevent a further outbreak of Rage.

Don visits his children in a holding room, where they confront him about his version of Alice's death. He then visits Alice in her isolation cell, and asks for forgiveness, which she seemingly does. But when they kiss, the Rage virus in her saliva immediately infects Don, much to Alice's horror. Now an Infected, he brutally kills her and goes on the prowl in District 1, attacking and infecting soldiers.

The outbreak forces the area into lockdown. All the civilians are quarantined into a safe room, which Don forces his way into, and begins to infect the confined civilians. Ross manages to rescue Tammy and Andy from containment, and they flee together as chaos spreads to the streets. Doyle and the soldiers are ordered to shoot the Infected, but the chaos escalates into "Code Red": a general extermination of the populace. The soldiers began shooting everyone due to the execution of code red. Doyle, unable to bring himself to comply with the order, abandons his post and escapes with Ross and the children with the others in the underground tunnel. District 1 is then fire-bombed, killing most of the populace and an amount of the infected and devastating almost every area of District 1 while General Stone and his troops watch the fire-bombing. The napalming of District 1 incinerates Alice's corpse. Meanwhile, large numbers of the Infected, including Don, escape the initialized bombardment, occupying the city.

Stopping to rendezvous with Flynn's helicopter at the derelict remains of Regent's Park, Ross informs Doyle that the key to curing infection is in the children, who may have the same immunity as their mother. Flynn arrives by helicopter to pick up Doyle, but refuses to take anyone else, citing that they would be blown out of the air if he attempts to break the Code Red protocol. Suddenly, one member of the group grabs on to the helicopter skids, screaming at Flynn to take him with him. Flynn attempts to shake him off the helicopter, Flynn then sweeps over approaching Infected, killing them with the rotor blades, and dislodging the man. He tells Doyle to head to Wembley Stadium, and Doyle heads off with his group of civilians. The group breaks into an abandoned car to escape the Infected and the clouds of chemical gas being vented into the city by the military. In the process of starting the car by pushing it, Doyle is killed by soldiers with NBC suits and flamethrowers. Ross drives into the London Underground to evade a pursuing Apache helicopter, where she, armed with one of Doyle's rifles, and the children continue on foot. She tries to guide their way with the night vision mode on the rifle's optic. When they are separated, Ross is ambushed and killed by Don, who has followed them. Don attacks Andy and bites him. Tammy shoots Don and saves Andy from death, though he is infected with the Rage virus. Andy remains symptom-free like his mother, though his eye turns the same as his mother's was after infection. The children continue to Wembley Stadium and are picked up by a reluctant Flynn, who flies them across the English Channel to France. While flying, they see the incinerated District 1 and the remains of London.

Another 28 days later, someone calls for help over the radio of Flynn’s helicopter, which turns out to be abandoned in a field. A group of Infected are shown running through a subway exit, the Palais de Chaillot toward the Eiffel Tower as air raid sirens and gun shots can be heard, revealing that the Rage virus has spread to mainland Europe.

Cast

Production

Pre-production

In 2003, plans for the film were conceived after the enormous international success of 28 Days Later. Danny Boyle, Andrew Macdonald and Alex Garland stated that they felt the time was right to make a sequel.^[2]

In March 2005, Boyle said in an interview that he would not direct the sequel due to commitments to Sunshine, but he would serve as executive producer. He also revealed that the film would deal with a great deal of the aftermath from the first movie.^[3] It was also revealed that the film would revolve around the "US Army declaring the war against infection had been won, and that the reconstruction of the country could begin."^[4] Boyle hired Juan Carlos Fresnadillo to helm the project after seeing Fresnadillo's 2001 film Intacto.^[5] Fresnadillo stated that he was "thrilled working on his first English language film alongside such an exciting international cast and talented production team."^[6]

Both Fresnadillo and Lopez-Lavigne were involved in writing the script, which revolved around a family and what happened to them in the aftermath of the original film, which the producers "liked a lot".^[7]

Casting details

Boyle said in March 2005 that the sequel would feature a new cast, since previous cast members Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris were occupied with their own projects.^[3] On August 23, 2006, Jeremy Renner was announced to portray Doyle, one of the principal characters for 28 Weeks Later.^[8] On August 31, 2006, Harold Perrineau was announced to portray a US Special Forces pilot in the film.^[9]

Filming

On September 1, 2006, principal photography for 28 Weeks Later began in London.^[10] Locations used in London include: Isle of Dogs, Canary Wharf, Charing Cross, Charing Cross tube station, CityPoint, Greenwich Foot Tunnel, Hyde Park, Wembley Stadium, Millennium Stadium (which is actually in Cardiff), Parliament Square, Shaftesbury Avenue, Therapia Road and Three Mills Island Studios and also the white cliffs of Dover.^[11] The escape from the cottage that opens the film was filmed at Stokers Farm, south of Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire (the waterway featured is the main line of the Grand Union Canal). The film's final scene was filmed on Palais de Chaillot in Paris.^[12]

The film was shot on 35mm film^[13] and concluded late November 2006. Scenes involving Andy and Tammy running away from District 1 were filmed early in the morning.^[14]

Promotion

Biohazard warning

On April 13, 2007, 28 days before the release of the film in UK cinemas, a huge biohazard warning sign was projected against the White Cliffs of Dover.^[15] The sign contained the international biological hazard symbol, as well as stating that Britain was "contaminated, keep out!".

Graphic novel

In July 2006, Fox Atomic Comics and publisher HarperCollins announced that they were publishing a graphic novel titled 28 Days Later: The Aftermath in early 2007 to bridge the gap between 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later.^[16]

Viral advertising

Removable graffiti was sprayed in locations around London featuring the web address 'ragevirus.com'. However, the web address was found to be unregistered and quickly snapped up by a cybersquatter. The advertising agency who made the mistake agreed to purchase the rights to the domain for an undisclosed sum.^[17]

Prop giveaway

In April 2007, Bloody-Disgusting.com promoted the film by giving readers a chance to win a prop from the film. The props were included in a "District 1 Welcome Pack”, which featured an actual ID card and an Evening Standard newspaper with an evacuation headline. The giveaway was only open for North American residents and entries closed on May 9, 2007.^[18]

Reception

Prior to the film's opening the MPAA gave 28 Weeks Later an R rating for strong violence and gore, language and some sexuality/nudity. The film has been rated 18 in the UK. The film opened in 2,000 cinemas across the United States.^[19]

28 Weeks Later garnered generally positive reviews.^[20] View London called the film an "exciting, action-packed and superbly directed thriller that more than lives up to the original film"^[21]. The New York Times wrote that "28 Weeks Later is brutal and almost exhaustingly terrifying. It is also bracingly smart, both in its ideas and in its techniques",^[22] as well as "best horror film of the year".^[23] The film has generated a rating of 71 percent on Rotten Tomatoes with 98 positive reviews and 42 negative ones.^[24] The film made $9.8 million in its opening weekend, coming in second place at the box office, behind Spider-Man 3. The film has grossed $28,638,916 in the U.S. and $35,586,549 in other countries, bringing the worldwide total to $64,225,465.^[25]

Sequel

In March 2007, Boyle announced plans to create a third chapter of the film franchise, which will be given the title 28 Months Later with a 2009 release date.^[27] Boyle has stated that his thoughts are to set the movie in Russia.^[28]

In June 2007, it was announced that if DVD sales of the film did well Fox Atomic would consider producing the third film.^[29]

In July 2007, while promoting Sunshine, Boyle revealed that he has a story formulating for the next film. "There is an idea for the next one, something which would move [the story] on. I've got to think about it, whether it's right or not." Boyle also revealed that he would return as the director.^[30]

In October 2008 Boyle discussed with Karmalooptv the high possibility of a 28 Months Later. The interview can be found here.

IMDB.com announced 28 Months Later on November 8, 2008 with a tentative release date of 2011.

Soundtrack

Main article: 28 Weeks Later Soundtrack

The trailer for this film featured the song "Want" by Witchman. "Shrinking Universe" by Muse was used in the second part of the trailer.

References

External links

• Official Site
• 28 Weeks Later at the Internet Movie Database
• 28 Weeks Later at Rotten Tomatoes
• 28 Weeks Later... at MetaCritic
• 28 Weeks Later Trailer at Apple.com
• Production photos at Yahoo!

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