Top Of The Genre: 28 Days Later Reinvigorates The Infection And Zombie Genre Films!

The Good: Acting, Plot, CHARACTERS, Realism
The Bad: Volume of blood robs a few key moments of realism
The Basics: When Britain falls victim to its own biological agent, survivors of the plague work hard to outlast the Infected.


If you follow my reviews, you will know I'm not big into horror. Science fiction, I love. Horror, it's a pretty blah genre to me. Too often, it's too predictable, poorly written and it stands up even more poorly than comedy upon rewatching. I had heard decent things about 28 Days Later . . ., though and so I went to see it. You should see it, too. If you are a person who likes character-driven stories where you actually care about the fate of those on the screen, then 28 Days Later . . . is for you.

When a group of animal activists storm a laboratory, they unwittingly set lose a contagion in Britain that causes its victims to rage uncontrollably. Jim awakens in a hospital bed, 28 days after the outbreak began to find his city almost completely abandoned. Confused, dazed and dehydrated, Jim wanders until he finds a church where he discovers victims of the rage and flees for his life. He is rescued by Selena and Mark, two survivors who inform him of Britain's plight. The three band together to survive and the next day, they head to Jim's parent's house where they discover their fate. When the Infected chase them from that haven, Jim and Selena end up at a high rise in the company of Frank and Hannah, a lonely father and his daughter.

Frank plays a radio transmission for Selena and Jim from a military encampment a few days away and the group decides to head for it. In the process, they bond and when they finally meet Major Henry West at the Blockade, they realize that perhaps the Infected are not their only enemies . . .

What makes 28 Days Later . . . so great is that the characters are interesting. Jim acts as pretty much any of us would upon waking up and discovering himself in a post-apocalyptic nightmare. He is confused and scared and his dreams are nightmares of loneliness and abandonment. It makes a great deal of sense; he went to bed and the world abandoned him. Similarly, his lack of endurance at the beginning makes sense for someone hospitalized for a month, as does his ability to quickly work back muscle mass - as would be natural for a bicycle courier.

Jim is not the only interesting one. Selena seems genuine as someone battle-hardened by the way life has treated her for a bloody month. Moreover, her latching onto Jim and his hope reads as very true as well. Similarly, it is not simply director Danny Boyle's obvious Hitler shot of West entering the mess hall that clues us into the fact that something is not right about him, it is the way he treats others, including his infected former-officer.

The acting in 28 Days Later . . . is astounding. Megan Burns and Brendan Gleeson play off one another quite organically as a daughter and father. Burns has a great innocence and maturity to her that contrast beautifully to Naomie Harris' Selena. Gleeson's portrayal of Frank as a saddened, passionate man is both comforting and heartwrenching.

Naomie Harris makes Selena into a heroine we can believe in. Without duplicating the acting of other popular, tough heroines, Harris clearly establishes herself as a tough, dependable and almost ruthless presence on the screen. Harris explores Selena's almost mercenaric sensibilities and allows them to find a voice while never crossing the line of being a parody or an archetype.

Christopher Eccleston does a great job at playing West as a cold-blooded survivor without a shred of emotion. Eccleston expertly keeps his difficult facade of stone raised the entire film.

Cillian Murphy steals the show (not only for his repeated nudity) by creating Jim. His facial expressions open the film wonderfully, easily creating an undeniably confused character. Murphy sells us on the classic British post-apocalyptic stranger in his own land. Never does Murphy's performance seem to be rehashing the "type" that has been portrayed in similar films.

In the end, there is very little not to like about 28 Days Later. . . Yes, it's gory, but it is not gratuitous. And certain things are never explained, like why the Infected prefer the night to move about in. But these are minor details that do not detract from the enjoyment of the film. Indeed, it is the lack of explanation that makes the movie seem so real. Jim and Selena are not scientists, thus the reasons do not matter. As survivors, they recognize the symptoms and the problems and how to avoid them, not the causes or the cures. In fact, the only thing that makes no real sense after further contemplation of the movie is how the virus would have reached New York City, as Selena mentions it had.

Even this little detail does not cause the viewer to stop caring or jump out of the film and ask "why?" Instead, director Danny Boyle creates a scenario that is immediately engaging, plunging the viewer into a world where the viewer is actually scared. It is not a predictable film and the movie is more a psychological horror than a "something is going to jump out at me" horror. In fact, Boyle goes a long way to avoid the cheap frights, often giving visual clues to the Infected coming.

Finally, one of the things I enjoyed most about the movie was the reminder that even in the worst of times, humanity's greatest enemy is often itself. 28 Days Later . . . reminds us that in desperation, Man will rise to its greatest heights and sink to its deepest depths. Fortunately, Boyle has the strength to make a film with a great amount of moral ambiguity to allow each viewer to pass Judgment on his characters.

28 Days Later . . . may be enjoyed by anyone who has a tolerance for gore, a passion for good acting and decent characters, and wants to be entertained. This may not be an absolutely perfect film, but it is excellent and by far, the top of the genre.

For other works with Cillian Murphy, please check out my reviews of:
Tron: Legacy
Inception
The Dark Knight
Batman Begins

9.5/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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One Of The Best Films Of 2008, Slumdog Millionaire Is Still Difficult To Watch!

The Good: Great direction, Interesting characters, Great acting, Much of the plot, Use of soundtrack
The Bad: Plot predictability
The Basics: So close to perfect, I bumped it up, Slumdog Millionaire has moments of predictability, which do not rob the film of its (terrifying) enjoyability. Thoroughly engaging.


There are some years when cinema is just not great. 2008 was one of those years. That was not a great year for movies. But when I first saw Slumdog Millionaire, I knew I was seeing a truly great film, even if it was one I might not watch again for quite some time. I saw the movie when I was still mulling over my "Best Of 2008" list. It was a Top Ten list and I had been struggling for some time to come up with ten movies I actually liked in 2008. But the list got another spot filled - and a high one at that - with Slumdog Millionaire. Yes, it's that good.

Slumdog Millionaire was one of the top three films of the year, qualitatively. It is well-directed and disturbing and brutal in its reality (for the most part). It is mostly clever and it is an easy nine out of ten in my ten point pantheon. It is one of those films that is so good at what it does I had to take a moment before being able to stand after the movie was done. Far from being a family, feel-good movie, Slumdog Millionaire is a harsh, often brutal and realistic look at India and the fates of three people as they are woven over two decades.

Jamal Malik is in an Indian prison where he is being tortured by a detective and his muscle. The charge is simple enough; Jamal is accused of cheating on the Hindi version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. So, interrogated, Jamal begins to tell the story of how he came up with each of the correct answers that have put him a single answer away from the top prize in the game's history. Jamal weaves a story that begins with chasing after a celebrity's autograph after literally getting covered in dung.

From there, Jamal's life becomes intertwined with his brother Salim and a girl they rescue from certain death, Latika. After witnessing the brutal religiously-motivated slaying of their mother, Salim and Jamal flee with Latika. They are taken in by a gangster who uses orphans to beg on the streets and Jamal makes choices that put him and Salim on the run. As the boys grow up and scam their way across India, Jamal longs for Latika and works to find her in one of the most populous nations on the planet. Salim, for his part, embraces the dark side and becomes the gangster that Jamal spends his life running from. And in the run, are the answers to the questions on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire!

The low point of Slumdog Millionaire has to be the plot. It works, for the most part, but it is predictable enough that in the first half of the movie, I turned to the person I was seeing it with and told her exactly what the final question in the game would be. And I was right. This is - at times - shocking for the horror and brutal reality of the situations, but in the end, it is very predictable for certain key elements.

Notable among those elements is the narrative technique. Slumdog Millionaire has moments where it is problematic in that the narrator could not possibly have heard things that appear on screen. The film is told in much the same way as the masterful The Usual Suspects and in this case, there are moments of embellishment that those attentive to the fact that the story is being told from Jamal's point of view, there are things he could not have seen or heard. So, for example, when he and Salim run away at one point, there is a person who says something on screen long after they would have been out of earshot.

That said, Slumdog Millionaire is otherwise flawless. The plot is paced in a way that is engaging. The viewer becomes caught up in the furor of Jamal's success on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and we find ourselves rooting along with the viewers of the show, even though we know he has some success on the gameshow. Similarly, viewers become engaged in the execution of the plot such that we take an active role in looking for the answers. That type of energy is a rare thing in a movie; to be so engaging that the viewer is essentially proactively watching the film. It has been a long time since I watched something with such a sense of anticipation for what was coming next.

That is largely because of the characters. The characters in Slumdog Millionaire are thoroughly engaging. Jamal is a hapless hero and it is easy to root for him. He has been abused, underestimated and ridiculed to such an extent that the viewer wants him to triumph. As well, he is one of the few innately good characters in film that actually works. Jamal steels to stay alive, but he has a moral code. He becomes upset when his brother steals his autograph and sells it; he refuses to resort to the way of the gun and, in the end, he is motivated almost exclusively by blind love. Jamal is the archetypal hero in a lot of ways, and his rags to the chance of riches story is compelling.

Of course, Jamal's story is woven beautifully into Salim's tale. As Jamal ascends through hard (if illegal) work, Salim descends into vice through a frustration with the way things are. He discards his moral code and attempts to exert power over Jamal and Latika. He takes for sport and when he comes into possession of a gun, he sets down a road that separates him forever from Jamal. In fact, perhaps the greatest horror of the film is the moment Salim gets what Jamal has longed for all his life: Latika.

Latika initially seems simply like the object of affection for Jamal and the barter chip Salim uses to buy power, respect and status within the den of thieves he drags her into. But instead, Latika is a tragic heroine. She sacrifices much to allow Jamal his freedom and the chance to preserve his innocence and that takes a strength that is not seen in her until late in the movie.

Universally well-acted, Slumdog Millionaire is a tour de force on the acting front from a slew of actors few (Americans, at least) have ever heard of. Child actors Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Tanay Chheda, and Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala play the younger Salim and Jamals in such a way that provides a strong, continuous performance through the characters' different ages. In fact, the performances go well beyond simply casting children who look vaguely alike; the mannerisms are picked up flawlessly by each incarnation of the children.

But it is Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto and Dev Patel who rule Slumdog Millionaire. Mittal is brilliant as the oldest Salim, playing him with a stone-faced ruthlessness that is downright scary and utterly believable. Mittal has a way of fixing his eyes in what one assumes is the most convincing portrayal of murderous intensity just shy of actually being a trained killer. His performance kept my stomach in knots for an hour after I finished watching this film!

Freida Pinto is similarly believable as Latika. Pinto is beautiful in a very classical sense and her performance oscillates impressively between incredible strength and troubling despondency. She plays a handshy woman incredibly well near the end of the film and her role is almost as unsettling as Mittal's.

But it is Dev Patel who carries Slumdog Millionaire. Patel needs to engage the viewer right away and he does with a casual body language that screams of a life of movement, starvation and exhaustion. Patel carries himself with an ease and seriousness that is simultaneous and he manages to strike the perfect balance to make the viewer believe in Jamal, the struggles and history of the character.

Slumdog Millionaire is directed by Danny Boyle, whose only other work I have seen is 28 Days Later. He uses many of the same conceits; frenetic camera movements, momentarily overbearing soundtrack and wide shots of cities that incredibly transport the viewer to a very specific time and place. And just like 28 Days Later, there is a psychological horror aspect to Slumdog Millionaire that makes the movie very difficult to watch. Jamal begins the movie being brutalized and his life goes from one form of abuse to another, with twists and turns that are agonizing to watch.

On DVD, Slumdog Millionaire is packed with worthwhile deleted scenes that flesh out further the story of the main movie. As well, there is a featurette wherein Danny Boyle discusses the film and two engaging commentary tracks! This is a Best Picture DVD that might fit on one disc, but the bonuses reward those who buy it!

Ultimately, the film triumphs because we get a catharsis that (mostly) works and justifies the terror we have to go through to get there.

As a winner of the Best Picture Oscar, this film is part of W.L.'s Best Picture Project, available by clicking here!

For other movies set outside the U.S., please check out my reviews of:
Memoirs Of A Geisha
Let The Right One In
Strawberry And Chocolate

9/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2010, 2009, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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