*** Official 28 DAYS LATER Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Hunter P]

The opening act of an empty London is definitely the most impressive part of the movie. I just kept thinking of the logistics involved. Not only in clearing out the area in the foreground but also the background too. I suppose the backgrounds were digitally altered to make those buildings and such look empty as well. On some shots it is altered but in others I just wasn't sure.

 

[Bill J]

Why didn't Jim and the others try and find any weapons around the city? There are no gun stores in the England? That woul be one of the first things I would try and get. Also, why fight with such close and personal weapons like a bat and a machete?

Guns only have a limited amount of ammunition (obviously). People may have already looted the stores and burned up all of the ammo during the evacuation.

The soldiers at the base didn't exactly conserve their ammo buy shooting in short bursts, so they would most likely have resorted to hand to hand combat as well.

All purely speculation, since the film didn't really explain this.

 

[Simon Massey]

There are no gun stores in the England?

there might be some somewhere but I dont recall ever seeing one We have far tighter restrictions on gun ownership here in the UK.

The opening shots of London were apparently filmed over a series of days while traffic and people were held back out of shot for few minutes at a time. This was one of the reasons why they decided not to have dead bodies everywhere in the opening - it would have taken too much time to dress the set and then remove everything.

 

[david stark]

firstly as a couple of people earlier up have mentioned distances in UK are still in miles and as a brit I didn't really notice any odd language.

Indeed for finding guns in the UK, the only places I can think of getting a gun would be an illegal dealer (search every house and hope you find an illegal gun, could take you a while). Otherwise it would have to be a gun club, police station or an army base, all of which would be locked away so even as everyone was dead/infected it wouldn't be easy to get one.

Has anyone that has seen the dvd with commentary know how they did some of the empty streets shots? I can see them closing off bits of London for a short time so they could shoot that, but I can't imagine them closing a motorway for a film, especially the M1.

 

[Dominik Droscher]

Has anyone that has seen the dvd with commentary know how they did some of the empty streets shots? I can see them closing off bits of London for a short time so they could shoot that, but I can't imagine them closing a motorway for a film, especially the M1.

They did indeed get lucky and were able to use the M1 (I suppose that's the one that leads to Manchester?) for a few minutes. They got some police cars which held back the traffic in both directions.

On the commentary they also explain that it were really only a few minutes they were able to film each scene.

 

[david stark]

cheers. I was thinking during the film it must be special effects because there is no way they could shut the motorway, but it was so well done I kept telling myself "no it can't be real" but it was.

Is the commentary good in general? I'm not too sure about buying it on dvd and if there are some good extra's it could tip the balance, or I could just rent it.

 

[Simon Massey]

The commentary is with Danny Boyle and Alex Garland and is really good. Some of the deleted scenes are very good as well, and there is a short making of

Pointless trivia : The motorway they used for filming is actually nowhere near Manchester, and the section of the film where they meet the soldiers for the first time was filmed elsewhere (they nicked the big road sign from near where I live though )

 

[Brian Kidd]

I thought the movie was a tremendous success. For those who complain that the film goes against genre, I say "Thank God!" What a boring world we would live in if everything were predictable. That's what American television is for. A genre must grow while never losing sight of its roots if it wishes to be more than a passing fad. That's where 28 DAYS LATER succeeds and RESIDENT EVIL fails. Although I found the ending to be a little contrived, I could accept it. It wasn't expected, but it was plausible and therefore appropriate. Excellent film all around.

 

[todd s]

Wouldn't the plague die off in England? Since it has a quick incubation time and England is an island.

 

[JamesHl]

Todd: I think that's the point they were trying to make at the end of the movie...

I thought private ownership of guns was now totally illegal in the UK?

 

[Scott Weinberg]

According to the New York Post :

 

[Matt Stone]

Wow, that is awesome. First, it's great to see King digging the flick, and second...It's really great to see King being such a cool guy.

 

[Dan Shogren]

I absolutly loved this movie. I want to know if the R2 dvd requires a region free dvd player or if it'll work on my normal region 1 dvd player?

 

[Matt Stone]

It requires a region free player.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

I saw it today and really enjoyed it but I thought that the people that were stacked in the mall were the dead that had been dumped.

I enjoyed the film all the way through though the Mad Army guys were a bit contrived.
i did like the ending. I kept thinking it was going to have a Night of the Living Dead ending but as much as I like twist ending it didnt belong here.


As for the poster Travis_W who said he could have done without the main character waking up naked in the hospital....
Why is this? Its a body, just like you would see in a gym shower.
Sounds like you have some issues!
It doesnt have to be a sexual scene for someone to be out of their pants. They show naked Woman in movies all the time.

Question, were you sitting at least one space from the guy in the theatre that you saw it with? You dont want anyone to get the wrong idea, ya know.

In summary, I hope word of mouth helps this movie and makes it more of a success ala Blair Witch and Big Fat Greek Wedding.
I for one am tired of empty Hollywood movies like Matrix 2 and charlie's Angels. I enjoyed myself much more at this small movie..

Anyone know why they waited a year to release it over here?
Its on DVD already in the UK.

 

[Ricardo C]

I loved the movie. Not at all what I was expecting, and I mean that in a good way

Only one minor nit to pick: West made a big deal about figuring out just how long it takes the Infected to starve to death. Why WOULD they starve to death? If they're running free through the cities and the countryside, they could loot any grocery stores/supermarkets/homes, or they could turn to cannibalism and eat their victims or the bodies of the dead Infected, if things got dire enough. They're feral, but not devoid of survival instincts. Is it ever stated that they're unable to eat, or that they don't have an interest in anything except killing?

A friend sent me this link to a discussion thread over at the Ms. Magazine boards, especially regarding the rape segment. I disagree with the poster that guided the discussion there, but I thought it was an interesting point of view anyway, regardless of how jaded/cynical/warped I found it to be.

 

[Holadem]

I got in about 2 minutes before the guy woke up from his "coma". Did I miss anything significant, other than the standard "holy shit, something is wrong, people are dying" plus the obligatory exceptionally gruesome introduction to this phenomenon?

The picture was absolutely horrid, and I am not picky about such things. I don't mind gritty, but this takes the cake. I have seen video blown up before, this is the worst yet. I have witnessed Edge Enhancement for the first time, I can certainly understand all the commotion if that is what DVDs that suffer from this look like on a large display.

The note left by the parents was surprisingly touching. "Don't wake up". Something about that just gets me.

I liked it :star::star::star:, didn't love it. And it didn't scare me one bit if you ask, it was acually laughing the whole time. I guess this is what those Army of Darkness type movies that seem to have a huge cult following, are like. I might actually start exploring this genre, as I feel it would work better at home, on saturday night, with a whole bunch of friends .

 

[Ricardo C]

Holadem, the movie opens with random images of violence: Riots, executions, police trying to control street protests, etc. We then see these are the images being force-fed to a monlkey in a lab. Then, three activists break in and try to free the apes, even though a lab worker warns them that they're infected with "rage". The first moneky whose cage they open, attacks one of the activists. The lab worker tells them they have to kill her, but before they can do it, she attacks another one... That's when the hospital scene begins.

 

[Kirk Tsai]

This was my initial reaction to that scene as well. At first I thought it was highly unlikely that the soldiers were simply craving sexual intercourse to the point of committing rape after a period of only 28 days. It took me awhile to realize that the whole point of that scene was that if humanity is deprived of social restrictions, human beings could be just as dangerous (if not more) than the infected. As previous posters mentioned, they were driven to insanity because they were paranoid about losing the entire human race.

My thoughts on the last act are a little bit different, though I agree with Bill on humanity's destructiveness. To me, Major West and co. and not necessary insane. No matter how limited they are (or their attempts to have sex and impregnate the women), they are thinking of survival. In contrast, Jim's sole goal is to protect the women, and his actions are more frightening than the soldiers'.

Again, the Major's ideas may not have been practical at all--and they may have just been too damn horny--but I don't see it as illogical. Jim, on the other hand, is willing to kill those who represent the last hopes of humanity, and do it viciously. This to me links back to the beginning of the film when we see the animal activists freeing the monkeys without thinking about the consequences. They are both narrow minded.

So while I liked the first half (everything up to meeting the soldiers) of the film more, it's based on an emotional response. I think Boyle really pulled out some thematic material that contains muddy waters after they meet the soldiers. It's less pleasant and more disturbing, but every bit as compelling to my mind. I am surprised that some critics have labeled the last act as more straigtforward action/adventure. Really liked the movie a lot.

 

[Ricardo C]

Jim, on the other hand, is willing to kill those who represent the last hopes of humanity

If West and his men were the last hope for humanity, then humanity was better off dying out.

West and his men were degenerates. They weren't thinking of repopulating the planet, simply of satisfying their need for human contact, by brute force if necessary. Jim was protecting what life there was left, even at the expense of his own.