28 Days Later

First of all, I was surprised that Boyle would venture into something like zombie (or rather, contagion) horror. But as such, I understood it at the beginning and therefore wondered about the inappropriately placed scenes, unsuitable for this genre. Even the unusual musical score suggested that something was amiss. And in the second half, it became clear. Against the backdrop of the struggle for survival, Boyle attempts to portray the behaviour of people in a liminal situation, when they have a choice between retaining a shred of their humanity or being overwhelmed by an instinctive desire to survive at any cost, even at the cost of harming others, and he really doesn't give people the best report card. One of the soldiers in the film says that people killed each other before and will kill each other in the future, in that sense, they are not really that different from the infected. The "infected" themselves are very reminiscent of the aggressive running zombies from Snyder's remake and can occasionally cause a few hear attack situations. (09/12/2003)

And then that the animal rights people have the welfare of the entire planet at heart... Honestly, I wasn't too keen on the initially trashy style, and for a long time I was convinced that I was watching Danny Boyle's weakest film. But the plot flip in the middle and my reminiscences on The Mist (is the biggest danger lurking outside or inside?) fixed that a bit, and Cillian Murphy is actually a pretty cool bad-ass here. I guess this is how I'd imagine a film made by some hardcore 80s horror fan who has a healthy obsession with zombie themes and no wider ambitions. I can't quite identify with Boyle's intent, so I'm left with pure average (which is pretty low for Boyle). (30/05/2018)

A well-written reproduction of the subject of Romero’s mediocre Day of the Dead, spoiled by unsuitable visuals and music. I want a big-budget, celluloid remake by Guillermo del Toro with music by Marco Beltrami! (26/05/2003)

Strong as a whole, but unconvincing in the development of the plot, or solid filmmaking that is hard to keep up with. Either way, Danny Boyle is a very good and smart director who, in the broader narrative context, elevates his film above the level of B-movie (whether in the naturalistic intro or in the end, where is bluntly suggested that the aggressive infection is actually part of the human DNA), but the explicit meanings at times feel so loose and dumbed-down and the character development so hasty that they hurt the film’s added value. The intentionally cheap look is fitting, what is more arguable is the adequacy of the music, and personally I was bothered by some editing montages and the dumb behaviour of the characters. An interesting take on the material that actually deserved a more thoughtful and psychological layering. 65% (27/03/2020)

Raw British horror that replaces slow zombies with fast infected people, influencing this horror subgenre for many years to come. The casting of Cillian Murphy in the main role was an interesting move, his face has both boyish and girlish features and his transformation from “someone who’s being dragged on” into “the one that saves everybody” was also interesting. Great. (18/11/2007)