28 DAYS LATER CAST SERIES

The film describes a bleak, dark tale with a beating human heart at its core and an uplifting message at the end of it all. It’s not the cleanest climax, nor are the character arc destinations particularly smooth, but for all intents and purposes, 28 DL wraps all loose ends in a satisfying and realistic way. From both a directing and a writing standpoint, Boyle’s zombie-picture is head and shoulders above the rest of the subgenre, so much so that it transcends the campy confines of its premise and achieves excellence as a cinematic piece unto itself.Ĭinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle demonstrates his affection for colorful dutch angles throughout the film.Īrguably the trickiest part of any post-apocalyptic narrative is ending it, and somehow 28 DL executes that with precision. I cannot stress this fact enough that likable and well-acted characters are sorely lacking from zombie-fiction, and 28 DL’s portrayal of a likable, deep cast in 113 minutes is superior to every cast-member from TWD’s entire five seasons so far, and I’m a fan of the show. Each have clear arcs and great chemistry, while their supporting cast is neither weird nor totally uninteresting like so many characters in Romero’s Dead anthologies. Speaking of those characters, actors Murphy and Harris are some of the most readily sympathetic and likable zombie apocalypse survivors in history. Alex Garland’s script is multi-layered and efficient, as are his effective characterizations, but it’s Boyle’s visuals that steal the show. That’s what sets this project apart from any of Romero’s increasingly hamfisted, cornball films and their imitators, including the immensely popular TWD: 28 DL’s direction and cinematography are so beautiful and well composed that they tell an entire story in nearly every scene, in nearly every shot. Upon rewatching the film, I was amazed at how composed, expertly framed, and “artsy” so many scenes were despite being set against a brutal, bloody, and often crude backdrop of humans and zombies tearing each other to pieces. The film’s commentary and running theme on human violence permeates these quiet scenes, though never so that any image seems forced or heavy-handed.

28 DAYS LATER CAST SERIES

Other great, mostly silent pieces include the opening prologue where a chimpanzee test-animal is strapped in front of a series of monitors displaying horrific acts of human violence, rioting, looting, and chaos there’s also a beautiful scene toward the middle of the film where Murphy and costars Brendan Gleeson, Naomie Harris, and Megan Burns relax in a meadow while watching a herd of horses, and another more haunting sequence where Murphy stalks an abandoned gas station and kills his first infected human with a baseball bat. Arguably the film’s most famous sequence is Cillian Murphy’s groggy revival from a month-long coma into a ruined zombie-wasteland - which, The Walking Dead stole, by the way - tuned to the song, “East Hastings” by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The film has few soundtrack pieces and sparse dialogue, though the music that is used and the spoken words we do hear are meaningful. Much of the film is permeated by nothing other than silence and characters’ soft footsteps.

What makes 28 Days Later (henceforth, 28 DL) so distinct from other zombie films, or any story about the end of the world for that matter, is how quiet it is. Nerds can nitpick and bitch about what constitutes a “real” zombie and what defines an “infected”-whatever, but no matter what way one examines 28 Days Later, it’s a powerful piece of post apocalyptic fiction with a heartwarming message, bloody violence and bleak visuals, and hauntingly beautiful sequences of a world returned to “normality.” Boyle is at is best, here, demonstrating how potent his skills can be when paired with the right screenwriter. Only the strong… and compassionate survive. 28 Days Later is a cycle of death, destruction, and rebirth.

28 days later cast