A man wakes up alone in a hospital after an accident. He doesn’t understand what is going on, but it doesn’t take long before he meets some angry persons who are out to kill him. It turns out that it has been a virus outbreak that turns people into furious maniacs. Now he must try to stay alive as long as possible and hope that he meets some other survivors.
Zombie movies have never quite been my thing. I’ve seen most movies that are worth watching, but zombies are not scary. They are many, but they are slow and stupid, and as I said, I don’t find them scary.
Danny Boyle did something clever with 28 Days Later, where he replaced slow zombies with virus-infected people who can sprint. They are scary because they don’t move like sluggish snails. The threat is real in 28 Days Later. You better learn to run and stop smoking!
You feel that England has gone to hell throughout the movie. The start of 28 Days Later is fantastic, you can feel the isolation and the tense atmosphere. Visually, the movie looks brilliant and combined with a solid score, Danny Boyle revived a dying genre. He developed the genre for the better.
Another clever move by Danny Boyle is that we care about the characters we follow. Hello, Train to Busan! We care for the good guys. They feel human. Hello, Train to Busan! Hello! Overrated movie! The character depth isn’t great, but the way they behave and act indicates they are good people. They feel like real humans, and that’s something I feel is lacking in today’s movies and TV series in the same genre. Hello, Train to Busan! All aboard the hype train! The simple is often the best.
The movie is also interesting in the last act where there is no difference between the virus-infected people and the not infected people. We are just some wild animals, whether or not we are infected with the virus.
Next to Trainspotting, 28 Days Later is Danny Boyles’ two best movies. And 28 Days Later is in a completely different league than the acclaimed and overrated Train to Busan (2016). All aboard the hype train, tut-tut! 28 Days Later is still the king of the hill!