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First of all, this isn’t a zombie film. Second of all, it also isn’t as bad as a movie as I was expecting it to be, IF you keep in mind that it ISN’T a zombie film. Last I checked you need ZOMBIES for it to be a zombie film. You do, on the other hand, have Virus Infected People running around, feeling the need to bite and mutilate non-infected people to increase the infected population. The plot is fairly simple, but somewhat intriguing for a sequel, AFTER you look past the plot holes. Six months after the outbreak in Britain, the US Army (imagine that) have come in and cleaned up a small section of Britain making it livable for the survivors to start repopulating it. The virus is reintroduced into the population after Alice (Catherine McCormack) is found and brought back to the safe haven. She was thought to be left behind by Don (Robert Carlyle), her husband. Blood tests are done on Alice and she is found to be a carrier but not showing any signs of being infected. Don sneaks into the medical room that she is being held, gives her a kiss and becomes infected turning into a ravaging madman, crushes her skull, killing her. Red Alert is sounded and all the people are herded into a parking lot-like safe haven, including Don and Alice’s two kids, Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton). This is a great idea, except for……. (Plot hole 1) for whatever stupid reason they forgot to post soldiers at the other entrance!!! So of course, Don just happens to find the unguarded entrance and breaks in, ravaging and biting whatever and whoever is near causing the infection to be spread about again. Panic breaks out and the people break through the locked doors, pouring into the streets with the infected following. The two kids were split up but reunited again by Scarlett (Rose Byrne), a US Army Medical officer who realizes the importance of the kids. They could have the resistant genes that their mother carried, and could possibly be used for a cure to the Rage Virus. (Plot hole 2)With his hunt focused solely on his remaining family, Don seems to have intelligence, determination, and stealth ability unlike ANY OTHER of the infected people who are portrayed in the movie. Why he is determined to destroy his family is never cleared up either. The movie would have been a whole heck of a lot better if this whole story thread was thrown out, and had the remaining survivors (Doyle(Jeremy Renner), a US Army Sniper, Tammy, Andy and Scarlett) trying to find safe haven from random infected people ONLY. But I’m sure the reason that this wasn’t done was because then we would be just watching a rehash of the first movie, and therefore no need for this sequel, and consequently, 20th Century Fox wouldn’t be able to milk out this cash cow. The best part of the movie though is a scene where the survivors had stopped running and were resting at the remains of Regent’s Park. They are soon forced to flee from the scene when a gang of the infected show up and give chase. Their rendezvous helicopter enters into the scene and makes short work of the infected with its blades. Great Filming! That was almost worth sitting through the rest of the average movie just to see. IN FACT, I rewound it and watched it again. J The movie ends with a group of the infected running through the subway system through the Palais de Chaillot and towards the Eiffel Tower, leaving the ending open for a third movie. Special Features wise, there are several “Making of” featurettes that show behind the scenes of the filming and “character creation” process of the movie, plus interviews of the director, cast, and others involved. Commentary for the two deleted scenes in the extras and the movie are presented. Overall, the movie is an average horror dappled with some decent special effects and with one excellent helicopter scene. The acting is nothing special. All the characters are flat and nothing stands out about them. You could really care less about whether they lived or not. I would consider this a rental if you’ve seen and enjoyed the first movie 28 Days Later, but other than that, I would just let it sit on the shelf and move on. There are definitely better movies to waste your time with. -jason-
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