Movie of the year: 28 Days Later
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Posted by Gus Leous in Arts section |
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28 Days Later,
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Noah Huntley, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns
After the shockingly banal effort of 'The Beach', it is surprising that Garland and Boyle decided to team up again.
This time around, the results are more encouraging as Boyle recaptures some of the verve and flair that drove Trainspotting and Shallow Grave to critical acclaim.
The film begins in a darkened laboratory, as a group of animal rights activists set free a group of infected monkeys, unwittingly unleashing the deadly virus 'Rage' upon the human race. After an ellipsis of 28 days, the film re-awakes with Jim (Cillian Murphy), an Irish bicycle courier who is catapulted into confused consciousness in a deserted hospital (? la Day of theTriffids). He finds himself wandering around the cryptic, post-apocalyptic dream world that has become London. Here, Boyle's directorship shines incandescent as an ethereal, surreal London engulfs the lost and lonely Irishman, while the nausea rises in the pit of our stomach as we ponder his fate.
Jim gets in tow with two hard-boiled survivors Selena (Naomie Harris) and Mark (Noah Huntley), who find him evading a rabid priest in a Rage infested church (the irony of an Irishman at odds with his religion is not lost here!).
He learns that ‘Rage’, which turns the human form into frenetic, primal beasts intent on death, has nearly wiped the population out. Garland, with a benevolent nod to the ‘Night of the Living Dead’ trilogy by George A. Romero, gives the 21st century zombie an added advantage here by installing in them the ability to run at a terrifying pace.
One of the survivors, Mark, becomes infected and is militantly sacrificed by Selena. With caution, the two characters embark on a mission to search for answers to this scourge of the human psyche. They pick up cockney taxi driver Frank (Brendan Gleeson) and his daughter Hannah (Megan Burns) along the way, and head north to Manchester on a tip from a radio transmission.
Boyle takes us on a hazy, vulnerably serene journey from the deserted tower blocks of London, through the idyllic countryside to the burning Northern Lites of Manchester. He intersperses this with sporadic but brutal attacks on our psyche as the rabid ‘Rage’ victims attack with speed and stealth. The one-dimensional zombies, whilst good for offering cheap thrills and scares, cannot make a story. It is for this reason that the most imminent threat emerges in the form of a clipped, psychotic megalomaniac (Chris Ecclestone) and his band of soldiers. They initially offer refuge to Jim et al, before Ecclestone’s suppressed menace spills into the secure country house that they inhabit, as his men kidnap the women and try to murder Jim. Here the quality of the film disintegrates a little, with Ecclestone coming over as a confused and vaguely sadistic schoolmaster, whilst his crew of jack the lad soldiers cannot match the danger of the rabid beasts depicted earlier.
Similarly, the plot holes are often difficult to ignore. For example, the characters elected to risk driving through a dangerous tunnel, rather than go over ground, and why were there no mobile phones to phone abroad?
However, the little known cast perform well. Gleeson puts in a solid performance as the chirpy yet caring cockney, Harris, acts as a useful counter-balance to Jim, whilst Burns is reasonable as the sensitive yet sensible teen (although a girl from London with a brummie accent doesn’t quite ring true.) The real brilliance emerges in the form of Murphy, who outshone the other
actors and will undoubtedly go on to greater acclaim. He is memorable as the intriguing Irishman with the disarming brogue, his silk blue eyes mirrors to the trance-like world that they inhabit.
The film does retain a contemporary air to it. The virus ‘Rage’ parodies the lust for war that pervades the human psyche, particularly in today’s context. Therein, you can find numerous other metaphorical references to today’s society, which give the film a satirical edge, adding another dimension. Boyle gets his revenge on the spectre of product placement by rendering all brands as worthless in a scene at a co-op. Jim’s comment relating tower blocks and shopping trolleys hits the spot with accuracy and humor.
All said, in using the DV camera Boyle has created a claustrophobic, agoraphobic nightmare that’s shot like a dream. It is certainly a mesmerising if flawed stroke of genius. Danny Boy, the plaudits are calling....
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