review: 28 WEEKS LATER (Blu-ray)

Fox  //  Buy from Amazon.com 28 WEEKS LATER is sequel to the successful 28 Days Later. The film pick up six months after the Rage virus has spread throughout the city of London. The United States Army has restored order and is repopulating the quarantined city, when a carrier of the Rage virus enters London and unknowingly re-ignites the spread of the deadly infection, wreaking havoc on the entire population. The virus is not yet dead, and this time it's more dangerous than ever!! While I know I saw "28 Days Later," truthfully I don't remember much of it, other than feeling conflicted about the quality of the film (happy/impressed that a shot-on-DV film got a theatrical run, disappointed at just how crappy it looked). Really, that's about all that stuck with me after having watched it, so as such, I wasn't expecting too much from its sequel, "28 Weeks Later." However, much to my surprise, I not only enjoyed this film, I consider it far superior in all aspects to the original! First off, the film knows how to pull the terror strings - you'll be watching a pretty laid back conversation between a couple characters on screen and then LITERALLY the next second it's sheer chaos and terror and your heart will jump from resting heartrate to quadruple in one fell swoop. DAMN! It's not just shock & jumping though - it's an intelligent story, somewhat (and terrifyingly believable), well-acted, well-shot, and well-paced. The film moves along at a steady clip and holds your interest & attention from start to finish. I really enjoyed this one and will likely end up watching it again within the next year or so (always the sign of a good flick!) Video Given the high def 1080p treatment, the 1.85:1 widescreen transfer is amazing - truthfully, I was shocked to find out that the majority of this film was shot on 16mm, as it looks stellar, with none of the grain or low(er)-budget look typically associated with that format. Audio The DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 surround mix is also excellent, delivering all the sonic goodness and very cool electronic soundtrack in fine form. Extras "Code Red" making-of featurette "The Infected" featurette on zombies "Getting into the Action" featurette audio commentary w/ director & producer deleted scenes 2 animated short films based on "28 Days Later" trailers Closing Thoughts Solid sequel that is (surprisingly) better than the original + loads o' extras = well worth sitting down for a fun evening's viewing!