28 Weeks Later (Blu-ray)

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---

Even though the film decided to become a bigger spectacle with huge explosions, special effects and a higher octane story, director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo stayed true to the franchise´s roots. The original character and intelligence that was found in "28 Days Later" remains mostly intact. This isn´t as engaging a story and relies on a little more brawn than brains, but it has not become the typically dumb and loud horror-action film that we´ve become all too familiar with in recent years. Fresnadillo does a fine job of keeping pace with the work done by Danny Boyle and Alex Garland. This is an evolution of the series that has become a more visceral experience. The first film is superior with its more intelligent storyline and the introduction of the Rage infected zombies, but I was more than happy with the direction taken by the series and seeing that a bigger budget, bigger stars and bigger action sequences didn´t sink the film as so many other smaller films with bigger sequels had done before. I was certainly hoping that "28 Days Later" would not be betrayed by its sequel in the manner that "Desperado" betrayed "El Mariachi." This wasn´t the case and I look forward to the third film in the story.

Video:

"28 Weeks Later" fares far better on Blu-ray than its predecessor "28 Days Later." While that filmed looked absolutely horrid on the high definition format, the sequel is a relatively pleasing experience when you consider the nature of its source materials. This 1.85:1 film is mastered with the MPEG-4/AVC Codec at the maximum 1080p resolution, which according to the packaging runs at 37 MB per second. Director of Photography Enrique Chediak and Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo expanded the home video look of the first film and included sequences shot with high definition video cameras. The picture still has a rough documentary look, but it is not nearly as bleak and depressing in quality as "28 Days Later" was. There are a few moments where detail does pass the average mark, but it was not filmed in a manner conducive to striking visuals. There is a lot of intentional grain, low resolution moments and an excess of desaturated colors. Colors on both films have looked very washed out, and this is another stylistic choice taken by the filmmakers. Black levels were good, but the lower resolution and gritty texture of the film didn´t provide good shadow detail. Things get quite murky when the lights are out. "28 Weeks Later" isn´t going to land on anybody´s "Best Of" lists for visuals, but the Blu-ray handles the material nicely.

Sound:

I haven´t had a lot of opportunity to watch Blu-ray releases from Twentieth Century Fox, but my most recent batches have been nicely provided with DTS HD 5.1 Master Lossless Audio. "28 Weeks Later" is no exception and matches the soundtrack of the first film with a deep and booming audible experience. While the "28" films have not been as low tech in their audio as they are in their visuals, the soundtracks cannot compete with the most bombastic films on the market, but they sound broody and are fairly aggressive. The first thing noticed while watching the film is that it is a loud soundtrack and a few decibels higher than normal. It is also bass heavy and a lot of the shock to the ears comes in the form of deep bass. If something pops up onscreen, you can bet a rumble in the .1 LFE channel will accompany it. There are a lot of very sharp higher frequency sounds present. I know a few times I needed to adjust the volume down because of the sharp treble notes emanating from my speakers. Rear surrounds are used effectively, although if I had a complaint it would be that the rears were not used enough. Sound can be heard contained in them, but there are periods of time when they go silent. Overall, there is a lot of fright to be carried by the speakers and "28 Weeks Later" benefits from a fairly good soundtrack.

Extras:

A fair number of bonus materials have been included on the Blu-ray disc. All of these have been released subsequently on the DVD version and nothing extra is included for high definition enthusiasts. However, the bonus materials are provided in high definition video and not simply direct inclusions of standard definition materials. This is at least one leg up for the Blu-ray release.

The first column on the "Special Features" menu lists five items. The Commentary by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and Enrique Lopez-Lavigne runs for the length of the film. The two discuss what is on their minds throughout the track, but do take a number of ´breaks´ during the track and the frequent silence was a little disconcerting. It is an informative track and Fresnadillo does talk about his views on the military and the difficulties in filming a movie with a fairly low shooting budget. There were times when this track seemed to drag on and other times it entertained nicely. The two Deleted Scenes features optional commentary with the same folks mentioned previously. "The Canteen" (2:53) featured a moment between Andy, Tammy and their father and Scarlett. The second scene, "Andy´s Dream" (2:09) was a spooky little dream sequence with Andy. Neither scene really introduced anything spectacular, but they were fun to watch.

Thee short documentaries are also included. Code Red: Making 28 Weeks Later (13:06) is an above average making of documentary in the electronic press kit format. This featured the film´s producers and others introducing the film and discussing the process of creating a sequel to "28 Days Later" and other filmmaking decisions pertinent to the film. The Infected (6:58) is a very short look at the Rage infected zombies contained in the film. Special note is taken how an ´Infected Character´ exists in the film, which is Don. There were some nice making of moments with Infected actors and this supplement really could have been longer. The third documentary and final item on the left column is Getting Into the Action (7:13) which is another short feature that now focuses on the action and excitement of the second film and how it is a departure from the slower and more suspenseful first film. This was another good making of feature that would have benefited from a little more length.

The right hand column features two more documentaries that are essentially one longer piece broken into two and the Theatrical Trailer. The first part of 28 Days Later: The Aftermath is Stage 1 "Development" (7:36). This is an animated feature from some of the graphic novels created after the success of "28 Days Later." Although interesting, this was only a segment of the overall story and it felt like jumping into the middle of a conversation. The second piece is Stage 3: Decimation (4:47). This one was a little more interesting than the first piece and also more slickly animated. "Decimation" looked at the smells of people and how the Infected found their prey by smell. There was a funny line involving my favorite beverage Guinness in this vignette. An advertisement for the Blu-ray release of "28 Days Later" is also included.

Closing Comments:

The "28 Days Later" franchise has quickly become one of my favorite horror franchises. The series combines intelligence, suspense and solid storytelling to create a frightening world where a viral infection creates a terrifying race of zombies. This film, "28 Weeks Later" is the sequel to the witty original film and adds action, familiar actors and a larger scope of storytelling to the mix and creates an above average sequel that may not be superior to the original, but does a nice job of continuing on with the story. This is a good movie and although I feared a second movie from a different writer/director combination would perhaps spell doom, it did not and I found the end result to be pleasing. The Blu-ray has good sound and acceptable visuals with an hours worth of supplementary materials. It doesn´t stack up to "Shaun of the Dead" when it comes to next generation presentation, but this is a more-than-adequate Blu-ray release that should easily please fans of the franchise and hopefully win a few new ones.

---

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---