I have no clue what made me decide to watch 28 Days Later. I think I was on some type of browsing rabbit hole and sort of ended up there. I think maybe it had something to do with Ralph Fiennes, the actor who played Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies and of course played in a million other well known movies as well, as he's certainly a very well established actor. I really probably should catch up on my movie watching in general. I used to be a movie nerd once upon a time. I've definitely fallen off massively. I've basically been on YouTube for years now. Oh well.

Ralph Fiennes was in the newer set of 28 Years Later films which are sequels to 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later both of which came out well before these newer ones featuring Fiennes.

Ralph Fiennes is a cool actor, and this franchise randomly deciding to come back also interested me from a far for awhile now. It's fascinating how some franchises randomly decide to continue after years of being pretty much dormant sometimes. Pretty cool. Apparently there's also graphic novels and comics involving the series.

I didn't wanna dive into these newer films and have no idea what's going on. So 28 Days Later needed to be visited.

I think I saw 28 Years Later before an eternity ago. Watching horror films with my mom was like, a constant routine growing up. I noticed that Cillian Murphy pretty much played the main role in it, which is pretty cool.

Funny enough, for awhile many Harry Potter fans were speculating/hoping that Cillian Murphy would play Voldemort in the new Potter series. But Murphy apparently firmly said he's not, but man, that would have been wild. Imagine, a Fiennes/Murphy-Potter/28 Days Later connection. Maybe Murphy is just messing with fans and he'll end playing Voldemort anyway LOL.

Anyway, yeah as soon as I turned on 28 Days Later, I was pretty much hooked. I immediately felt immersed in the film, which is rare. It had a smooth, cool story.

The movie was action packed and intense, but also, it had a very cool charm to it. Charm is a funny, yet powerful compliment to describe a film or book in my opinion, because it can be tricky. If an attempt at being charming is done badly, it can quickly become cringey or corny.

There was a lot of cool artistic, introspective vibes to the movie. Jim roaming about a quiet London was so eerie. His confusion after waking up from a coma felt surreal. Instantly, money becoming irrelevant was rather funny.

Eluding to the charm more, maybe I'm overestimating this but, a significant portion of the middle of the film felt genuinely relaxing. It felt sort of care free and beautiful. When Jim and Selena met Frank and Hannah, it felt like a family was formed. They traveled about the country, and really got to appreciate the scenery, the little things, and simply being alive. I almost forgot it was a horror movie.

Again, this speaks to the story telling of the movie. 28 Days Later felt like three distinct parts. The early confusion and trauma of Jim's experience, figuring out this new world. The middle portion I just explained, and then the third when they met the soldiers at the blockade.

Each part had its own distinct personality. The final part, offered a whole new intensity that brought the film to the next level. The soldiers being creepy and corrupt, and Jim going straight up Rambo on these dudes was something I did not see coming. The action was abruptly pretty superb. It had gun action, scary zombie action, and suspenseful scary action. It's admittedly pretty random that Jim out of nowhere was capable of doing all of that. This guy was a ninja out of nowhere. But I don't know, I credit it to desperation I suppose. Jim really cared about Selena and Hannah so, I could see him spazzing out and really locking in to save them. Cillian Murphy and all the other actors and actresses simply acted so well in this final act, that it made everything feel reasonably believable. Also, sometimes in movies you just gotta go with it, and be entertained as long as it's not ya know, too hard to believe.

One thing that MUST be mentioned is, the song in the final major action sequence made the whole thing feel incredibly intense. Seriously, it felt unreal, like I was watching a generational music video or something.

Src

I mean HOLY GOSH. I knew I heard that song from somewhere, and it's pretty cool to know that it came from 28 Days Later. It just gives everything a serious, sinister edge. Absolutely cool.

28 Days Later really exceeded my expectations honestly. I was actually expecting a somewhat basic zombie movie, and people infinitely just running away and hiding or something. But this was a proper, fun, HIGHLY rewatchable movie. It brought me back to late nights watching horror movies with my mom. I felt at home.