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28 Weeks Later...As a sequel, 28 Weeks Later... does its job too well - that is, it apes the original's brilliance, but also its flaws. As in the earlier film, the opening sequence is utter brilliance. Taking for granted that the audience know the scenario, we're introduced to Don (Carlyle) and his wife (McCormack) who, together with a group of strangers, are holed up in an old farmhouse. With candlelit meals and access to a decent wine cellar, the scenario could be described as cosy, were it not for the trauma etched on the survivors' faces.
Then, just as we saw in the first film, the slightest mistake lets hell in through the window. To give away the outcome of this opening, pre-credits sequence would be to drop a clunking spoiler, but it's a superb example of the filmmakers' ratcheting up the tension. Would that they had kept it up throughout.
That's not to say 28 Weeks Later... flags as soon as the opening credits have rolled. No, what makes it so disappointing is how brilliant 90 per cent of the film is. Employing the same rough and ready filming technique as its prequel, 28 Weeks Later... evokes a world that feels just one degree removed from our own.
By borrowing from real life situations - the US troops are straight out of Iraq, while the wall of photos and plaintive notes to loved ones recall the aftermath of 9/11 and the 2004 Asian tsunami - the set-up on the Isle of Dogs is thoroughly and frighteningly convincing. There's no horror movie gloss here - this looks as real as the 'News At Ten'.
As with more traditional horror/disaster movies, 28 Weeks Later... throws together a group of disparate characters. We have siblings Tammy (Poots) and Andy (Muggleton) who, having been on a school trip to Spain during the events of the previous film, are among the first children to return to the UK. They are taken under the wing of US Army medic Scarlet (Byrne, star of Boyle and Garland's Sunshine; the writer and director of the first film here take executive producer credits).
For fire-power, there's maverick marine Sergeant Doyle, played by Jeremy Renner, a talented character actor who's been on the verge of fully-fledged fame for years. Just as 28 Days Later... catapulted Cillian Murphy into the stratosphere, 28 Weeks Later... will surely do the same for Renner; he's by far the best element in an outstanding cast. It's just a shame we don't get to see more of him.
Once disaster strikes, the film descends into dizzying chaos. While this provides many bravura set-pieces - including a sight only described in the first film, of the virus's rapid and bloody spread through a crowd of people - we lose our grip on the characters. We haven't seen enough of them to start caring and, when they are picked off like cattle, the effect is numbing rather than horrifying.
With more twists, turns and carefully orchestrated breathing spaces for character development, this could have been one of the best horror movies for years. You won't hear a reviewer say this often, but we could have done with an extra half an hour.
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