I have to say I was expecting something different and, to my mind, something better, when Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later" hit the screen. Sure, I'm living in the past, but Boyle and his producer partner Andrew Macdonald have yet to top "Trainspotting" or even "Shallow Grave," their second and first major films, respectively.
They really hit the big time with the film version of novelist Alex Garland's "The Beach," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and they clearly expect that reuniting Garland, Boyle and Macdonald will spell box office success. Likely, it will, as this is the most "Hollywood" British film of the year.
A group of animal rights activists unwittingly unleash a horrific infection on Britain when they free a bunch of caged chimps that have been infected with "rage," in a manner that recalls the second half of "A Clockwork Orange."
Twenty-eight days later, a bicycle messenger awakes from a coma in a deserted hospital to find that all of the island has been decimated by the infection. As he wanders through a deserted London -- in scenes which are the most interesting of the film (how on earth could they shoot such unpopulated scenes in the West End at any time of day?!) -- he suddenly realizes that there are still some infected humans on the prowl, looking for the uninfected.
{INSERT_RELATED}Soon, he manages to find other uninfected and together they must try to unite with still more uninfected and they begin a torturous journey up to an uninfected army stronghold near Manchester (why the three-and-a-half-hour journey takes three days on deserted roads is unexplained).
There's loads of zombies, lots of violence, tons of action and an extremely tired, hackneyed apocalyptic story that's filled with warnings about war and science gone mad. Even if you buy into the premise, "28 Days Later" is one of those films that requires you to suspend your disbelief at every turn and that gets tiresome. I won't even bore you with the cheesy romantic subplot or give away the ill-considered ending.
Made on digital video, the film dazzles the eyes, but fails to engage the mind. Consequently, tons of young filmgoers will be drawn in like the infected on the prowl for fresh blood. But the rest of us will beg for a quick, relatively painless death.
"28 Days Later" opens Fri., June 27 everywhere.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
