this post may be infected

I stopped playing Golden Sun this weekend long enough to get in a movie - this time it was 28 Days Later. I consider myself a huge fan of Danny Boyle, but after seeing this latest film I'm beginning to think success has made him lazy. It's got his style, that's for sure - but the story is extremely weak in some points. Most of all, though, it just wasn't scary. For something that's quoted as being "the scariest movie you'll see all summer" I was kind of disappointed. Both the violence and the "infected" were almost comical. The reviews have been extremely favourable, however I'm not so sure they're legitimate. Perhaps these so-called critics are afraid of looking uncool by slagging the latest film from the maker of Trainspotting, a milestone in modern cinema.

The film is clearly divided in half. I enjoyed the first act; it was extremely creepy when Jim wakes up to find nobody around. The soundtrack definitely added to this sequence. I found when Jim came across the message board was equally disturbing. However his first encounters with the Infected are pretty standard, and from then on it becomes kind of a convention of action and suspense movies. Some have even made comparisons to Resident Evil, but I don't really see it. Well, except that both of these films were terribly executed.

Once everyone gets to the military compound, it takes a huge turn for the worse. Every new character introduced is not fleshed out or becomes a parody. And for some reason Boyle loves his attics, and Jim is almost like David in Shallow Grave at the end of the movie, including the way each of the soldiers are dispatched. Is it considered an homage when you rip off your own material?

That being said, I still have to give Boyle credit for filming it entirely on digital video - it was a bold move and should be considered by all directors, in my opinion. It eliminates a lot of the glossy and expensive Hollywood-style post-production that can compromise the atmosphere of a film. I hope to see Cillian Murphy in a few more films now that this one has him as a lead in a prominent film. The guy has potential. This movie, on the other hand, was pretty shyte.