Pink

The 2 star is only for the cinematography, and that’s it. The plot is tasteless. Spoilers ahead but this movie is just pretty shots, Gorey shots, and the directors putting unearned (Or explained) symbolism in for no reason. Me and my partner went to see this movie over the weekend having never seen any of the 28 series before and we left the theater confused and conflicted. People had said the 28 series shaped a lot of zombie media at the time so why were we shown something so empty when we watched 28 years later. So we watched the other two movies and WOW. The other two are so much better, we really got scammed. The first two had so much character conflict and personal growth that it made this movie seem pointless. With 28 years passing from 28 weeks later, I just don’t understand how or why anyone would take the franchise in this direction. 28 days/weeks laters both had so many complex characters and moving parts that it felt painful when characters died, but totally understandable for the situation. They weren’t just side characters, they were people trying to survive that just couldn’t make it in the group. In 28 years the characters are flat. Even though you spend almost 2 hours with them you get no connection with them whatsoever. Neither of us felt much of anything for any of the characters present making the ‘emotional’ points nonexistent because there was no connection. I have so many questions as to how and why are the infected still there, we learn about silent carriers and immunity in the 2nd film so why not branch off of that instead of going with a new type of zombie? I get viruses mutate and adapt in the real world but how does a zombie get another zombie pregnant and we just get no explanation for it at all. We get this doctor character so I thought he would give us some explanation but nope. He’s just there to tell us that the kid’s mom has cancer and to have this big art piece of skulls. Speaking of which this ‘symbolism’ that randomly pops up through the watch always threw me off and made me cringe. I love symbolism and my partner does not; for reference we recently saw Sinners and I loved it so much because those moments felt earned when you made those connections in your brain. My partner doesn’t like it all that much but they still give sinners credit. While watching 28 years later it felt like we were just randomly flash banged with soldiers chanting and masks for no reason. Then the ending with Jimmy just seems so out of nowhere and placed in there for no reason. We have no idea what type of character he is or became from a small flashback that was just him running away as a kid, so why was the ending scene shot in a way where we’re supposed to feel like he’s a ‘badass’ I get this is a set up for part 2 but this is the worse baseline for a set up ever. It felt like you were just staring at a pretty bowl of cereal for 2 hours. Yeah it’s nice to look at but the flavor is tasteless. I would have much rather enjoyed a story about Jimmy and follow him through the years instead. It would also help explain how the virus mutated and grew over the years with his insights. Don’t waste your money, watch the first 2 instead. Or maybe wait for the second part to come out first.