FILMBRATS - REVIEWS

After taking its toll on countless lives, it appears as though the Rage virus has finally subsided and has been all but eliminated. London is beginning the reconstruction process. All the survivors are being brought back as more housing is available within the limited contained sector. The entire time they are under the constant surveillance of the United States Army, which has been assigned there to ward off any potential outbreaks. Everything is going according to plan until one day an infected survivor is found. The woman is the first found where the disease lies dormant in her system. She has no bloodlust, but she can pass on the disease. Someone like her may lead to the cure. I bet you can’t guess what happens next.

The film opens in nearly the best way possible. It starts when the infected are still alive and very much kicking (or biting…mostly biting). Don (Robert Carlyle, “Trainspotting”) and Alice (Cathering McCormick, “Spy Game”) are a married couple hiding out in a shack with a few other survivors, when inevitably the flesh-craving mob storms the house starting a great chain of events that shows Don barely getting away, while leaving his wife for dead. We’re thrown right into the action, it’s intense, the plot is furthered along without bogging everything else down, there’s plenty of blood and gore and freaky moments, and the music comes in perfectly to accentuate it all.

In fact, the music does that a lot. John Murphy’s score is masterfully composed and mixed so that it can unobtrusively build in the background until its time to pump it full force and overpower the scene. You’ll find there are several times throughout the picture where the music makes the scene. That’s because you’ll definitely be able to guess what happens next. While the script, written by four people – including director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (“Intacto”), is above average, it is extremely predictable. So, any level of suspense has to come from other means. John Murphy provides the perfect outlet.

All told, the film is a whole lot of fun. My only major complaint is with the cinematography (by Enrique Chediak). Where “28 Days Later…” seemed to use digital video for a specific purpose, this effort apparently uses it just because the first film did. Also, the movie is built more for the small screen. There’s an abundance of close-ups, most of the time, without purpose. The handheld camerawork coupled with seizure-inducing rapid editing in the action scenes makes it nearly impossible to really tell what’s going on, especially in the otherwise rock solid opening. We shouldn’t have to rely solely on the audio to make sense of the visuals. It’s truly a shame, because I think I saw some good blood and gore mixed in there.

Lucky for us, there’s still plenty of it that we are able to see. A couple of the scares actually work, and the movie is effectively creepy through and through. This movie is just pure fun and adrenaline. If it weren’t for the predictability and the piss-poor shooting style, this would be far and away one of those rare sequels that outshine its predecessor. As it stands, it’s just barely more enjoyable than the original, but still making it well worth the price of admission.

respond to jon@filmbrats.com