Meg and I went to see 28 Weeks Later on Saturday night, the first movie we’ve seen in the theater since Ghost Rider (PS, don’t even bother with that one … ugh, Nicolas Cage) and I have a few thoughts on it.

WARNING: Don’t read ahead if you’re worried about spoilers.

1) So the US comes in, all heroic-like, and sets up a quarantine for the survivors of the infection, which they believe has been wiped out. Why, then, if it is ‘expressly forbidden’ to leave the compound, is security so lax that two children can sneak out virtually undetected? Also, wouldn’t it make sense to create a bunker in case of emergency that actually could keep out the infected? By sticking everyone in a parking garage, protected only by a set of doors that don’t even have chains, you’re just asking for a disaster. Seriously.

2) Part of the charm and jump-factor of the first film was the use of split-second shots on the faces of the infected as they attacked their victims. These split-second shots were, of course, just long enough so that the viewer could take in the gruesome faces fully; in 28 Weeks Later, these shots were so quick that, in various parts, they had almost a strobe light effect that was highly distracting and made things difficult to take in, thereby defeating the purpose of quick shots in the first place. The attack in the subway, for example, happened so quickly that I felt like I had blinked and missed it completely. Lacking were the great shots that built up to the actual attack, such as that scene in the first movie where Jim is attacked in his kitchen by a neighbour who crashes through the window. We could see the infected running towards the window, then the scene switched back to a peaceful Jim, then BOOM. Attack. Awesome. Freaked me out the first time I’d seen it.

3) So everyone in the world is fine save for those in Britain? What happened to the fact that Selena said in the first film, “The day before the TV stopped broadcasting, there were reports of infection in Paris and New York.” But apparently this wasn’t the case in 28 Weeks Later. Hmm.

4) The infected never before demonstrated that they had any knowledge of those they were attacking, even if they were neighbours, or related, or anything. Then why did the children’s father seem to seek them out and target only them?

5) The ending left me wanting more, as we’d been given no explanation of what happened, whether the helicopter had crashed, whether Andy had gone mental and infected the other two, or whether a vaccine had been created as a result of the kids’ immunity to the disease. And why hadn’t the thousands of infected from the first outbreak not shimmy down the Chunnel originally?

Apart from all this, of course, I thought it was a thoroughly enjoyable horror flick, and of course I’ll buy it when it comes out on DVD and watch it many more times, as I did with 28 Days Later. Plus, it stars Robert Carlyle, who’s just a fabulous actor. And the infected still freak me out.