Just when you're starting to lose faith in the British film industry, Danny Boyle comes to the rescue with a beautifully made and brilliantly British movie. So far this year we've had the efforts of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh who continue in their eternal campaign to depress Britain with well made yet soul destroying movies, and another Asian/British culture clash movie. Whilst All Or Nothing and Sweet Sixteen are good films, isn’t about time they tried something new, aren’t we all well aware that not everyone enjoys a good standard of living?

28 Days Later is rated 18, which in this case is a good sign as it shows that the film makers are more concerned with making the film they envisioned, rather than the soulless product of a committee that want to keep it rated 15 in order to maximise profits. You would be forgiven for thinking that it is impossible to make a zombie movie that has any hint of originality after Resident Evil which took the formula and tried to kill it. 28 Days Later blessedly erases all memories of that monstrosity and replaces it with an assured Horror/Thriller that adds something new to the genre.

Walking out of hospital, he finds a deserted London devoid of any signs of life and goes in search of an explanation. This sequence, where he wanders the London streets justifies watching the film on its own and is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular shots ever filmed. The Director cleared certain areas in order to get the shots which was extremely disruptive and time consuming, but watching the result you can see that it was worth it. Seeing places that we recognise is cool enough, but seeing it all empty is strange, disturbing and thought provoking. The rage virus that has infected apparently the whole world is a disturbing enough idea, so the thought of ‘The Infected’, who run extremely fast and spew diseased blood into their victims faces may be enough to put off those who aren’t fans of horror. Everyone else however, is in for a treat…

As you can guess from the last paragraph, yes, it is a violent film bordering on the gratuitous at times, but as it’s a zombie film, I think we can allow it. Consequently, criticising the film for its violence is not really valid as it would be like saying that Natural Born Killers is too violent. Listen close everyone; IT’S MEANT TO BE! Nobody wants to see a non-violent horror film, that would be like a Porno without the sex, it’s essential to the formula. I can understand objections to violence in children’s films or James Bond, it’s not always necessary, but you would have to be missing a piece of your brain to fault a violent film for being too violent. The gore is by no means over the top, since this would turn it into an unintentional black comedy and the levels are nicely judged so that the horror remains plausible and doesn’t sink into cartoon violence.

The performances are all believable and enjoyable with a particularly brilliant bit of casting in Christopher Ecceleston, who we are terrified of the minute we see him without knowing why. 28 Days Later combines brutal violence with humour and moments of intense poignancy that combine to leave you feeling exhilarated and excited at the end the way all good movies should leave you feeling. There may be a few moments that feel as though they belong to another movie, but by the end I was high on entertainment, and as the movie is from a well worn genre anyway, that makes it even more of an achievement. Even if you don’t enjoy it, just be appreciative of the accomplishment, and thankful that it didn’t star Leonardo DiCaprio as Boyles last movie The Beach did. Now lets all go and watch that bit in Titanic where he freezes to death again…