Top Films from Each Year of My Life: 2003

28 Days Later...

"All the death. All the shit. It doesn't really mean anything to Frank and Hannah because... Well, she's got a Dad and he's got his daughter. So, I was wrong when I said that staying alive is as good as it gets. "

"I promised them women. "



And we're back. After an aborted attempt to return to this recurring subject that some of you may have caught (I accidentally rewrote a 2001 entry for Wet Hot American Summer only much poorer the second time around), I'm back on target. While 2003 may not be the best year for films in terms of high quality, "important" films, it was a pretty fun year. Elf, Bubba Ho-Tep, A Mighty Wind, and Finding Nemo were all released. But the film the must rule this year is 28 Days Later...

At first, I didn't love this film. The third act shifted dramatically from the first two and it felt tonally off. Up to that point, the film was great. Lots of action. Nice character development. Harrowing images of an empty metroplis. Brendan Gleeson. Then the military comes in everything gets wacky. Or that's how I felt the first to times I saw it (both in the theater, so there must have been something calling me back). However, I came around to the ending on my third viewing. I really dug that there was no where left to go. Those who you trust to save you are also the enemy. You don't need to be infected by the virus to become a monster. I can't imagine third act as satisfying as it exists (I want the same thing to happen to Boyle's Sunshine, too, but I fear the third act of that film, which I still find incredible, may be a little too out there to be salvaged).

Perhaps the most impressive thing about 28 Days Later is that it was shot on a Canon SL-X1 (with some special lenses). It shows that just because one is shooting digital, it doesn't mean the film has to look like crap and be hand-held the entire time. With a little thought, you can create a film with its own unique beauty. Danny Boyle and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle did amazing things with a consumer grade camera that no one has been able to do since.

This is also the film that introduced much of the world to Cillian Murphy, who aside from me having a man-crush on, has pretty impeccable taste in projects. Certainly a bigger part in The Dark Knight would have made that film more enjoyable for myself.

28 Days Later benefits from two things Boyle does really well: filming foot chases and picking music for his films. I may not have cared much for Slumdog Millionaire, but that opening scene is incredible (as is the opening to Trainspotting, for that matter). Along with the striking minimalist score, Boyle places post-rock titans Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Grandaddy (AM 180 doesn't seem like it would fit in the film, but, just like Dawn of the Dead has some scenes of fun, so must 28 Days Later).

Finally, and it just wouldn't be me writing if I didn't mention this, 28 Days Later is not a zombie movie. There are no zombies. The people aren't dead (as evidenced by the fact that they can starve to death). This is an infection/epidemic movie, of which zombie films are a sub-genre (sort of like the whole square-rectangle relationship). In fact, if there is one bad thing I can say about this film, it's that it gave rise to the fast zombie trend, a concept so ridiculous it makes me want to laugh and chortle (and yes, I know there were fast zombies before this, the idea just hadn't, if you'll excuse the pun, gained momentum).