Excellent

28 Days Later crosses the man-made-virus-let-loose and zombie film genres to produce an excellent piece of entertainment. In the opening sequence a virus called Rage is unleashed by some impetuous animal rights activists, the film then shifts the eponymous 28 days later to a quite stunning scene in a London hospital where Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up in a hospital and a city apparently devoid of life. Meeting up with two other survivors he begins to piece together what has happened and to search for a way to survive.

The 'infected' are the zombies of the piece and Alex Garland has put an innovative spin on them; for one thing infection is not something that takes hours to show up which does away with the zombie staple of the sudden and unexpected transformation. Infection takes 15-20 seconds, that's how long you've got to decide to beat, stab or shot your friend to death. Furthermore the Infected are not supernatural creatures so you don't have to dismember them or anything, just killing them in the normal way works fine. Best of all these 'zombies' aren't slowly shuffling moaners, they are lightning fast, rage driven beserkers. All this means that interactions with the Infected are of an entirely different and superior form to the traditional stand-offs in such films. But this is not a one-idea piece and the Infected's speed and agility is not just an excuse to piece together a montage of chase sequences. The film has strong and realistic characterisation and with long periods of near-tranquility that allow the audience to get to know and empathise with these ordinary people and their dilemma. What that means is that the action, when it comes, is intensely involving, not for the volume of blood and viscera getting chucked around (not excessive anyway) but because you really have an involvement with the characters.

Brendan Gleeson has one of the best performances in the film but relative newcomers Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris also produce sterling work. Christopher Eccleston's army Major has an unfortunate accent but still gets the job done.

In all an enthralling film for those who don't normall