'28 Weeks Later' proves Disney Plus isn't just for kids

Tom's Guide

2 days ago

Sick of kids' movies? "28 Weeks Later" is the perfect Disney Plus movie for you.
It's understandable: When you hear the name "Disney," you immediately think of kid-focused fare. With a decades-spanning filmography packed with iconic Pixar movies, animated classics and more, you'd certainly be forgiven for thinking that Disney Plus only caters to the youngins.
But Disney's flagship streaming service boasts plenty of fully grown titles, even some R-rated ones. There are action-packed superhero flicks, indie rom-coms and the perfect adults-only genre: horror thrillers.
Of the latter genre, one high-profile and heart-pumping recent addition to the Disney Plus library is "28 Weeks Later." The second installment of the acclaimed "28 Days" horror franchise, it's a gloriously gory movie that's definitely made for adults (sorry, kids!).
So, before checking out the franchise's "brilliant" latest chapter, "28 Years Later," in theaters now, give its 2007 post-apocalyptic predecessor a thrilling revisit on Disney Plus.
The sequel to Danny Boyle's classic "28 Days Later" picks up six months (or 28 weeks, get it?) after the original epidemic, with the military having declared Britain safe from the so-called "Rage Virus."
However, once survivors and refugees start to move back to the United Kingdom to heavily guarded districts, they face the horrifying realization that not only is the virus not gone, but it's even more dangerous than before.
Not long after, an asymptomatic carrier of the airborne virus turns into thousands of infected. Things quickly and disastrously spiral out of control all over again.
Among those fighting to survive the zombie outbreak are our protagonist Don Harris (Robert Carlyle), his wife Alice (Catherine McCormack) and his two kids Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton); US medical officer Scarlet (Rose Byrne); Delta Force sniper Doyle (Jeremy Renner); military helicopter pilot Flynn (Harold Perrineau); and US general Stone (Idris Elba).
Though it didn't exactly match the widespread critical acclaim of the trilogy's first film "28 Days Later" (the first film has an 87% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while the second has a still-respectable 72% rating), the Juan Carlos Fresnadillo-directed "28 Weeks Later" is an important chapter in the greater zombie franchise.
For one, if the sequel wasn't as entertaining and engaging as it is, we wouldn't have the hit "28 Years Later" nearly two decades later.
Plus, it's still well worth watching. While the critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes notes that the 2007 sequel "lacks the humanism that made 28 Days Later a classic," it goes on to praise the zombie film for its "fantastic atmosphere and punchy direction."
For his part, The New York Times film critic A. O. Scott called the film "brutal and almost exhaustingly terrifying, as any respectable zombie movie should be" as well as "bracingly smart, both in its ideas and in its techniques."
He wasn't alone in being a prominent voice to praise the movie. Variety critic Derek Elley said the 2007 film gave its prequel "a classy makeover" and "more than delivers the genre goods."
So if you haven't yet checked out the middle chapter of this iconic zombie franchise, go stream it now at Disney Plus. If you want even more apocalyptic thrills outside of the "28 Days" franchise, make sure to check out our round-up of the best zombie movies.Watch "28 Weeks Later" on Disney Plus now