I’m gonna be honest: this is the first time I’ve ever seen this movie. That seems weird, ‘cause 1) I remember it was a big deal when it came out and 2) I’m a fan of Danny Boyle. But if you’ve been around this blog for a while, you might know that zombies are A Problem. It’s why I only managed to watch World War Z (because Peter Capaldi was in it) through heavy multitasking and inattention to the screen for long chunks of the movie. It’s why I had to really talk myself into myself into seeing In the Flesh and Warm Bodies, despite all the great things I’d heard about them. It’s why I still haven’t watched The Last of Us, even though my pop culture circles were raving about it for months when it first came out (and I love Pedro Pascal’s work.) But this is Other Doctor Lives, and for Christopher Eccleston, I was prepared to power through.
When Jim wakes up from a 28-day coma following a traffic accident, he wakes to a London that’s entirely different from the one he’d previously known. The streets are eerily empty, walls are plastered with pictures of missing persons, and the headlines of stray newspapers littering the streets shout about evacuation. While Jim was in his coma, a “rage virus” was accidentally unleashed on the human population. Anyone infected becomes unthinking and violent within seconds, driven wild with a desire to bite other humans, passing on the virus through their blood. Jim manages to connect with a few determined survivors, and they search for anywhere they can be safe.
The use of the “28 days later” is probably what sets this film apart the most from other zombie stories. While many start either at the inception of the apocalypse or already in the thick of it, possibly with flashbacks to happier days, Jim wakes to an apocalypse in progress, but he never saw it begin. He was in an accident, he lost consciousness, and when he opened his eyes, the world was different. It’s not clear how exactly he survived for nearly a month in that situation—when he comes to, the hospital has been overturned and deserted—but either way, he’s dropped into the middle of things while lagging behind everyone else. He lacks knowledge of what happened, and furthermore, he lacks ruthlessness. When he first meets Selena, he’s appalled by her callous attitude towards killing the infected, to killing someone she’s been rolling with on the undetermined possibility that he might have been infected. But Jim hasn’t spent the last month watching people he knew and loved turn into monsters. He hasn’t had to kill to survive, scavenging non-perishable food from ransacked shops and living constantly on edge and on guard. He’s in for a brutal, whirlwind education, but it also gives him a different perspective than most of the people he encounters.
As with a lot of zombie stories, the film uses the apocalyptic backdrop, not just to provide endless waves of monsters for our heroes to fight, but also to comment on humanity. We see the tiny moments in which survivors are able to remember they’re living for more than just violence, the brief reprieves from the grimness and fear that allow them to enjoy extremely simple pleasures. And we see how survivors have hardened, how some of the most reprehensible things our band of survivors encounter doesn’t come from the infected. That’s hardly a new idea—“The greatest monster is man,” and all that—but the film explores it effectively.
I remember that the first time I ever saw Cillian Murphy was in the trailers for this film, and even though I didn’t actually see him in a movie until Batman Begins, the image of his striking face had stayed with me. He does a nice job as Jim, often overwhelmed and panicked but fighting to hold onto as much humanity as he can, for as long as he can. Naomie Harris plays Selena well—she’s a cynical badass, but we glimpse at some of the horrors that made her that way. The film also features Brendan Gleeson as Frank, a thoroughly unbadass survivor who’s tried to hide rather than fight, who gives Jim and Selena shelter at a vital moment.
Christopher Eccleston doesn’t appear until the second half of the film, but he makes a big impact on the story. The survivors find their way to a makeshift military base run by Major Henry West, who’s doing what he can to keep his men alive and keep the infected at bay. He has a nihilistic view of the current state of England, remarking that what’s happening now is simply “people killing people,” not so different than what it’s always been. He appears as a brave, intelligent protector, but can our heroes trust him and his soldiers?
The film goes to some ugly places, and West is a part of that, so it can definitely get uncomfortable to watch. But Eccleston is just excellent here. West is calmly reassuring, thoroughly unsentimental, and quietly funny. It’s clear that his men regard him highly, and he projects an air that he can handle things. When he reveals to Jim that they’ve captured one of the infected and have been keeping it chained up in the yard, he gets very close to the infected man without flinching (while knowing precisely how close he can get and still maintain his control.) As soon as he comes onscreen, West keeps you guessing.
Accent Watch
RP, pretty good. I heard a few Northern vowels, but not many.
Recommend?
In General – If you’re into zombie movies, I think so. This is a fairly “grounded” take on the genre, and to my admittedly uninitiated eyes, it seems like a good one.
Christopher Eccleston – Yes. Eccleston draws your attention the whole time he’s onscreen. He’s so good here, somehow warm and chilling at the same time.
Warnings
Graphic violence, language, cruelty to animals in laboratory conditions, and strong thematic elements.
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