28 Weeks Later, the 2007 sequel to Danny Boyle's zombie flick resurrection 28 Days Later, is equally as allegorical as it's predecessor: now the pointed target is the American occupation of Iraq. A U.S.-led NATO force has entered post-infection Britain, establishing a command center for reconstruction in London known colloquially, get this, as the "Green Zone." The so-called "rage virus" from the first film has apparently abated as the infected (i.e. the zombies) starved to death, having gobbled all of us normals up, and the military is repatriating U.K. citizens to aid with the rebuilding effort. Predictably (though inventively) an outbreak of infection occurs within the compound, and also predictably, the Americans botch the containment effort. What follows is a lesson in junk politics - primarily amounting to a broad criticism of our inability to tell friend from foe, and more than a suggestion that we might be as bad for the Iraqis' health as the insurgents.
The initial 28 Days Later was a culture shock, primarily owing to the simple fact that the zombies possessed velociraptor-type speed. 28 Weeks Later, lacking this element of surprise, feels in many respects like a quicky retread. Still, director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is an obviously talent, rationing out tension and release in a professional, if predictable manner. Like its predecessor, 28 Weeks Later is the cream of its genre; I just don't know how many more passes we're handing out for English accents and cack-handed pretensions.
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If you were creating a cinematic time capsule of 1995, you would undoubtedly include Clueless, Strange Days, and, of course, Hackers. The last film is a prime example, along with The Net, of the cautious technophobia enveloping our culture as Windows 95 and the Sony Playstation became immutable facts of life. As computers were just becoming integrated into every aspect of our waking lives, they still held a almost-mystical ambiance, credited with near-omnipotent reach. Hackers is a prototypical entry in the tappa-tap-tapping genre, wherein the control of even the most innocuous electrical system is available with a few furious keystrokes, and meaningless jumbles of graphic hoo-hah constitutes revelatory information. The cast alone is a gold mine of dweebazoid cred: Jonny Lee Miller, Matthew Lillard, and Angelina Jolie (with a pre-fame bit role for Wendell Piece i.e. Bunk from The Wire). It's a glorified B picture at best, a fascinating example of sci-fi predictions that don't come to pass.
