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The Wait For It Podcast
Hosted by MrEricAlmighty and PhilTheFilipino, the guys discuss all things in Pop Culture from movies, gaming, anime and anything in between. New episodes every Wednesday, all you have to do is...WAIT FOR IT!
The Wait For It Podcast
International Feature: 28 Days Later
What happens when you mix desolate landscapes, taut storytelling, and a dash of humor? You get our latest exploration of the cult classic "28 Days Later." Join us as we navigate through the gritty visual style and atmospheric tension that Danny Boyle's film brought to the zombie genre—all while pondering why it's so elusive on streaming platforms.
As we weigh the impact of "28 Days Later," we can't help but reflect on the standout performances by Cillian Murphy, Naomi Harris, and Brendan Gleeson, while also chuckling over some of the film's third-act missteps. With a thoughtful eye, we compare the film to its sequel "28 Weeks Later," dissecting the moral quandaries and survival strategies that play out when facing a zombie-like apocalypse. Ever thought about holing up in a Costco to ride out the end times? We did, with a humorous twist. We also take a moment to acknowledge the creative forces behind these films, like Alex Garland, whose storytelling style has become distinct.
Our zombie-themed discussion wouldn't be complete without a comparison to other genre favorites like "Train to Busan" and "Shaun of the Dead." We eagerly share our rankings on Letterboxd and talk about the next entry in the series, "28 Years Later," with exciting casting announcements involving Cillian Murphy and others. As we wrap up, we look forward to the future of the series and the evolution of zombie films. Whether you're a horror fanatic or just here for a good laugh, this episode promises to entertain and engage with a mix of film analysis, community highlights, and personal insights.
Letterbox'd Synopsis: Twenty-eight days after a killer virus was accidentally unleashed from a British research facility, a small group of London survivors are caught in a desperate struggle to protect themselves from the infected. Carried by animals and humans, the virus turns those it infects into homicidal maniacs – and it’s absolutely impossible to contain.
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Speaker 2:Gaming. Wait for it Anime PLUS ULTRA.
Speaker 1:Mr Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino yeah, they've got you covered, and all you gotta do is wait for it. This is the Wait For it Podcast.
Speaker 2:Hey everyone, welcome back to the Wait For it Podcast. I am your co-host, phil Barrera, aka Phil the Filipino, and joining me, as always, is your other co-host, mr Eric Almighty. And Eric, here we are. In the middle of the day, it's like the sun is out. It's disgusting, don't like it, it's too bright outside, but we are recording this month's episode of International Feature, very excited to have this discussion here this early afternoon as we come off our very exciting weekend.
Speaker 2:You were able to drop into Nakama as they picked up the pieces of a messy weekend, we'll say, here in Jacksonville. And then yesterday we went to Gainesville Infinity Con, year one for Infinity Con in Gainesville. Shout out to everybody that put that together, especially David for stepping up and helping out some of our artist friends, you know again, who were displaced from some of the events that happened due to the storm. We always love our convention community and, you know, shout out to all of you for helping bring something together out of something that was initially very ugly. So really, really happy that that ended up working out the way that it did.
Speaker 2:But, eric, we are back to business here this week and, as Spooktober continues, we have a spooktober centric episode of international feature and I teased this last week when we were talking about Tucker and Dale versus evil. Tonally, this is going to be quite the shift in terms of what happens in Tucker and Dale versus evil and the overall light, lighthearted mood of that film and tackling 28 Days Later, which I think you can say is not only like a I mean, it's equally cult classic and also very, very successful in terms of film and where it sits in pop culture. So I know this is definitely one of those instances. We're very late to the party, we're talking about an over 20 year old movie and we thought, you know what, with 28 years later, finally in production after all this time, it was a great opportunity to jump into this classic when it comes to the zombie genre.
Speaker 1:Yeah, first and foremost, just if you're new to the podcast, welcome in. I think this is a great episode to be able to join us for, because we like to highlight a lot of different international films at least once a month, and typically we'll keep these episodes pretty spoiler free for the first portion. Before we dive in to spoilers, because we know not everyone may have seen this movie, although it is kind of that cult classic. And, phil, we actually learned the hard way. Shout out to Corey Patreon and friend of the show that this is not accessible everywhere. In fact, right now you cannot stream this, you cannot rent this.
Speaker 1:28 weeks later, the sequel by a different director is available, but not the film that we're covering today. Director is available, but not the film that we're covering today. So even if you listen to this episode, we're going to give you a little bit of an idea of what this film is about, what we like, didn't like, highlight it in that way, but it may be a minute until you get to actually watch it. So keep that in mind as you go through the episode. And again, thank you to everyone who showed us a lot of love, showed me a lot of love during our game time at Nakama and then us at InfinityCon. We had a really, really great time. And again, shout out to Corey one more time. Normally I don't bring up Patreon this early, but I do want to shout him out because he actually gave us a copy of this film so we could actually watch it. So thank you for lending that to us. Literally, we could not do this episode without you.
Speaker 2:Yep. And another for lending that to us. Literally, we could not do this episode without you, yep. And another win for the bi physical media crowd. Dylan just want to wow, throw that out there. Straight shots to dylan yeah, yeah, well it's.
Speaker 1:Uh, we really appreciate it. Also, speaking at patreon, I ate like half a bowl of spicy ramen minutes before this, so yeah, you see, er Eric is if it looks like I'm, then Eric is redder than the 28 days later poster, so don't just don't be concerned, guys. I'm either sunburned or eating spicy ramen in these episodes. I just don't know what's going on.
Speaker 2:the last couple of months, yeah, eric started a mukbang channel to see as no separate from what's going on here. But yes, as Eric mentioned, if you are brand new to the podcast, welcome. Thank you so much for joining us and as well as our returning listeners. Thank you for your continued support here in the spooktober month of the Wait For it podcast, november and December. As we wind down the year. We have so much cool stuff planned for you guys. A lot of fun episodes. End of the year awards is right around the corner. I am on the cusp of hitting my 50 movie mark. I am now just under, I'm approaching 40 and I got a couple of movies here in the bank getting ready to watch here over the next week or so. So that'll be a whole lot of fun. And Eric continues to add to his total as well. So it's going to make for a really, really fun award season. And as, of course, the most coveted award, the Wait For it Awards, will be given out here in just a couple of months. But folks, let's go ahead and jump into.
Speaker 2:28 Days Later. Directed by Danny Boyle, it came out in 2002. And the letterboxd synopsis reads 28 days after a killer virus was accidentally unleashed from a British research facility, a small group of London survivors are caught in a desperate struggle to protect themselves from the infected Carried by animals and humans. The virus turns those it infects into homicidal maniacs and it's absolutely impossible to contain.
Speaker 2:So, eric, as I mentioned and as we both alluded to, this movie very much lives within the cultural zeitgeist of kind of a very influential film when it comes to the zombie genre. In fact, literally every few minutes or so we were the Leonardo DiCaprio meme saying, hey, we've seen this in the Walking Dead or we've seen this in some other zombie-esque movie that we discussed that I can't even remember right now, but the impact that this film has had on the genre not just zombies but also horror in general very apparent right out of the gate. And I want to discuss that here first, because, as we are again 20 years late to the party to watch 28 Days Later what was your knowledge of this film going into it? Because somehow you had actually watched the sequel but had not seen the original. How did that happen?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the 28 Weeks Later and again, I have not watched this recently, so we're talking about over a decade ago. I have not watched this recently, so we're talking about over a decade ago I have not watched this film. It's one of those shows that, especially if you're me and phil's age, you saw on like tbs, usa tnt, like some of those random channels that were just playing movies, and I think for me it was really something that just kind of like was in that zombie era. So like I watched it I was like, oh, this is cool, like Dawn of the Dead ish. Twenty eight weeks later, like it's not really implied that it is a sequel. In fact, that sequel movie is done by a different director, one of several reasons why it is not as acclaimed as the original.
Speaker 1:But I knew about 28 Days Later as I got older, because so many people were talking about it when it came to the zombie genre, post-apocalyptic genre, and I thought it was just something that I eventually would end up watching at one point or another. And then, phil, we are big fans of Cillian Murphy. We just saw him in Oppenheimer win an Oscar for that role. So to go back to essentially his acting roots. One of his earliest, if not his earliest, role, I thought was a no brainer, including some of the other cast members which we knew going into this and we also were surprised about during the film. So I think overall it just kind of led to this moment perfectly, yeah.
Speaker 2:Overall, it just kind of led to this moment perfectly. Yeah, and for me, the one scene, the one photo that's always iconic is Killian Murphy standing on the bridge, big Ben in the background, you know trash everywhere and that has been the image that has lived in my mind when it comes to 28 Days Later for as long as I can remember, and it was always a movie that I was like I really need to check that out. We are. This has been documented in the podcast. We're well past our zombie phase when it comes to films. You know, in the heyday of like Zombieland and what was that? Obviously the Walking Dead, but what was that terrible Brad Pitt zombie movie.
Speaker 1:World War Z.
Speaker 2:World War Z that was nothing like its source material, like we've moved on past that, but we wouldn't have had that era if not for 28 Days Later. And, you know, with Cillian Murphy being in here and also one of our other favorites, brendan Gleeson, who has popped up probably more than anybody else on international feature, uh, we have a huge affinity for him. I want to start with the, the thing that probably comes up the most when, when watching this film because you would ask me a question when we got the copy of the film from cory you're like how's the quality? And it's a kind of a hard question to answer because this movie is filmed in a very specific way. One of the reviews on Letterboxd says why was this movie filmed with a pink Motorola Razr? And you know that kind of explains what's going on here.
Speaker 2:Now, listen, it's not that this movie was made on a dime, but in terms of films and how much they typically cost, the budget for this movie was $8 million, right, it box-officed over $80 million Huge success. So I want to start with that. Eric. Now, we are not we haven't gone to school for film or anything like that but we're always a big stickler you specifically for cinematography, so I want to address this first. What did you feel about, or how did you feel about, the way this film is shot? I mean, we're talking about a 22 year old movie. We're very aware of that, but at the same time, some of our favorite movies are over 20 years old and look fantastic. Hold up very, very well For the aesthetic that this was going for and the era that this was trying to portray. When it comes to post-apocalyptic world's gone to shit.
Speaker 1:Everything like that Did this bother you or were you okay with the way that this is set up and filmed? I think early on it's hard not to look at it that way as a first time viewer. Like it's just very grungy. If you were to say very early two thousands, which is when this movie came out, yeah, like you wouldn't get much of an argument there, if anything I might've said. Are you sure, is it not like late nineties?
Speaker 1:So again, when it comes to the filmography of it all and we're not the experts on that conversation, as you mentioned I still think that it was, I don't know it kind of fit the tone of the movie for what they were trying to do, and it didn't bother me as the film went on. But I'd be remiss to say like early on I was like what are we watching? Like what exactly is this going to be? This might be a rough ride. Yeah, I did feel that, but I think the movie offers a lot of other really good qualities. That it's just one of those things you don't really focus on as the movie goes on.
Speaker 2:I think in certain sets, in certain portions of the film, it works very, very well. I think it works very well in terms of portraying how desolate the area is, in terms of, like, when he's initially walking around London and you know there's nobody there. I think it works very well in a specific scene where they're heading up like a stairwell, or in the church, where I think it does very well in a specific scene where they're heading up like a stairwell or in the church, um, where I think it does fall to, oh, and also it's great when they're going on like a little bit later in the movie when they're in the supermarket, um, or if there there was one portion with a very disturbing scene with killian murphy and another, uh, one of the infected. I think all that works really well.
Speaker 2:Why I think it didn't work work as well was towards the third act of the movie. So I'm not sure how you felt about that, because you know it's very dark, a little bit harder to see. There's a lot more characters as well, and I think that's where it definitely dipped a little bit in terms of quality. But yeah, like you said, you really can't expect too much from a movie that was released in this time on the budget, that it was too much from a movie that was released in this time on the budget, that it was and still ended up being incredibly successful, as the scores will reveal here a little bit later today, and I have a feeling that our scores will reflect that as well. But to shift it back to the performances, everybody, I think, as far as the main four characters that we focus on, solid Cillian Murphy definitely got to start there. Saw a lot of Cillian Murphy, if you catch my drift there.
Speaker 1:We finally got to see it.
Speaker 2:What I am alluding to, yeah Deprived of it in Oppenheimer. You guys said, we'd see it in Oppenheimer but we saw it here and it was glorious, you guys said we'd see it in Oppenheimer, but we saw it here and it was glorious. Yeah, well, that review will come in the Patreon post.
Speaker 1:For context, it was one of the. We saw Corey at Infinity Con, again patron and friend of the show, and one of the first things we talked about at length. So it's Cillian Murphy, but at length.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was great, yeah, but Cillian Murphy, I mean, this was obviously very early on in terms of his career before he would go on to just deliver some outstanding performances, but he's great in this. Naomi Harris Remember at one point where I was like is that Tia Dalma from Pirates of the Caribbean? She is outstanding, she, she portrays the survival of the fittest. I have to look out for my self-character very, very well.
Speaker 2:And then again, who isn't excited to see Brendan Gleeson in any way, shape or form? He brings a, I would say, veiled positivity to the group because he knows that he has to put on this mask for his daughter and I think that's something that a lot of parents would do. But also, whenever things you know kind of take a turn and they turn very quickly, unfortunately for Brendan Gleeson you kind of see that where all that pent up frustration finally explodes to the surface, and it definitely one of the more tragic characters of the film. So performance wise, eric, who stood out for you in terms of the group that we spent most of our time with.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So obviously we have that warm spot for Brendan Gleeson, so got to shout him out. I thought he was an anchor of the film. Honestly, I love Naomi Harris's character initially and we'll kind of talk about why that kind of falters a little bit towards that third act. I think you and me are going to have the same opinion from first and second act to third act with what they try to do, and again, that might get explored more deeply within the spoiler talk of this episode.
Speaker 1:But I thought Killian Murphy was great, like I just think again for that to be one of his early roles. I thought he was a great lead um for what they were asking him to do. Do I feel like that could have been fleshed out more? Yes, so I would say Brendan Gleeson was probably the most stable character for me and the others had glimpses or very many um, like small spots of like just being able to shine, and I thought that outside of Brendan Gleeson's character there were just moments of shining, not like consistent performances across the board, and I think some of that has to do with the way the story was structured.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there are some very, very I don't want to say enjoyable pieces. There are moments of joy that they do find within, obviously, a very intense situation. One of my favorite scenes, eric, was definitely the tunnel, and I wish they had kind of built upon that tension more throughout the film. I think that was kind of a missed opportunity, but really, really solid in terms of building out that world and getting a sense of dread and like it really makes you think, like we were having these discussions in terms of morality, like what would you do in this situation where, as you know, maybe in some films where they just kind of lean to, or some other films or tv shows in this zombie genre lean a little bit too much on the, that would absolutely never happen. Or why the hell are they making that decision?
Speaker 2:Whenever any type of decision or any type of movement or is made within this world, it seemed it's, you know, it's very intentional, it's very thought out, it's very realistic. When you would think about man, what would I do in that situation, you know, would I even be able to survive in this situation? So, in terms of that, in terms of the ground, the, the groundedness and the grittiness of the film. I thought they very much nailed that, uh. But yeah, I think they. You're absolutely right, there were.
Speaker 2:There were some missed opportunities here and whenever. I think it's always really tough whenever there are zombie films, tv shows. How do you create a threat that isn't the obvious, you know, like when that isn't just the zombie and when we talk about, when we eventually do find that human threat just fell a little short, and that's what we seem to talk about a lot here on this series and in the podcast in general. It's just hard to craft a believable and well thought out villain, and I think we got that here. Where, again, another missed opportunity with building that tension and building somebody that we actually feared for. I just don't think that happened here.
Speaker 1:Not consistently.
Speaker 1:Anyway, to your point, and again, I think this movie has a lot of elements that are iconic, like you can absolutely see it again Phil mentioned at the top of the episode.
Speaker 1:We were wondering, like, is anything original anymore? Cause it seemed like everything came from this movie within this genre. So there's, there's that element of like appreciation for what it did at that time, but then, like having a fresh pair of eyes in 2024 on a 2002 film, it is one of those things where it's like, you know, the storytelling could be a little bit tighter, the character development could be a little bit stronger. And when we talk about the genre, you know there are things we've seen in this genre of zombie films or post-apocalyptic films that are objectively better or subjectively better, depending on your taste. So I just think that this movie had a lot going for it at the time and looking back on it, it's still something that's worth appreciating, I would say, phil, worth checking out. But it is something that doesn't come without the aging process of a film that, like this, goes through with, over 20 years later seeing it for the first time, it's just bound to happen to see those things kind of come through the cracks.
Speaker 2:And some people. Honestly, you're not going to be able to get through this. If you're a stickler for video quality, you might not be able to get through this film. In terms of what it looks like A 22-year-old movie, it was filmed very intentionally the way that it is filmed. It is done that way intentionally. This is actually something that Corey and I discussed. Man Corey's getting a lot of play on this episode. We actually discussed it before we had recorded this, because I was asking him hey, do you have a copy of this movie that we can borrow? So that might be a deterrent to some of you.
Speaker 2:And especially in that opening scene, eric, I think maybe we're like oh man, is this what it's going to look like? Throughout the entire film and luckily, in some of those brighter spots it gets a little bit easier to keep track of. But then again, a little bit later in the movie it kind of falls apart a little bit. But you definitely recommend it if you consider yourself any type of you know, a moderate or an average or even above average fan of the zombie genre and you've, for some reason, just like us, have put 28 Days Later aside for future viewing. If you can find a copy. Definitely, definitely watch it. But, eric, anything else you want to mention on the non-spoiler side before maybe we jump into some of those, the spoiler discussion that we want to have here in this episode.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I think it would be interesting to talk a little bit about the sequel here momentarily, and then we'll kind of save our thoughts about the follow-up film and we'll talk about that at the end of the episode. We'll do our rankings before spoilers, of course, but before we get to that, 28 weeks later, phil, I kind of refreshed myself on a little bit and I know you did not get a chance to see the film. We were thinking about including it in this episode. Really don't think it's necessary. When I remember this film it was something that, unlike the first one, I don't recall many iconic moments. I will say the opening scene of 28 Weeks Later is pretty alarming.
Speaker 2:If you don't want to watch that on YouTube what did you think about that?
Speaker 1:Because I wanted to ask you maybe this is a good segue to a question I was going to ask anyway for our non-spoiler audience what would you do in this world? Because we had a very small conversation in person.
Speaker 1:we watched this together in person, which might have been a bad idea, but it definitely enhanced our viewing experience. What would you do? Because we talk all the time about this and I don't know if this is publicly known at this point. So what? What would you do in this world of 28 days, weeks, et cetera later.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the reason I watched that is because I watched another YouTube video about 28 weeks later before we started, I believe, from Joe Blow Horror, who is a big horror YouTuber and he's a very big fan of this of 28 weeks later. I believe he gave it an eight out of 10 at the end of the movie, but I was looking at the comments and they were totally opposite from what he was saying. It seemed like a lot of people had I don't want to say negative things to say but like, in terms of comparing it to 28 days later, a lot of people were surprised that he had enjoyed this 28 weeks later so much. But everyone, a lot of people kept bringing up the opening. I was like, well, I got to see if I can at least find the opening and I did watch it on YouTube right before we had started recording.
Speaker 2:And, yeah, like you said, it is alarming and I don't think I would be able to do what that specific character did in the beginning. I mean, you're talking about sacrificing like five people in the span of five minutes. Like that guy's kill count went like high within the first few minutes and I was like this is the opening of the movie and the fact that, like all the people that were mentioned, like jeremy renner is in this um, oh gosh. I can't remember the name of the actor, but he is in lost, is in it and I'm like what the hell is happening in this movie?
Speaker 2:but for me, and I just elbow, isn't it? Yeah, you just elbow, yeah, for for me and we talked about this while we were watching the movie it would be very difficult for me to look out for other people outside of my own. You know what I'm saying. So like it would be like if it were my, my sister and then my daughter and then brother in law, like if we had like a good thing going, very limited resources and someone came along looking for help, like I think it would be very difficult for me to be like, yeah, come on in. You know I'm saying like in the walking dead they kept adding people to their group. Like look how that, how that turned out, you know. So for me, I and I think a lot of people would agree with me on this it'd be very difficult. But then you posed a conundrum like what if this happened? So if you want to discuss, you know I totally get why it would be a hard decision to make.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it all comes down to like being a parent, so like if a child's involved, like it's just such a tough thing.
Speaker 2:You know, who doesn't care was Cillian Murphy.
Speaker 1:No, yeah, no, no, or the guy at the beginning of 28.
Speaker 2:Days Later.
Speaker 1:His own child. No, no, it's, uh, yeah, so I don't know. I feel like you know, you got to throw morality a little bit out the window because for something like this to happen again. It was funny, phil, because when this movie showed 28 days later we were like, oh, there we go, that's the thing, and then everything went to shit 28 days later. It's not a lot of time for civilization and morality to go out the window, right? But it's an interesting conversation and it's always been a fun one for us. Like I've always talked about actively going to like a Costco and just like taking it over and just like barricading it and like owning that Costco, I could probably, we could probably last on dry goods for a few years and then figure out the rest later on. That's just a pipe dream, you know what I mean. Like that's so unrealistic, but that is a yeah, that's just such an interesting conversation and that's bringing it back to 28 weeks later.
Speaker 1:I thought there were interesting things like that that were more explored in that sequel. Again, different director, I believe. Different writing team completely the writer for 28 Days Later. I'm not familiar with the director Danny Boyle's work but Alex Garland.
Speaker 1:We watched the movie Civil War this year and that's again kind of a tie in there to some of the work and you could kind of tell, based off of the story, where some of those similarities lie in storytelling. So 28 weeks later is different because, while it explores some interesting themes, to my memory there was a lot of dumb stuff happening too, like really stupid characters, particularly one scene where, like, a guard should have definitely been in place to completely avoid the rest of the plot changing, but it just wasn't for the sake of plot and then also the fact of, like kids making decisions, and anytime you bring kids as like main points in these type of films, criticism is bound to happen. So there were a couple of things like that that just didn't really work from my recollection, but it also, again to that point, wasn't a movie I remembered much. Of this one I feel like I'm going to remember for a long time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it really didn't have that much of an uptick in budget. I mean, it did double $15 million to make 28 weeks later, which still, when you look at the grand scheme of things, I'm sure there were films in 2002 that were clearing $15 million. So it's probably something I will visit eventually, just because I'm going to plan on seeing 28 years later, which, from what I hear, I think Cillian Murphy is going to be involved in that. I'm not 100% sure, but I think he has been announced to be, or at least rumored to be, but so I will watch 28 Weeks Later eventually.
Speaker 2:But yeah, from some of the things that I've seen from people that are big fans of the original, this one was a little bit of a step down for a lot of those reasons that you did mention. Would you I'll leave it at this before we get into spoilers would you want to be in a more communal type setting, like they do in the Walking Dead, or would you want to be in a more communal type setting, like they do in the walking dead, or would you want to be more isolated?
Speaker 1:keep your pod small. What do you think? Strength in numbers or look out for your own? I mean, what do we learn in all and we'll talk about, like how the third act isn't nearly as strong for some of this reason, but, like in these zombie stories, how often does it come back to human versus human?
Speaker 1:I mean, they kind of touch it of the one of the topics of this movie that they handle is it's just people killing people. Like 28 day late, 28 days before people were killing people, 28 days later people were killing people, et cetera, et cetera. So I mean, yeah, I'd probably go a little bit more isolated, unless it was like a community I trust being led. But again it goes back to like all the stuff we're not going to touch on this podcast, where it's like politics are involved, people's morality, intentions, things of that nature in the leaders of that area, like again, such a messy situation and we don't think about that in the grand scheme of things on a day-to-day basis. But I feel like that that would be all I think about on a daily basis in such a small community like that that could be extinguished within minutes, like again, absolutely horrific to think about what that life would be.
Speaker 2:And again, when they explore those themes in these type of films, I always think it's interesting yeah, jordan and I have been playing State of Decay 2 on stream recently and also off stream as we navigate that game. A lot, a whole lot of fun, for sure. But you know you, if you haven't played that game, you add people to your community but you can also see kind of like what they're good at, what they're not good at, and it's kind of done by like stars. So somebody will have like five star fighting or five star or five-star shooting, or some people will have like one-star stamina or something like that.
Speaker 2:And I will say, the people that don't have any stars, you're not getting an invite to my community, so you gotta bring something to the table. So, yeah, it would make for an interesting conversation. But, yeah, it seems always to keep keeping your circle small seems to be the way to go. But, eric, let's talk about some of those moments, those standout moments that are spoilers. So if you have not seen the movie here, this is where I will add the obligatory Get out.
Speaker 1:Or do you want to do scores?
Speaker 2:first oh, we'll do scores. Ok, yeah, we can do that too Do we do, we get out. Do we do the? Is this better than for international feature? I care the more like this.
Speaker 1:We don't do the more like this for this, but I do think it'll be good for us to bring up our Letterboxd rankings now that we're both tracking that.
Speaker 2:And at the end of the episode for Patreon.
Speaker 1:We will actually go over this for the first time. We have actively both put up lists on Letterboxd. So if you want to follow us both there, Phil the Filipino, Mr Eric Almighty on Letterboxd, but Phil, yeah, let's go into just scores and how the movie was received and we'll kind of we'll quickly do that for our audience that doesn't want to jump into the spoilers quite yet.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So Letterboxd score for 28 Days Later, a very, very strong and solid 3.8. Rotten Tomatoes has an 87 percent certified fresh score, 85 percent audience score. So again, 28 days later, across the board, very, very much beloved. The 28 weeks later Letterboxd score I'll just throw that out. Here is a three point one. So, eric, I don't know if you want to include that in your score as well. If you have given that one, let me see. I did not look it up for Rotten Tomatoes, but I can find it right now, 28 weeks later, rotten Tomatoes is a 72% tomato meter score and a 66% audience score.
Speaker 2:Again, some of those things we just discussed in terms of the fan reception for that, very, very different For this, eric, let's see if we landed the same. I gave this a 3.5. I could not quite give it a 4. I could see where you could argue a 4 in terms of where this stands in the pop culture zombies like guys. Because again, it seems like this is probably one of the most popular and influential films when it comes to this genre. I think, as far as some of the creative choices, as well as the intentional way that it is filmed, it increases the viability of this film and I think that some of those choices were made for the good of the movie as far as cinematography goes, but couldn't quite give it a four. But I do think it's up there in terms of some of the other, maybe gritty, more serious zombie films that I've seen in my lifetime.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So for me I'm on the opposite end, same score, opposite end of the spectrum. I actually came out of the movie giving it a three and then, after sleeping on it and getting to prepare for this episode, I bumped that up to a three and a half, really kind of evening out how I've ranked international films before on my ranking in Letterboxd. But also again, like, while I'm more of a, it would be a three versus a three and a half, and you're, it's a three and a half but could be a four. I think landing at a three and a half is good because this movie again has so many iconic scenes. It is not much to ask for a two hour film. Like, again, there are not many dragging points, but even when they are, they're not very long. This movie moves around pretty quickly, I just think.
Speaker 1:For me, while I enjoyed the film and I have more of an appreciation than anything else, I think that third act is where things really started to kind of fall apart for me from a story and character perspective, and we'll dive into that, of course, in spoilers here in a moment. But a three and a half I think is respectable. Is it more like a three point two five Maybe, but between choosing a three and a three and a half for Letterboxd scoring, I gave it that little bit of an extra boost because if it was on I definitely think I would be watching it and that's a little bit better than a three where I would recommend it but may not necessarily have rewatch ability. I think this one has a tad bit of rewatch ability after kind of mulling it over with a good night's sleep.
Speaker 2:You also make a good point too, because, talking about just international features that we've done, I would sit down somebody a few more times like a new person to watch Train to Busan before this Train to Busan has become one of my favorite films of all time when you're talking about the zombie genre. So I would show people that before 28 Days Later, to go to kind of your scale where it's like would you one sit down and watch this but also do you want to show it to other people? And Train to Busan clears 28 Days Later by quite a bit in terms of my score. Did you give 28 Weeks Later a score while we were preparing for this episode?
Speaker 1:I did not. I think that movie also would sit at a three, which is also why I gave the bump up again. I don't remember it being like a terrible movie. So that three is kind of a standard score, but very much with an asterisk Cause I remember moments of that film but I don't remember it from start to finish, enough to fairly graded. So it's one I definitely would want to rewatch again. It's not on my letterbox scores for that reason, uh, watch again. It's not on my letterbox scores for that reason, uh. But, phil, let me know when you check it out, I'll probably link it up and then we'll throw it on here to give an official, maybe follow up. But 28 days later again, the only one I've given an official ranking to and I probably will re-watch 28 weeks later in prepared, uh, in preparation for the third film which I hear could be a trilogy. So take that with what you will.
Speaker 2:Yeah, from what I understand, 28 Weeks Later, very briefly toyed with the idea of bringing back those characters but ultimately decided to go in a different direction. So yeah, we'll see what happens whenever I do finally check it out. But now here's the obligatory get out as I enter in the video here into the YouTube page. But let's jump into spoilers for this film. So yeah, really, really love. We talked about the tunnel scene being great, building that tension. I thought that was excellent.
Speaker 2:I think them running up the stairs to the Brendan Gleeson reveal also very, very good. You're like wondering oh shit, is this friend or foe? I like that the daughter is this friend or foe? I like that the, the daughter is following like the. You know she has her own survival instincts. Where's my dad? Where is he? Like before letting these strangers in, even though they're like yelling at her, she's like I don't fucking know you, I'm not just gonna let you into the apartment because you're screaming at me like I'm safe behind this gate.
Speaker 2:So I really enjoyed and you know, obviously the part of the film that's it's kind of, I think, glossed over intentionally it's not done in a poor way or in poor taste is when he has to go into that. What was it like? A market or something along those lines? And he, you know, kills the little boy. He, you know, kills the little boy. Um, this is something that we also a theme that you all, unfortunately, has come up twice now because we want this happened in in bruges, where there was a very graphic moment they love killing children in these international brennan gleason is just like, yeah, get rid of them.
Speaker 2:I don't care. My friend, colin farrell, he did, he did it, you can do it, you can go ahead and do it, killian murphy. So, man, we man, we need to get Cillian Murphy and Colin Farrell. Have they done work together? We should find an international film and Brendan Gleeson If all three of them were in it, that'd be great.
Speaker 2:Anyway, yeah, but that, that moment obviously very, very shocking. And there's moments where, you know, even though we were watching this and having a good time and riffing on each other and all that stuff and riffing on the film, there are definitely those moments in there where you just kind of like have to sit back and sit in it and sit in the uncomfortable in those uncomfortable moments and obviously none more uncomfortable than when he has to protect himself and take out that kid, you know, and that goes back to the morality issue Like you do have to in that moment probably save yourself for the good of your future as well as your group. So probably the most shocking moment other than the allusion to, obviously, what they were going to do with the women in the, you know, in the camp at the end of the film yeah, I think the stand one of the standout scenes that were like shocking to both of us because we gasped uh several times in this film.
Speaker 1:I mean this this film opens up with monkeys, which is Phil's worst nightmare, which is hilarious for both of us to go through. There were a lot of jump scares, but the one that maybe was the most effective is after you come to care for Brendan Gleeson's character the bird and the blood and it getting in his eye and the way he handles that absolutely heartbreaking. So that was a standout scene for me. Again, a lot of things were really good to great until we get to that third act and again just kind of jumping ahead to it phil. This is where I feel like the movie just completely changes gears with its characters. So killing aian Murphy like, again, hadn't killed anybody until that young boy, so for him to go like full on John Wick at the end, I didn't quite believe that Like, and again we were still worried. Not worried, we were still wondering. Are all of these people actually military? I don't know if they ever addressed that or maybe I missed it, but assuming they are all military trained, that's even less believable.
Speaker 1:Naomi Harris's character, almost full on terms into damsel in distress in my opinion, and then they just drug the daughter, so any survival instincts or thoughts of her own out the window and I think those decisions for me in that third act just weren't very compelling or interesting. You know, it was interesting that he let the zombie loose, but then that one zombie just takes everybody out. I get the bigger picture of like that's all it takes. But again, when you, when you tie it into like almost the unbelievability of how we get to that third act and how that happens, I don't know it just none of it worked for me and I felt like the movie kind of ends more on a whimper for me than anything else yeah, it does go from a very, a lot of very grounded moments, like you know, right in the beginning, where he meets up with the uh, the other two characters.
Speaker 2:When he is saved, you know he gets bitten and and I can't remember naomi's character's name off the top of my head but she immediately just takes him out because she knows that this he is going to turn immediately, and and then again in the moment, with, with brendan gleason, like they've been so careful, and his frustration gets the best of him. All All of that is grounded and those are moments that, like you could see actually happening if you're just not being careful, you know. That's why these, a lot of these characters are wearing goggles, they're wearing masks, right, they're protecting themselves from any type of blood exposure.
Speaker 1:And then it totally goes out the window in the third act.
Speaker 1:Stop doing that as the film goes, and then on top of that, phil, I'm glad you brought that up because again there's like no return to that. And then we were talking about it the whole film. Like just the exposure of blood happens a lot, and like people are doing stuff like kissing and touching each other and all this other stuff, and it's like maybe don't do those things if this thing can also infect you by like ingestion, you know, or, you know, by getting into your bloodstream, whatever. But Killian Murphy's character, jim, and Naomi Harris's character, selena, I also just didn't believe the romance thing they were doing there. I felt maybe little to no chemistry between the two characters. That wasn't built upon at all. So again, that's where that damsel in distress feeling comes by. The end I don't, I just didn't, I didn't go for it, I didn't buy it, she was very capable on her own, yeah.
Speaker 2:So now, granted, she was outnumbered, they were, they're all outnumbered which in that instance, you know, you, probably you have a little bit of a just kind of like protecting yourself, protecting the girl as well, at that moment where you just have to kind of accept your fate, unfortunately, which again, is very terrifying. But there were so many, like I said we talked about. There's so many of those moments where it's like, yeah, I could see that happening to Killian Murphy, like, how did he get this body into the car? Like, how did he get this body into the car? Like, how did he prop the body up? And he's like, not even like John Wick, ask Eric, like also like Ezio, like just moving around again, with a hidden blade like.
Speaker 1:I just use John Wick as like an example. There's definitely better ones, but like again, he just learned all of these skills. Yeah, that he had not displayed a single time in the movie's runtime up until that point and it's like you're just supposed to buy into that. And he's not physically intimidating either.
Speaker 2:He's this scrawny ass dude like yeah, and it also doesn't seem like he's not in the military or anything like that. We learned that he also lives at home, you know, with his family, and seems like he had maybe been struggling a little bit prior to the events of whatever happened, whatever led him to being in the hospital. So, and I think probably the point of this also, as far as them, like the military, whatever they were being very unorganized, they probably weren't actually military. You know, they were just a bunch of bros that probably always had this like fantasy to hold power over people and shoot guns and do all the stuff, and now they get to do that. So, you know, I get it from that standpoint. But yeah, it just the shift in tone and decision making is so apparent and like just it just happens so fast that it's like when, how, what, it's very confusing.
Speaker 1:So fast that it's like when, how, what, it's very confusing, yeah, and again some of it feels like nitpicking, but it really did kind of bring the movie down for me and initially that's why I gave it a three. Like a lot of those things were weighing heavy on me from a movie critic standpoint, right. But then I slept on it and I was just like, yeah, in spite of those things, this movie did still accomplish quite a lot for its time. I want to give it a little bit of grace as well and I mean it's just hard not to appreciate the movie overall after watching it. So that's kind of how that all turned out for me. But, phil, anything else on the spoiler side you kind of want to jump into, otherwise maybe we can talk a little bit about what 28 years later could offer to us and, uh, we'll wrap this up no, not really anything else that I can think of.
Speaker 2:Um, it's crazy that you know. There's that also, that iconic scene where you see the roof of Brendan Gleeson's apartment and they're trying to catch water and somehow in London, in the UK, it has just stopped raining, which is just unfathomable. I don't think we've ever seen a sunny Jaguar game in London, ever in the history of them going over to London. So just adding to the desperate situation that our characters find themselves in. But no, that's really all I can think of off the top of my head. Do you want to do a? Would you rather, in terms of other zombie movies, I can switch it up here and I'll ask you Would you rather watch 28 Days Later or this zombie film? You want to do that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, let's go for it, and then we'll also. We could probably mention where it ranked in our letterbox. Uh rankings.
Speaker 2:We're gonna go over our full rankings in patreon but yeah, okay. Well, let me start off with, uh, the one that I mentioned earlier train to busan, or 28 days later oh, train to busan yeah, yeah, we're on the same page. That. Uh, what about shawn of the dead? Or 28 days later, I guess, depending on the second page, that what about Shaun of the Dead?
Speaker 1:or 28 Days Later? I guess, depending on the row, for sure, yeah, I guess, depending on the mood, I'd probably just say Shaun of the Dead, if I'm just judging it film to film.
Speaker 2:OK, what about the 2004 Dawn of the Dead? With, like Ving Rhames and Mekhi Pfeiffer, sarah Pauly, all of them. I love, I love that movie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's just more fun, like again, if I'm going to sit down and watch it, yeah, but I mean that's more of a toss-up. That's the biggest toss-up out of all of them so far.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, zombieland.
Speaker 1:Zombieland's just funny. Yeah, no, gotta do it off of laughs alone.
Speaker 2:Okay, zombieland 2.
Speaker 1:Uh, nope, nope, that two. Uh, nope, nope, that's a negative I haven't watched I haven't watched zombie land two. I had no interest to watch it. Oh, you didn't watch double tap. No, I thought we saw that together no, I had no interest in seeing it okay, uh, last one I'll throw out here. I am legend listen, man, people sleep on I am legend. Um, I also think I Am Legend has moments and then a lot of it's dull. So I'll say 28 days later, although I do appreciate I Am Legend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like I Am Legend too. They should have kept the original ending that a lot of people have discussed since then.
Speaker 1:Actually I will throw out one more, which apparently they might do anyway, because there's going to be a sequel.
Speaker 2:I will do one more, actually World War Z. Did you see World War Z?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we watched that together 28 Days Later.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely 28 Days Later, Cool, all right. Well, let's talk about where this ranks in terms of our letterboxd scores, or letterboxd rankings for international features. I will go first. Eric, I have this right now how many movies do you have on international feature, because I have found that maybe some of them are I might have a few missing. I have 23, including 28 days later. Is that how many you have?
Speaker 1:I have 24, but that's because I included blue eye samurai.
Speaker 2:I don't think you have okay, yeah, but is blue eye samurai on letterbox?
Speaker 1:you said it is yep okay, I'll add yeah letterbox is weird because it has some of the shows we've watched, if they're like, considered miniseries.
Speaker 2:So yeah, blue-eyed samurai is on there okay, so I have, 28 days later, ranked 15th behind children of men, but above the raid on my list yeah, so 28 days later is ranked 16th on my list, behind all quiet on the western front and above wolf walkers.
Speaker 1:So there you go, and um 28 years later is going to be coming up phil. Did you know that they're going to break that up into multiple parts? I do now so yeah, that's what I meant by a potential trilogy, um, but I did want to go over this as we kind of wrap up the episode. Phil, uh.
Speaker 1:Killian murphy is apparently going to reprise his role from 28 days later, but it's also going to star aaron, taylor, johnson and ralph fines I did when I saw the aaron taylor johnson yeah, and ralph finds when uh, when I saw the the bad guy in 28 days later, I was oh, he probably would have killed that role, so to see him coming into this one is a very interesting. Also, jody Comer is going to be in this as well, and I feel like we know her from something. I just can't remember what it is but what was the name you said?
Speaker 2:Jody Jody Comer.
Speaker 1:Jody Comer. She's in something that we've watched.
Speaker 2:Nothing that seems obvious. That's sticking out right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll look for it. But yeah, so again, just like casting wise pretty interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll be. I don't know about a trilogy. I don't know why you need to. You would need to stretch it out into three films. I mean, we know the reason why. Uh, mr crabs money. But yeah, I'll definitely be. Uh, be seated for that. Excited for killian murphy to return and you know as good as he is. In 28 days later he's only gotten infinitely better, so very excited to see that. Is there any type of time frame as to when that's going to be coming out? Do we know?
Speaker 1:It says 2025. I can't imagine that's going to stick. Yeah, there's so we will see that so cool.
Speaker 2:Well, Eric, anything else you want to mention while we wrap up? Before we wrap up this longer episode, we had obviously a lot to discuss when it came to this film and also its iterations and future iterations.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I don't know if it's because of that midday energy that this episode went longer, but hey, who knows, maybe we'll throw a couple more midday episodes.
Speaker 2:Well, you also did spend 20 minutes of the pre-show eating ramen.
Speaker 1:And I still have more Japanese snacks. So I'll definitely promote that in just a minute for Patreon, if you're still here. But, phil, if you want to get us through the end of the episode, yeah, I'm excited to jump into more of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, guys, thanks so much for checking out this episode If it was your first time, because maybe you met us here at one of the recent conventions that we have been at, or maybe you came across us anywhere. Wherever that may be, thank you so much for joining us, as well as all you returning listeners. Just as a reminder, you'll find everything you need Wait for a podcast related in the link tree link of the show notes. You'll find all the rest of our content, all other international feature episodes, as well as our future and past episodes.
Speaker 2:You can support the show a couple of different ways. One, make sure to follow us on social media, the most important ones being Instagram, tiktok, our Discord page, as well as YouTube. Oh, we also stream on Twitch every other Thursday, which has been a whole lot of fun. You can also share the podcast on social media. Give us five stars on Spotify, apple Podcasts all of that is a big help, like share, subscribe, bell icon, all those bells and whistles over on youtube. All that is extremely helpful. But we talked a lot about our patreon here today as well, as you know some of the benefits that you get over there and if you are interested in those, eric will tell you a little bit more about that so obviously you've heard a couple people get shot, uh shouted out on each and every episode.
Speaker 1:We've shouted out cory plenty of time, so this should make up from our earlier patreon mishap a couple months back. I think we've officially recovered from that. With that being said, cory, briar, stefan and t3 kato thank you guys so much for your support over on patreon, where additional support there helps us with the podcast and in return, you're able to get exclusive benefits like behind the scenes access and early access to episodes like this one. For this episode, I basically turned that into a food review pre and post show, so I had a couple of snacks with some spicy ramen.
Speaker 1:That was a nightmare, and I've got a couple more snacks to finish up the episode, as we talk about things like when we go to conventions, what we thought going into the film, stuff like that. So just check us out. We appreciate it, but if not, if you're not able to go that length, the likes, the comments, the shares, the listens, the engagement all of that is very much appreciated. With that being said, my name is mr eric almighty. That is my co-host, phil, the filip, and please don't forget, we release new episodes every Wednesday for the podcast and we post bonus content on platforms like TikTok and Twitch, and all you got to do is wait for it.
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