What’s your favorite?
Days, Weeks or Years?
This movie had plot holes the size of Elon’s ego
Can you elaborate? I’ve seen a lot of people hold this opinion but I don’t remember anything standing out to me, other than a few moments requiring some slight suspension of disbelief.
Gas station buildings are completely separate from the gas tanks, and it’s established that buildings in the area have been searched many times. Yet mysteriously the gas station has been left undisturbed for benzene gas to build up in. Although it typically evaporates quickly and is also denser than air, and given that changing your vertical position by a few feet in a room where a gas explosion occurs makes the difference between instant immolation and going completely unscathed, getting down is the direction you’d want to move in. Luckily Erik is mysteriously an expert in this.
Erik could have shot and killed the Alpha in the tunnel, but running away for no reason other than to set himself up as a support for the main characters is clearly the better option.
Terminal cancer diagnosis based on a field test done by a random hermit you just met means you’re content to just give up on life immediately and have him kill you. Everyone agrees this is normal.
Although Jimmy is the only one that escaped in the opening scene, the group of kids with him naturally overpowered the group of zombies that just murdered their parents. Or the zombies just took pity and left them alone.
Yeah, just slight suspension of disbelief.
The gas station was definitely some suspension of disbelief but almost nobody is aware of the amount of detail you’ve put here, it’s plausible enough to work in the context.
Erik just saw this thing rip his friend’s head and spine out of his body, he was terrified and his flight instinct kicked in. Completely plausible reaction.
Isla already suspected she had cancer and the doctor found her breasts and lymph nodes riddled with lumps. She was suffering and in pain every day.
I didn’t read Jimmy’s crew as being the same kids. They’re all blonde because they seem to be dressing like Jimmy Saville and/or he is trying to recreate his childhood group. The blood splatters shown when the infected break into the children’s room at the start make it pretty clear that those kids got killed/infected.
Sure, I don’t think it’s necessarily reasonable for the average viewer to know much about benzene. Which makes it all the more odd that the movie contrives a situation entirely dependent on a character knowing a lot about benzene for no reason.
Erik’s friend tried to shoot the Alpha and his gun jammed. Erik’s gun was perfectly fine. Basically the stars aligned to make sure none of the Alphas in the movie ever had to deal with the automatic weapons introduced by the movie.
No, that’s an entirely unbelievable way for Isla to behave. She has a husband and life outside the romp she’s been tricked by her son to go on, much of which she seemed to enjoy. That’s why they felt they had to contrive a line where the doctor mysteriously knows she has very little time left.
Mark my words, when the sequel to this movie comes out next year it’ll turn out that those are the same kids and they’re infected but, because of special mutations, or because of something mysterious done by Jimmy, they’re “good” infected. I’m sorry, it’s just that dumb.
the movie contrives a situation entirely dependent on a character knowing a lot about benzene for no reason
I’m not sure what you’re referring to here? That Erik knows that the fumes are benzene? Like, whatever the details are it was a pretty straightforward scene to inject some action into the movie, it’s not like it was a major plot point. I admit it was the most suspension of disbelief scene in how it all played out, but it isn’t a major plot hole.
Erik’s gun was perfectly fine.
He couldn’t initially shoot at the alpha because it was in close proximity to his squad mate that it was attacking. And then he saw a horrific sight completely out of the realm of normal human experience and he froze in terror and then fled. None of this stands out as beyond the reasonable realms of plausibility.
No, that’s an entirely unbelievable way for Isla to behave.
She’s in pain every day. Her relationship with her husband and son is completely dysfunctional due to her confused spells and violent outbursts towards them. Her illness has actively ruined those relationships and she ends up saying horrible things to the people she loves because of it. She has cancerous growths spread all through her body, I think that’s a pretty reasonable indicator that she doesn’t have long to live.
Mark my words, when the sequel to this movie comes out next year it’ll turn out that those are the same kids
You’re literally making up things to be mad about. You’ve got a real axe to grind here and I’m not sure why. It’s fine if you didn’t like the movie for whatever reason but none of your arguments here hold water.
I’m elaborating on critiques of the movie you asked for elaboration on, though the real issue seems to be that you’re just unwilling not to consistently give the movie the benefit of the doubt. Overall I thought it was fine, though the parts of it that weren’t good specifically compare poorly to the earlier entries in the series.
The gas station scene is heavily contrived to provide an older-brother or father figure, offering viewers comfort regarding the main character’s situation given Spike’s dad wasn’t around. The guy is killed shortly afterwards as Ralph Fiennes’ character takes over that role instead. This is not only a big tonal departure from the previous movies, but also within the movie itself. What is this, an action, adventure, horror, buddy, sci fi, drama, comedy movie? It is all of them at different parts and mostly only the action is done well (though even then, the bullet time shots - wtf?). Erik’s introduction to the audience and main characters are the clearest examples of this and that’s why those scenes specifically are relevant to my criticism.
Isla’s death does a big disservice to the concept of voluntary assisted dying and significantly cheapens her character arc IMO. For a large part of the movie, her illness just isn’t relevant to what she’s doing.
Are you saying it isn’t heavily implied those are the same kids? What other purpose does the group of kids at the start serve? Why do they all have long blonde hair? Why is their zombie massacre scored by a metal version of the Teletubbies?
When movie magic stops being magic and starts being transparently a plot device, or omission in service of serialisation, it’s bad. This has nothing to do with whether I’m willing to suspend disbelief - example: Ralph Fiennes surviving on the mainland for decades because he paints himself with iodine - fine. Isla wandering into the distance to be killed by a morphine blowdart which seconds earlier had only served to make Spike a little woozy - dumb.
though the real issue seems to be that you’re just unwilling not to consistently give the movie the benefit of the doubt
I’ve given pretty detailed explanations of why the things you’ve brought up don’t seem unrealistic to me.
The gas station scene is heavily contrived to provide an older-brother or father figure
We just seem to have radically different interpretations of what we saw on the screen. You seem to be very confident about what you think the filmmakers intended and how most audiences will interpret specific scenes, which I dispute. To my mind Erik’s main purpose was for world building, to contrast the way the UK had regressed to an older type of civilisation while the rest of the world moved on. Erik’s character is petulant and kind of obnoxious and Spike never really takes to him, I don’t see him as a familial figure to Spike at all. If anything he presents another type of authority figure that Spike rejects and stands up to, in the scene with the child.
This is not only a big tonal departure from the previous movies, but also within the movie itself. What is this, an action, adventure, horror, buddy, sci fi, drama, comedy movie?
This is probably in line with a lot of the people I’ve talked to who had issues with the film, it didn’t fit into their expectation or categorisation. I don’t know why this is a negative for some people but each to their own. Danny Boyle has basically built his career on subverting categorisation and challenging stylistic norms.
For a large part of the movie, her illness just isn’t relevant to what she’s doing.
I find this kind of a baffling statement. Her character is defined by her illness, and it defines the relationships of the whole family to each other. Right from her introductory scene she is her illness, she is no longer in control of herself. Spike travels onto the mainland because of her illness. During her travel she is continually regressing into a childlike mental state, because of her illness, inverting the parental role with Spike. This is central to Spike’s character arc, imo, rejecting the expectations and traditions of his society and choosing his own path, taking over the parental role from his mother and eventually taking complete ownership of his own life after she is gone.
And of course her death is central and necessary for the most overt theme in the whole film, the fleeting preciousness of life, whatever shape it takes.
Are you saying it isn’t heavily implied those are the same kids?
When the zombies burst into the room with the kids at the start, there is a very specific shot of blood splattering across the TV screen. To me that was a very intentional message that those kids are dead. There’s definitely something going on with the blonde hair, but it seems to somehow be tied into the fact that they’re all dressed very similarly to the celebrity and child molester Jimmy Saville, who had the exact hair that Jimmy’s group all have. I don’t know what’s going on there but I don’t think they’re the same kids. I guess I could be wrong about this, all the kids at the start being blonde is certainly a bit confusing in the context. But if I am I’ll wait and see what the explanation is before I decide whether its believable or not.
Isla wandering into the distance to be killed by a morphine blowdart which seconds earlier had only served to make Spike a little woozy - dumb.
He can’t have different strength darts? Is that unrealistic? This seems like the key difference between how we’ve viewed the film. For me this is a minor detail that serves the greater plot, and can easily be explained without jarringly breaking suspension of disbelief, even though it isn’t specifically explained. It didn’t stand out to me at all. But if that detail jumps out at you and interrupts what the scene is trying to do, I guess that undermines the film for you.
I actually just found a quote from Boyle specifically saying that Jimmy’s gang are like “a replacement for the family he loses at the beginning”, which is how I originally interpreted that scene.
…just give up on life immediately and have him kill you. Everyone agrees this is normal.
Not only that, but then she lets this random hermit ::: spoiler spoiler kill and skin her and then her son immediately handles her bare skull minutes later :::
The biggest one that stands out to me is the major retcon of the rage virus. The infected die of starvation at the end of 28 Days Later since they’re not undead and had no instinct to eat. Now they’re showing that they’re basically angry animals that can at eat and reproduce
I mean, that was just the character’s understanding of the virus at that point. The latest movie shows that there is some variability or mutation in the virus and its effects on victims so it isn’t a huge stretch to have at least some infected retain the instinct to eat.
This is what I mean by some suspension of disbelief, like sure you might notice that detail but it is a minor retcon at worst, though I don’t think its even that.
I wouldn’t call it a minor retcon. That’s how the outbreak in the original film resolved, and how 28 Weeks Later started. You could argue it caused a mutation this time, but that only requires even further suspension of disbelief if the rules don’t stay consistent.
I mean look at all the covid mutations and how fast that happened.
Is it particularly unbelievable that a virus that affected most of the UK population would have regional mutations though ?
Infecting new hosts is literally how viruses evolve. It’s quite logical that a strain that keeps it’s host alive while continuing to effect others would becoming the dominant strain.
But this is 2025. We already know explaining that to a certain subset of the population is beyond futile.
Yeah i feel you. What amazes me is that in 2025 you can’t just enjoy shit anymore, you have to look for plot holes and inconsistencies like you’re a TVTropes moderator in a bad mood. Mfs would read a dozen papers on benzene buildup rather than enjoy the kaboom-boom for a minute.
What a joyless way to live your life.
