It's fast-paced, violent, and scary. Now, that could describe a million movies. But this one also has a quality that is hard to find in zombie apocalypse films: beauty. By offering moments of beauty and happiness in a world of terror and dismay, 28 Days Later is an insightful and liberating piece of sci-fi/horror that offers some insights to life while serving fast, visceral thrills.

At the start of the film, we see news clips of violence edited together and playing on a television. Then we see four screens of the same, and they are playing in front of a tied-down monkey. It is part of an experiment to find genes responsible for violence in order to eradicate them. The scientists have so far apparently succeeded in isolating the cause of violence and have injected it into several lab monkeys in the form of a virus called "Rage." A group of animal rights extremists at this time happen to break into the lab to free the monkeys and, in doing so, release the highly contagious Rage virus into the public. Cut to twenty-eight days later, and we are following a young man named Jim, who has awoken from a comatose state in a hospital. The entire United Kingdom has been wiped out, except for bands of survivors here and there. He falls in with a group, and they makes plans to . . . well, what can one plan to do anymore other than to find others?

First, a word on the zombies, which are not your typical zombies. These guys are on steroids, crack, and Red Bull. They run at you full blast, snarling, lurching, and vomiting blood. They are perfect for scares, as they not only will burst through a door or window at any moment with little effort but will also chase you down with unlimited endurance. Just hope you have somewhere to hide, or a good weapon.

From the time Jim begins wandering the seemingly empty city of London, the film implicitly asks the age-old question, What is the point of life? When Jim asks his primary companion throughout the film, Selena, what their plans are, she nihilistically responds, "Plans are pointless. Staying alive's as good as it gets." When the world, or at least the characters' world, is reduced to a splinter of its population, what are the important things in life? This is the question the best post-apocalyptic films ask.

When they meet a father and daughter, Frank and Hannah, we begin to see that there perhaps is more to life, even at its most basic level, than survival. As the characters drive to a military base set up far outside the city, we get a few glimpses into what life is all about. Even between zombie attacks and the loss of loved ones, the four manage to share some heartwarming and even fun moments. They tell jokes on their trip, they laugh together during a particularly bumpy shortcut, and they generally begin to resemble a family. In one memorable scene, they also take a quick shopping spree in a grocery store, and they use their new rations to have a picnic together once they are a safe distance from the city. Even during these catastrophic events, they are able to have fun together in special, transitory moments. This is what the film is about at its core: finding happiness in the midst of horror.

Enhancing these moments is the cinematography. Particularly when they are picnicking near a field where an uninfected family of horses is playing, the scenery is simply beautiful. At other times, the camera looks down at only the highway, the car itself, or some view of nature from behind a window. The effect created in each of these views is one of monotony and confinement. When it does release and show us the sky, grass, or trees, the feeling is expansive. What have we done with our lives to make us more focused on our manmade works than on nature's own magnificence? With nature you don't need any plans.

The second half of the film, which takes place at the military base, silences the survivalist ideals once and for all. This small group of British Army troops has set up in an abandoned mansion, and their only goal is to survive. Unfortunately, Selena and Hannah are the fish that took their safe-haven bate and are the exact vessels needed for this all-male regiment to perpetuate mankind's existence. As the plot settles into this environment where nothing matters but life, women become mere means to the survivalist end, ethics disintegrate, and the world becomes a far drearier place than even the zombie-infested city from which we came. It is also no accident that most of the zombies from this point on are killed impersonally, from afar. We don't see them up close so much anymore, as bodies that once were our family and friends, because to these people they are simply creatures that threaten the living. Killing zombies, to them, is fun. All of these acts of dehumanization show just how detrimental the implications of survivalist attitudes are; when life is all one cares about, others' lives stop mattering.

There is also a little criticism on industrialization, here. One of the results of city life, of course, is that food must either be brought in or manufactured. Therefore, the only things the characters have to eat during most of their time in the city are the things available in vending machines and convenient stores -- namely, candy bars and soft drinks. Indeed the only nutritional food ever eaten in the film is either canned or radiated. It is yet another downside to our hampering with the world; we don't know how to feed ourselves when there are no corporations to provide our diets.

I don't like to the term "social commentary" because it connotes a condescending approach to the filmmaker's audience, and it implies that the film is here to teach us something rather than to provide an experience that we feel. Whatever commentary there is in 28 Days Later, however, works because it is understated for the sake of the cinematic experience and is only arrived at through its skillful use of cinematography and plot construction. Whether you are looking for something to frighten you or something to make you think, 28 Days Later is a refreshing zombie film with a hard edge.