Written by Luke Barnes
Summary
One of the most definitive zombie films of all time. Also the film that really gave us the running zombie.
I really do think this film holds up. I would even be so bold as to say that it is up there with Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead in terms of importance within wider zombie cannon. I think so many shots from this film have become synonymous with the image of the zombie film and in that you can see the films titan like status.
I think the film does a really good job of keeping up the threat throughout the film, and no point in the films runtime do you feel perfectly comfortable as you never know when things are going to turn bad. I would classify this film more as a thriller film than as a horror as I feel it is more tense than scary, but that is just my personal taste.
The performances across the board are really strong, from a young Cillian Murphy to a deranged Christopher Eccleston and back to born survivor Naomie Harris. You will be hard pressed to find a bad performance here as even the child actor of the cast manages to be somewhat decent and not let the side down. Boyle really does a good job of picking a talented symbiotic cast that all play off each other really well.
My only issue with the film would be that after a point the zombies somewhat fade into the background and the remaining soldiers become the real villains of the piece. I think that the zombies should always be front and centre in these sort of films and that the soldiers should have a smaller presence in the film.
Overall, for the most part a classic that still holds up.
Pros.
The tension
The cast
The ending
The gore
Cons.
The soldiers get far too much focus
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Another Millennial Reviewer 
Good review.
Just a minor difference in view – I can understand wanting the focus to stay on the zombies/infected as a main antagonist, but I also appreciate how society is impacted by the virus, and the military in any respective country acting like this doesn’t at all surprise me.
Admittedly, I do sometimes get tired of human conflict in the face of a zombie apocalypse, but in this specific case, I actually thought it worked. Sure, the zombies are monsters, but in this new world, some people aren’t much better.
Just my thoughts, of course – again, solid review, and definitely agree this is a modern-day classic.
– Jiggy
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