I’m a consumer. I like shopping for stuff. I like reading about stuff that’s coming (and wish it were here now for me to buy). I like to follow the evolution of stuff as it comes to market and see how the roll out of new stuff is accepted. I’ve got lots of stuff that never got that public acceptance it should have received. It sits right next to the stuff that did that is often replaced by the next gen stuff. I guess I’m the poster boy for consumerism. So this movie was a blow to my mad subconscious that regulates my buy, buy, buy fever. It shows a world where there won’t be any new books, movies, CDs and all manner of other toys that keeps me distracted from the real problems our world faces. And then Selena (Naomie Harris) has the gall to tell Jim (Cillian Murphy) essentially the same thing. I was bummed for a time until a buddy called to tell me what he discovered in his latest foray into the shops and I remembered this is just a movie.

Director:  Danny Boyle; Toby James Writer:  Alex Garland Cast:
Alex Palmer -  Activist Bindu De Stoppani -  Activist Jukka Hiltunen -  Activist David Schneider -  Scientist Cillian Murphy -  Jim Toby Sedgwick -  Infected Priest Naomie Harris -  Selena Noah Huntley -  Mark		Christopher Dunne -  Jim’s Father Emma Hitching -  Jim’s Mother Alexander Delamere -  Mr. Bridges Kim McGarrity -  Mr. Bridges’ Daughter Brendan Gleeson -  Frank Megan Burns -  Hannah Justin Hackney -  Infected Kid Luke Mably -  Private Clifton

Let’s suppose you are a solider in the military like Doyle (Jeremy Renner). Let’s also suppose you set to guard a group of civilians from insurgents intent on killing them like those infected by the Rage Virus (i.e. zombies on steroids). It seems like a fairly straightforward activity. Let’s now suppose that your commanding officer tells you that the barrier has been breached and orders you to shoot those who have broken through like the virally infected have her in this movie. Given the proper circumstances, I’d level my rifle and pop them once I had them in my scope. I imagine most would follow that order. Now suppose, the order came through to kill anything on the ground whether infected or not. Here is where I pause and examine my commitment to the situation. Particularly if I see a kid like Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) or a doctor like Scarlet (Rose Byrne) through the rangefinder and I know neither one is infected. I might tap someone about to rip out their throat but Andy is just a kid who has been reunited with his dad after spending 28 weeks in a camp in Spain with his sister Tammy (Imogen Poots). Doyle feels much the same and decides that saving a life is better karma than taking one.

Director:  Juan Carlos Fresnadillo Writer:  Rowan Joffe; Juan Carlos Fresnadillo; Jesús Olmo; Enrique López Lavigne Cast:
Catherine McCormack -  Alice Robert Carlyle -  Don Amanda Walker -  Sally Shahid Ahmed -  Jacob Garfield Morgan -  Geoff Emily Beecham -  Karen Beans El-Balawi -  Boy in Cottage Jeremy Renner -  Doyle		Harold Perrineau -  Flynn Rose Byrne -  Scarlet Imogen Poots -  Tammy Mackintosh Muggleton -  Andy Meghan Popiel -  DLR Soldier Idris Elba -  Stone Stewart Alexander -  Military Officer Philip Bulcock -  Senior Medical Officer