I mean either we do a comedy ending where zombies are embraced as part of everyday life (Shaun, Fido, Warm Bodies) or a cure is improbably developed (WWZ, that one Elliot Page movie).
I actually don't agree with 28 Days being about the world having ended: information in the movie is very deliberately kept limited to only a handful of perspectives. "Reports of infections in Paris and New York" is pretty much all we get in terms of the outside world for most of it, but the third act pretty solidly confirms that the rest of the world is far from fucked. For most of the movie the characters simply don't know either way. That's one of the disturbing themes of the movie I mentioned: scarcity of information driving people's priorities into pure survival mode.
The 28 series, based on what people have told me, is that the rage virus tends to spread because people do stupid things.
I mean, the Rage virus doesn't make too much sense anyway. The idea that it can totally infect and drive you mad within 20 seconds requires some hefty suspension of disbelief. It works for the sake of stakes, but it don't really make sense. And I don't know if they ever explain it in the other movies, but why don't the infected turn on eachother? It's just pure insane aggression, not a parasite trying to spread itself or simply the undead going for the living, so why don't the infected rip eachother apart?
I was going to bring up both Shaun of the Dead and The Last of Us (the game) as endings to zombie fiction that don't feel wishy washy.
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I feel Brain Dennehy always gets a bit forgotten in this movie, but his performance really sets him apart from Jack Starret's character (Art Galt), eventhough they are essentially the same character. They are very awful men with very long, sensitive toes, and the fact that they'd been friends for decades speaks volumes. But Teasle has this very reasonable and charming air to him, and you'd be forgiven initially in thinking he's kinda a good dude. But then he shifts on a dime when someone truly stands in his way, and becomes this horrifying man. I said it before, but it's reminiscent of James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano. Even the few scenes where Teasle is scared shitless due to Rambo coming after him Dennehy plays flawlessly without it feeling out of character.A ★★★★★ review of First Blood (1982)
“Vagrancy, wasn’t it? That will look real good on his tombstone. ‘Here lies John Rambo, winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Survivor of countless incursions behind enemy lines. Killed for vagrancy in Jerkwater, USA.’” This film definitely did not have a smooth production, with several...
To me, what sets them apart, and where Dennehy gets a lot of credit from me, is how they initially treat Rambo. Galt is openly contemptuous of Rambo from the beginning, dismissing the very idea that he could be worth anything. Meanwhile, Teasle is apathetic towards Rambo, but still treats him well...until Rambo has the audacity to do something Teasle doesn't like, and then it's over.
I wouldn't say Teasle treats him well, he just figures from Rambo's initial quiet demeanor (and probably his own years of pushing his weight around as the sheriff) that he can easliy handle him. Rambo entering his town is already something Teasle doesn't like, and Rambo saying "Why are you pushing me" again greatly irks Teasle. But because he still feels in control there's a cordialness to how he shows his dislike of Rambo. It isn't until Rambo treks right back over that bridge that Teasle starts to really show his ugliness. But then the magic of Teasle's character is that until the final confrontation he tries to dress his toxic male energy and need to dominate under the guise of rightousness. And Dennehy's innate charm as an actor makes those moments feel genuine. One of my favourite lines in the movie is after Teasle and this other state trooper are told by one of the deputies that Galt and a couple of the others where hard on Rambo, to which Teasle responds "If the prisoner has a problem with one of my deputies, then the prisoner comes to me. And if I find out it's like he says then I kick the deputy's ass, ME - that's the way it's gotta be.", which is ofcourse total bullshit because Teasle was the first one being hard on Rambo, but through Dennehy's performance you can tell Teasle genuinely believes he's he good guy in all this.
Another Teasle moment I quite liked is when Trautman flat-out tells him why Rambo attacked the cops, why he's continuing to defend himself against them, and why the cops should back off, and Teasle's reaction is basically "So he was in war. Does he think he's the only one who's had a bad time with it?" It shows his mindset perfectly. It's not that he's unaware of what Rambo's gone through, he's just dismissive that it could have any impact on Rambo beyond what Teasle thinks it should have.
Another detail to that attitude, in Teasle’s office you can see some military decorations that are likely his. But given his age, they’re from Korea. A war that sometimes gets referred to as “The Forgotten War”.
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