28 Days Later
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Civilians
Jim
Jim
Played By: Cillian Murphy
A bicycle courier who lived in Deptford, London with his parents. While running a delivery to an address somewhere across the city, a car cut in front of Jim's bike and caused him to crash, putting him into a coma. 28 days later, Jim woke up and the entire city was empty due to an outbreak of the Rage Virus.
- Action Survivor: It takes him a little while to get up to speed, but after a few days he's wielding a baseball bat like a champ. A few days after that, he's taking out a squad of soldiers.
- Adrenaline Makeover: Coupled with Important Haircut. Getting rid of his coma-hair shows he's kicking it up a notch.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He's sweet. And then some people decide to repopulate the earth using his friends.
- Butt-Monkey: Even in this world, Jim has a tough time of it.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Perhaps 'moron' isn't the right word. But Jim is quite bumbling at first and makes a litany of careless mistakes. But he proves when he's pushed to the limit that he is a rather formidable opponent.
- Deadpan Snarker: Jim can be quite snarky."Oh, great. Valium. Not only will we be able to go to sleep, if we get attacked in the middle of the night, we won't even care.""World's worst place to get a flat, huh?""No, no. No, see, this is a really shit idea. You know why? Because it's really obviously a shit idea."
- The Everyman: Until he finds his inner Badass.
- Eye Scream: How he kills Cpl. Mitchell.
- Final Battle-Induced Shirt Loss: Loses his shirt after he escapes his execution and goes through his whole attack on the soldiers shirtless.
- The Load: At first. He gets better.
- Mirror Character: He shows himself to be capable of the same brutality as the Infected.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: A very slender, almost scrawny young man, yet has no problems overpowering trained soldiers with his bare hands.
- Naked on Arrival: How he wakes up from his coma.
- Nice Guy: Compassionate, kinda, and is shaken up over needing to kill an infected child. However, when needed, he can be just as brutal as the infected, as West's men learned the hard way.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His callow and careless actions directly result in Mark's death.
- Only One Name: His surname is never revealed.
- Took a Level in Badass: Over the course of the film, he goes from a confused courier to an Infected-killing badass who runs circles around a group of soldiers.
- Throwing Off the Disability: Whatever landed him in the coma, it doesn't affect him on his journey to becoming far, far more badass.
- Would Hurt a Child: Justified, because he had to. He's pretty shaken up over it.
Selena
Selena
Played By: Naomie Harris
A young woman who lived in London. During the outbreak of the Rage Virus, Selena's family was killed and she hid in a barricaded shop in the London Underground with another survivor named Mark. Selena adopted a more serious attitude towards the current situation and believed "staying alive's as good as it gets". She is a qualified pharmacist and obviously has a measure of medical training.
- Action Survivor: She's a chemist (pharmacist for Americans), and she's survived the apocalypse for a month.
- Badass Longcoat: She meets Jim wearing a gas mask and a really awesome coat.
- Big Sister Instinct: After Frank dies, she tells Jim that she doesn't want Hannah to cope, she wants her to be safe and well. Later, when she realizes that she can't fight the soldiers off, she settles for drugging Hannah so she won't be so traumatized.
- Broken Bird: She's lived in hell while Jim slept through it. She is not a happy camper.
- Brutal Honesty: She tells Jim in no uncertain terms that she will not hesitate to kill him or leave him behind if need be.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: She slowly warms up to Jim, then even more with Hannah and Frank.
- Establishing Character Moment: Her brutal take down of Mark after she realizes he might be infected. This was someone that she's probably been through hell with and Selena doesn't hesitate for a second once she thinks that Mark might turn.
- Fire-Forged Friends: With Mark pre-film, but especially with Jim, Hannah, and Frank.
- Jerkass Has a Point: You don't survive in this apocalyptic world by being soft.
- Her unhesitating dispatch of Mark when he gets infected comes off as really cold-blooded, but she is right when she says he was fucked and they both knew it.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She was a nice and normal woman before the outbreak, and is only as hard as she is because of the situation. Her kinder side shows itself as time goes on.
- The Medic: Her job before the outbreak, which comes in handy in the new, post-outbreak world. She has her own personal stash of Valium to help her "not care" about her situation.
- Scary Black Woman: Although a heroic version, Selena's ruthlessness can be very scary.
Hannah
Hannah
Played By: Megan Burns
The daughter of Frank. When the virus broke out, she and her father barricaded themselves into their apartment. When they ran out of water they were forced to find another place with Jim and Selena.
- Action Survivor: She's definitely not a trained fighter, but she manages to be resourceful enough to survive to the end.
- Adrenaline Makeover: She's just a young teenage girl who is understandably terrified by the circumstances, but she manages to take out several soldiers with a car near the end after being subjected to attempted rape.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Averted, thankfully, and it makes sense in the context that this is a very, very scary post-apocalyptic world.
- Car Fu: How she takes out West and some other soldiers.
- Creepy Monotone: While out of her mind on Valium.
- Daddy's Girl: Her mother isn't mentioned but, given that she only has her father in the world, this is understandable.
- The Dog Bites Back: When the soldiers are planning to rape her and Jim thankfully intervenes, Hannah joins in with him.
- Little Miss Badass: She's a very young teenager in a post-apocalyptic world.
- Missing Mom: Nothing is said about her mother.
- Morality Chain: For Frank. Although he is an extremely Nice Guy, Hannah is his whole reason to live even in a zombie-infested Crapsack World.
- Morality Pet: For Selena. Selena is (also understandably) very, very hardened by her circumstances, but when she breaks down and tells Jim that she wants Hannah to be happy, it's the major step on the "defrosting" part of Defrosting Ice Queen.
- Took a Level in Badass: After her father dies, especially once the soldiers attack her.
- Wrench Wench: Hannah can drive. This doesn't seem especially notable, except that she's about fourteen.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: A realistic example.
Frank
Frank
Played By: Brendan Gleeson
A cabdriver in London who lived with his wife and daughter Hannah in an apartment block near the center of the city. When the Rage Virus broke out, his wife was killed, but Frank was able to barricade the apartment complex and use salvaged police equipment to fight the Infected.
- Action Survivor: Frank will attack any of the Infected he has to.
- The Determinator: Mostly for his daughter, Hannah.
- Driver of a Black Cab: Averted and parodied in a deleted scene.
- The Heart: Manages to still hold onto some form of decency in the face of the world hitting rock-bottom.
- Nice Guy: Happily takes in Jim and Selena, and is generally a jovial fellow in spite of all of the horrible things happening around him.
- Papa Wolf: Even leaving everything else aside, his first instinct when he realizes he's infected and has seconds before turning is to apologize to Hannah for shouting at her.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's both. He's a total badass who can take charge, but he's a loving father, knows his wine, and appreciates the beauty that's still in the world.
- Stepford Smiler: A fairly unique example. For the sake of his beloved daughter, he puts on a happy, cheerful face while keeping his own optimism alive. When speaking privately to Jim, he expresses more uncertainty. He also has a short-lived blow-up when the soldiers don't appear to be at the blockade. However, he quickly gets over this due to his sudden unfair infection and apologizes to Hannah for shouting around her.
- Team Dad: Takes Jim and Selena in like they're his own.
Mark
Mark
Played By: Noah Huntley
"OK, Jim. I've got some bad news."
A young man who lived in London with his parents and sister. During the outbreak of the Rage Virus, Mark survived and hid in a barricaded shop in the London Underground with Selena.
- Action Survivor: Got through the first 28 days, no problem. Jim's arrival changes that.
- Deadpan Snarker: Has a very dry wit. It's not too hard to imagine given the state of the world he lives in.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He’s snarky and callous, but he has a wonderfully touching monologue about his family during the infection."My...parents and my sister, we went to Paddington Station, hoping maybe we could get on a plane, maybe we could buy our way onto a plane. I remember my dad had all this cash, even though cash was completely useless. About 20,000 other people had the same idea. Crowd was surging. I lost my grip on my sister's hand. I remember the ground was soft. I looked down and I was standing on all these people. Like a carpet. People who had fallen and...somewhere in the crowd there were Infected. It spread fast. No one could run. All you could do was climb. Climb over more people. So I did that. I climbed. And I got up on top of this kiosk. Looking down, you couldn't tell which faces were infected and which weren't. Then I saw my dad. Not my mum or my sister. My dad. His face...Selena's right. You should be grateful."
- Nothing Is Scarier: The way Mark describes his father's presumed infection (quoted above) is as terrifying as anything we see in the movie.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: When Selena sees the bite on his arm, she immediately kills him.
- Zombie Infectee: Got bitten by an infected person.
Soldiers
West
Major Henry West
Played By: Christopher Eccleston
"This is what I've seen in the four weeks since infection: people killing people."
A veteran in the British Army. During the original outbreak of Rage, West and his brigade of 800 soldiers are tasked to protect Manchester and keep the Infected out by manning the M602 Blockade, which becomes the only entrance into Manchester. After the death or infection of nearly all in his command and the fall of Manchester to the Infected, West is driven insane by what he has seen.
- Affably Evil: He zigzags between this and Faux Affably Evil. West comes across as very genial, reasonable and well-composed. Ultimately, however, this turns out to not be the case.
- A Father to His Men: West is extremely protective of his 'boys'. A dark deconstruction, it's implied this trait is what drove him to insanity and, eventually, villainy.
- Ambiguously Gay: West is very touchy feely with his men, especially Jim, but seems to have no interest in raping Hannah or Selena. It may be the case that this is Even Evil Has Standards, but it's ambiguous.
- Big Bad: The main human villain.
- Dissonant Serenity: The first hint there is something seriously wrong with him. He delivers the news to Jim that he plans to allow his men to rape Selena and Hannah with the same emotional gravitas as somebody ordering Chinese takeout, and he is shown to casually sip tea above the steps of his mansion headquarters in between bouts of slaughtering infected.
- Double Meaning: A lot of what he says is eventually revealed to have sinister undertones. When he's talking about Mailer, he describes how he got infected and locked away 2 days prior to Jim, Selena and Hannah's arrival and Mailer's is now futureless as a result of his infection. When he explains to Jim about the sex slave plan, West states that he caught Jones attempting to commit suicide 3 days ago because he lost all hope in having a future. From then on, West decided to create a sex slave solution to prove that the future wasn't futureless.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: West genuinely loves his men, which is actually part of the reason he's willing to let them rape a fourteen-year-old girl.
- Evil Counterpart: Like Frank and Jim's father, West is a very protective Team Dad figure for the men under his command. Unlike Frank and Jim's father, however, he considers raping women the only way to go forwards.
- Fallen Hero: It's implied losing his entire command sans the handful of soldiers that we meet has driven him to madness. Before that, he was presumably a distinguished military officer, though in the comics, Selena suggests that there was something wrong with him from the beginning if he was willing to go to such monstrous extremes so quickly.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: By capturing women and turning them into sex slaves, West believes he's providing hope to his men after stopping Jones from committing suicide in a fit of despair after the massacre at the M602 Blockade; in the comics, however, Selena points out that it didn't take long for West to conjure up this plan and he was likely just looking for an excuse to fulfil his misogynistic agenda.
- Karmic Death: He's killed by Mailer, an infected soldier he sadistically left to starve to death in the courtyard. His death was also caused by Hannah, a girl he planned to have raped as part of his plan for the future.
- Madden Into Misanthropy: He has very low views of the human race and believes the fight against the infected is nothing new since people have been fighting and killing long before the Rage Virus ever took place.
- Manipulative Bastard: He's less infantile than most of the men under his command are and knows how to turn the charm on. He might even seem normal. He's not.
- Officer and a Gentleman: Part of the image he projects. He might've been one before the outbreak, but he definitely isn't now.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: His plan to repopulate the country and prove there is a future for the men and himself involves women being raped and becoming sex slaves for the soldiers. This comes across as especially unnecessary since the UK is actually just quarantined and the rest of the world was able to evade the infection. Selena further points out in the comics that he was only looking for an excuse to act out his depravity due to the relatively short amount of time it took for him to fall into madness.
- Papa Wolf: Brutal he may be, but he genuinely does care for the soldiers under his command. When Jim kills them, he takes the gloves off.
- Pet the Dog: In a rather twisted example, he offers Jim a chance to live and join him instead of being executed. A more straightforward example is when he comforts Jones before he dies.
- Revenge Before Reason: He claims to be keeping the infected Mailer chained up outside so he can study how to kill the infected. He does learn the infected starve to death as a result of neglecting their basic needs but he now chooses to endanger his squad by keeping Mailer alive. It's likely that he keeps Mailer alive as a form of personal revenge for losing so many soldiers to the infected at the Forty-Second Blockade.
- Sanity Slippage: The apocalypse has not had a good effect on his sanity in general. He slips even worse when Jim kills several of his soldiers.
- Stepford Smiler: Although which type he qualifies as is somewhat ambiguous, depending on whether you think he was driven to madness by the infected, or if he always had such darkness in him, or if he's actually doing this all for his men as he claims.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Of the ‘broken’ variety. It’s clear by his monologue about ‘people killing people’ that he’s thoroughly disillusioned by the world, and his disillusionment has twisted him into a monster.
- The Unfettered: He'll do anything to repopulate the country and to prove that there is a future for his men, to the point that he's blinded himself to the possibility that there's no point in repopulation.
- Villain with Good Publicity: In the comics; Jim is arrested and executed for killing Major West and the 8 soldiers because West's plan was never publically revealed.
- Walking Spoiler: Talking about him reveals one of the major plot twists in the movie and the film's final third act.
Farrell
Sergeant Farrell
Played By: Stuart McQuarrie
A veteran soldier of the British Army and serves as Major Henry West's second-in-command.
- Defector from Decadence: Farrell is disgusted by how far the other soldiers have slipped into savagery and draws the line at their plans to rape Hannah and Selena.
- Defiant to the End: Tells Mitchell to basically go fuck himself, and distracts him and Jones from Jim escaping.
- Face Death with Dignity: He shows no fear at his execution and refuses to give Mitchell the satisfaction of seeing him breakdown or beg for his life.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Pulls one to give Jim a chance to escape.
- Hidden Depths: He takes a surprisingly philosophical perspective on the apocalypse, and he's the only member of the entire squad to protest Mitchell's boorish attitude towards Selena.
- Ironic Name: Farrell sounds a lot like feral. He's the only soldier that isn't a savage.
- Only Sane Man: Quite literally, given West had gone insane and the other soldiers are petulant manchildren.
- Sanity Has Advantages:
- As the Only Sane Man, he's actually the group's only competent commander, with his skills outstretching even Major West - to the point that it's Farrell that that organises the defense of the base when the infected attacked, not West. After he is killed, the whole group falls apart and are all killed in under a few hours.
- For good measure, he can clearly see the one part of the big picture that West and the others are psychologically blind to: the infection hasn't escaped the United Kingdom - and likely couldn't, given the rapid incubation period - so the rest of the world is continuing as normal, meaning that West's plan to repopulate the Earth is meaningless.
- Sacrificial Lion: To show the kind of people the other soldiers really are. Though, considering he saves Jim, who later saves Selena and Hannah and considering what Jim does to the rest of the soldiers while he's at it, he does manage to go out with much more dignity than his 'comrades' and his heroism will likely be vindicated by Jim, Selena, and Hannah when they are all finally rescued.
- Token Good Teammate: He's the only member of the squad with a definite moral compass and to the end of his life tries to protect Selena and Hannah from West and his men, even sacrificing his life to save Jim so that he has a chance to save the girls.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Calls out Jones for allowing Mitchell to kill him cruelly and painfully rather than just shooting him. Jones at least has the decency to agree and shoot him before Mitchell has his chance.
Mitchell
Corporal Mitchell
Played By: Ricci Harnett
A vulgar, cocky, and insensitive soldier under Major Henry West's command. He is sarcastic and cruel to virtually everyone he meets, seeming to have a particularly bitter rivalry with one of his two remaining superiors, Sergeant Farrell.
- Asshole Victim: He's the most eager about the prospect of forcing women to become sex slaves and is proven to be the most sadistic of the soldiers. Fittingly, he gets the most brutal and graphic death of all of them as Jim gouges out his eyes after beating him against the wall.
- Ax-Crazy: He's all too gleeful at the notion of raping Selena, and wants to kill Farrell with his bayonet, that latter of which even Jones objects to.
- The Bully: Particularly to Jones.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: For all his macho posturing, his fight with Jim is a completely one-sided beatdown with Mitchell on the receiving end and culminating in his gruesome demise.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Has his head smashed in and eyes painfully gouged out by Jim. Given how vile he'd been prior, it's very gratifying to see.
- Deadpan Snarker: Gets a few insulting remarks in, mainly towards Jones.
- Dirty Coward: His arrogance and sadism vanish the moment he's faced with an actual threat at which point he hides and uses a woman as a human shield.
- Eye Scream: Jim kills him by gouging out his eyes. And it is glorious.
- Hate Sink: He's the worst of the soldiers due to his sadism and sexism. He's also the most enthusiastic about turning women into sex slaves which makes Jim beating him up and killing him by pushing his eyeballs in all the more satisfying.
- Jerkass: Aggressive, violent, bullying, and smug.
- Miles Gloriosus: He struts around like he's a tough guy but when faced with infected, he runs with his tail between his legs, uses Selina as a human shield, and is utterly useless in an actual fight, getting bested and killed by Jim, a regular civilian.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He gleefully announces how much he'd like to rape Selina brutally, claiming he'll "make her squirm".
- Sadist: Gets off on hurting others, he even wants to bayonet Farrell to death when he's charged with executing him and Jim just because they hate each other.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: He does this as his eyes are being gouged out by Jim.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Clearly fancies himself as a tough-as-nails soldier in the vein of Rambo. In reality, he's nothing more than a smug, cowardly sadist who's utterly useless at anything but cruelty.
- Smug Snake: He's not a tenth as tough or clever as he thinks he is, and oozes self-satisfaction in the most grating way possible.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Mitchell is a sadistic piece of walking shit who wears a big grin when he's getting ready to do something horrible.
- Would Hurt a Child: It's heavily implied he plans to brutally rape Hannah as well as Selina.
Jones
Private Jones
Played By: Leo Bill
West: Jones, our resident tin opener.
A young, inexperienced soldier. He serves as the cook for the group.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Although he never had any qualms with luring women to the mansion to rape them, his constant mistreatment and general instability warrant him at least some pity when Jim bayonets him. It doesn't help that West comforts him when he finds him dying on the doorstep.
- The Baby of the Bunch: He's the youngest of the soldiers and is hazed by the others for being the rookie, as they make him do the unfavourable task of preparing food for them. His near-suicide was the thing that motivated West to find a way to boost morale and promise a future to his despairing soldiers. He was also the one whom West comforted during his final moments.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Jones is timid, unconfident, and a likeable enough fellow that you can almost forget that he plans on gangraping a 14-year-old girl.
- Butt-Monkey: He's delegated to Team Chef duties despite having no talent, bullied and taunted by his supposed comrades, and ultimately meets a horrible death.
- Death by Irony: He shot Farrell before Mitchell could bayonet him... and later gets bayoneted by Jim.
- Death Seeker: 3 days prior to Jim, Selena, and Hannah's arrival, West found him with a gun in mouth preparing to pull the trigger. West was able to stop him in time and told Jones about his plan to create a future in order to stop Jones and the other soldiers killing themselves.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Is horrified that Mitchell wants to make Farrell's death slow and excruciating, and wants to simply shoot him instead.Jones: Mitch, just use the gat.Mitchell: Why?Jones: Because it's fucking quicker!
- Extreme Doormat: He's a bit of a pussy and easily pushed around by the other, more aggressive soldiers.
- Lethal Chef: Jones is no kind of chef, preparing an omelette with eggs that have long gone bad but figuring that if he used enough salt it would hide the flavor.West: Jones, did you notice while cooking that these eggs were off?Jones: I thought the salt might cover the taste, sir.
- Manchild: Although in his (slight) defence, he is very young, and seems much younger than the other soldiers.
- Morality Pet: Jones is this for Major West, as shown by how West is the only one to respect him. Jones' near-suicide was the act that motivated West to promise the soldiers sex slaves so they can repopulate the country. He did this to boost morale and provide a future to Jones and the other soldiers.
- Nervous Wreck: He seems to be constantly on the verge of a breakdown.
- Nothing Left to Do but Die: After surviving the attack at Forty-Second Blockade and being isolated at the new base, Jones attempted to take his own life after coming to the conclusion that life is "futureless". West was able to stop him and he now uses Jones' near-suicide as motivation for his plans for the future.
- Pet the Dog:
- Shoots Farrell dead before Mitchell can torture him.
- On the receiving end: while Jones is dying from his wounds, West holds his hand as a form of comfort.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Wears a pink apron while cooking... and fighting infected.
- Shrinking Violet: Jones is easily bullied, timid and shy.
- Team Chef: But not a particularly good one.
- Tears of Fear: While hiding from the Infected, he's blubbering in utter terror.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Downplayed, because he's perfectly willing to go along with West's plan to lure in women and rape them, but it was his Bungled Suicide that set the plan in motion.
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: During the first Infected attack on the manor, Jones is so astonished that he actually managed to kill one of the invading horde - under circumstances in which it'd be hard not to score a confirmed kill - that he stops to tell Mitchell about it. Mitchell is not amused.Jones: Mick, I fucking got one!Mitchell: What do you want, a fucking sweetie?! Keep shooting, ya cunt!
Mailer
Mailer
Played By: Marvin Campbell
A highly dangerous infected soldier that Major West keeps chained up in the courtyard to see how long it takes the infected to starve to death.
- Chekhov's Gun: A subtle one, but he pukes up blood when Jim and West are observing him. This comes into play later when he pukes on one of the soldiers, infecting him and turning him into one of the creatures.
- Defector from Decadence: Its very possible given West's rather cruel way of killing him (chaining him up while infected, leaving him exposed to the elements and letting him slowly starve to death) that Mailer was one of few soldiers (alongside Farrell) that disagreed with the plan to bring in survivors as sex slaves.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: A black man chained up outside an English manor house? It's because he's infected, but still.
- The Dog Bites Back: Prior to the events of the movie, Mailer was infected with the rage virus and, rather than kill him, West chose to chain him in the courtyard for study. West was able to learn that the infected neglect their basic needs and can starve to death with enough time. West now keeps the infected Mailer alive as a form of personal revenge against the infected for losing so many of his fellow soldiers at the Forty-Second Blockade. When Jim is able to kill the remaining 8 soldiers, West ambushes him and shoots him in order to avenge his men. Hannah was able to kill Major West by reversing the car into Mailer, who broke through the back window and dragged the screaming Major West out of the back seat and beat him to death.
- Scary Black Man: Although he's not really responsible for it; he's a black soldier who was infected pre-film.
Bedford
Bedford
Played By: Ray Panthaki
- Asshole Victim: Like Mitchell and the other soldiers, he deserves getting killed by Mailer and Clifton after agreeing with West's plan to have any woman raped and keep as sex slaves.
Clifton
Clifton
Played By: Luke Mably
Dubbed By: Bruno Choël (European French)
- Anti-Villain: Though he agrees with West's plan to have any woman kept as sex slaves, he does seem not to take pleasure in it unlike Mitchell and some of the others, he even helps Selena by telling the others that they should leave her and Hannah alone while he gives out a sad look at Hannah knowing that he and the others are going too far with this.
