Transit 17

2020 has arrived. Who would have thought we would get here, after American doomsday guy John Hagee predicted the world would end somewhere between April 2014 and September 2015, with the blood moon showing. Of course nothing happened, but John was pretty sure he was right anyway. So this year i hope he can give us the right date of the end of the world, with such a serious subject you should probably be sure about when it is supposed to happen. If he for some reason can´t be sure, he should swing by my place and have a whiskey, and we can just watch The Expendables trilogy instead. When ever i think about the apocalypse, or a zombie invasion, i usually think about a British horror classic released in 2002. I am of course thinking about 28 Days Later, directed by Danny Boyle ( who gave us the 90´s masterpiece Trainspotting ). 28 Days Later is a really well made post-apocalyptic horror film, that tells the story of Jim ( played by Irish actor Cillian Murphy ), who wakes up in a hospital and finds out that London is deserted. He encounter some survivors on his way, but also finds out what really happened, that a highly contagious, rage-inducing virus have spread across Great Britain turning everyone into zombies. Director Danny Boyle managed to bring back this genre to life with this film, since some of the late 90´s zombie films did not feel very interesting. If you love post-apocalyptic horror films, then you need to see 28 Days Later. The sequel 28 Weeks Later is actually pretty good, and also worth a watch. I read online in June 2019, that director Danny Boyle is ready to take on a third film, and i can´t wait to see what they would do this time. Post-apocalyptic films keeps on getting released, and i got a chance to sit down and watch a film called Transit 17. As you might have noticed, i am a big fan of zombie invasions. Is this a surprisingly good apocalypse film, or should Transit 17 be thrown into a trashcan ?

The year is 2026. Europe have been devastated by a virus that has turned a huge portion of the population into zombies. But there is hope, through a young girl who needs to be taken to a secret location. With the help of a special team of soldiers such as Tex ( Guy Bleyaert ), Eve ( Zara Phythian ), Brad ( Lee Charles ), Deena ( Kimberly Stahl ) and many more. But as their mission begins, they will soon realize how bad it is out there. 

If you are expecting anything groundbreaking with this film, then you might be dissapointed. Transit 17 reminds us of many other post-apocalyptic films. However, if you can accept that, and you like the traditional format of this genre, then maybe Transit 17 might please you after all. This is the kind of film you will enjoy, if you love bad acting and cheesy dialogue, in a familiar B movie concept such as Rise Of The Zombies. The difference here though is that this is more of a military film. Let´s talk a bit about the positive. Even if this film is made on a extremely low budget, i like the action scenes. They remind me of low budget films of the 90´s. No serious dialogue, just shoot and ask questions later. The guns look pretty fun as well, almost as if they were picked out to look bad ass, and you can´t take them serious either. When we are going into the characters for a bit, there is especially one guy who stands out from the rest. And that is actor Guy Bleyaert who plays the character Tex. Imagine a mixture of Rutger Hauer, with an American accent that is beyond perfect , and you have Tex in front of you. When i hear him talking serious, i laugh. This is without a doubt the best character in this film. I have to mention actress Zara Phytian as the character Eve, a bad ass female soldier who is not afraid to kick ass. This is exactly the kind of character a film like this needed. Now to some negative. Not all of the zombies look awful, but some of the zombie actors don´t do a very good job. If you are going to be a zombie, go crazy and attack like you are completely insane. This is where some of the zombies feels lame. I am glad though that at least some of the zombies did a better job, there are some zombie attacks that works better. The storyline is nothing you will care about, so even if there is a rescue mission in mind for this film, you will eventually only care about the action scenes. Transit 17 is a mixed bag, with something that you have seen in so many zombie films before. I got to say though that director Guy Bleyaert ( yes that same guy who plays Tex ) have given us a good laugh with this film. If you want to get into a good mood, and just laugh at a 90´s vibe zombie flick, then Transit 17 is the choice to go for. This is the film that Jehovah´s Witnesses were hoping for to hit DVD shelves worldwide, good for you congregations.

Rating: DDD