10 Mild-Mannered Movie Characters Who Suddenly Went Badass

10. Jim €“ 28 Days Later

Jim Before the Rage virus took over Britain, Jim was a bike courier with the Royal Mail. Now, nothing against the Royal Mail€™s bike couriers (who I€™m sure are lovely people), but if the apocalypse happened they definitely wouldn€™t be the first people I€™d seek out for protection. You know who would be? Soldiers. They€™re well trained and good with firearms €“ exactly what you want in an apocalypse. And so it proves throughout most of 28 Days Later. For a good three-quarters of the film€™s runtime, Jim€™s pretty useless, looking kind of shocked at the horror and carnage going on around him while Brendan Gleeson does most of the heroic heavy lifting for the group. But then Gleeson dies, and after discovery by some soldiers, the group€™s women are threatened with some pretty terrible living arrangements and Jim is taken off to the woods to be shot. But then, this meek, mild-mannered man just utterly snaps, a fact you can tell from the fact he€™s no longer wearing a shirt. While before it looks as if he couldn€™t cut butter, shirtless Jim makes his way through a house of trained servicemen, shooting, deceiving and even blinding (!) one in a particularly shocking scene. Your sense of shock is only tempered by the pain of your jaw hitting the floor. One of her Majesty€™s finest just tore apart a makeshift barracks, completely wrecking everything the much-better equipped soldiers had attempted to build. Jim€™s had no military training, but inspired to save the women of his group he tears through that building with almost frightening ease, leaving what were formidable grunts brutalised in his wake. The fact he also lets some zombies in the house too just proves how frighteningly formidable Jim's become since his trip to the woods. If there€™s one thing we learn here, it€™s do not annoy the postman, and don€™t threaten anyone or anything in his protection. If you do, he just might blind you. How€™s that for first class service?
Contributor
Contributor

Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League. You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.