Continuity mistake: The chain and collar vanishes from Mailer's neck as he runs into the mansion. (01:33:45 - 01:35:20)
28 Days Later (2002)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Cillian Murphy, Christopher Eccleston, David Schneider, Alex Palmer, Bindu De Stoppani, Jukka Hiltunen
We are led to believe the UK has been cut off from the rest of the world to prevent the 'rage' virus from spreading. All of the soldiers are evil rapists except two. They all die. Jim, Selena and Hannah escape the soldiers' house and make it to a remote farm house. They put up what at first seems to be a distress sign as a army plane flies over them, but it is later revealed to say "hello," since they are actually safe and are not in need of being saved. They have escaped the quarrantine. The newly released alternate ending features Jim dying in the hospital as Selena tries to revive him and Hannah watches over. Once they realize it's hopeless, the last view is of them walking away, leaving Jim's corpse.
Neil
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: It doesn't disappear; it is just hard to see. The chain is attached to the actor's back, quite securely, likely for the actor's safety. It is there, though, and can be seen in some shots.
Selena: Plans are pointless. Staying alive is as good as it gets.
Trivia: The dramatic pause, as the taxi hits the gate near the end of the film, is done so because this was the original ending. Test audiences didn't like the ambiguity of the ending and wanted something more succinct, and so we got an ending-like sequence followed by the actual ending.
Question: At the end we are left with the question of the pilot's intentions, and what happened. Is he going to help them, or pull an about-face and machine-gun them down thinking they're infected?
Answer: That question is actually answered. The pilot is speaking Finnish, and he says into the radio "lähetätkö helikopterin" which translates as "Can you please send a helicopter?" Looks like he was actually helping them after all, and there is still some civilization (or at least people with radios and helicopters).