’28 Years Later’ Review
Stars: Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Alfie Williams, Jack O’Connell, Ralph Fiennes | Written by Alex Garland | Directed by Danny Boyle
Director Danny Boyle, writer Alex Garland and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle reunite for this long-awaited third instalment in the 28 Days Later franchise, which began 23 years ago, with the second film, 28 Weeks Later, appearing in 2007. This new film is part of a planned trilogy, with the second part – 28 Years Later: Bone Temple – already filmed and due to be released next year.
After an initial prologue sequence, the film cuts to the titular 28 Years Later, picking up 28 years after the original outbreak of the Rage virus, which turned a large part of the population into speedy, slathering zombies. Captions inform us that mainland Europe have overcome the virus and all the remaining zombies (or “Infected”, as the film calls them) are now left to fend for themselves on the British mainland.
Meanwhile, all the remaining Uninfected UK citizens (of which there are not many) have holed up on Lindisfarne, a tiny island off the Scottish coast, connected to the mainland only by a stretch of tidal causeway that is inaccessible when the tide is high. It’s here that we meet the film’s twelve-year-old hero, Spike (Alfie Williams), who has his first encounter with the Infected when his father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), takes him zombie-hunting on the mainland as a rite of passage.
Meanwhile, Spike’s mother, Isla (Jodie Comer) is suffering from a mystery illness, and when Spike spots a fire in the distance and learns that there may be a mysterious doctor on the mainland, he sneaks Isla off the island and undertakes a dangerous journey to track him down, hoping that he may hold the cure to his mother’s affliction.
The film’s plot makes for an unusual hybrid of zombie horror, terminal illness drama and Boy’s Own Adventure. To that end, the whole thing is tonally uneven, something that isn’t helped at all by the final few minutes, which take a jarring and grotesque turn into cartoonish satire, in the name of setting up the sequel.
It’s fair to say that, given that they’ve had 18 years to come up with a sequel – not to mention zombie-apocalypse-friendly real-life occurrences like Brexit and Covid – the filmmakers could have done a better job with the script, which largely ignores thematically relevant stuff like collectively processing trauma in favour of Spike’s desperate mission. Things pick up a bit with the introduction of an iodine-slathered Ralph Fiennes (as the mysterious doctor), but the script is still distinctly underwhelming.
There are other script problems too – for example, it’s never clearly explained why Jamie doesn’t give chase to his wife and son, especially as it’s not hard to work out where they’re going, given the burning fire on the mainland.
Similarly, no real thought seems to have gone into zombie evolution beyond a) the fact that they can apparently have babies now, for some reason (the further implications of which are roundly ignored), and b) zombies are all naked now, because all clothes have disintegrated, something that largely backfires, because it just makes you feel sorry for the extras.
The set-pieces are something of a mixed bag. For every thrilling sequence (the highlight is a chase across the rapidly flooding causeway), there are repetitive scenes (there are way too many fat, crawling, worm-eating zombies) and other sequences that lack tension. Even the running zombies are somehow less scary now than they were the first time round.
On the plus side, the performances are excellent. Young Alfie Williams proves a real find, effortlessly carrying the movie and generating touching chemistry with both Comer and Taylor-Williams. Similarly, Fiennes is terrific as the doctor, playing the role exactly the way you would hope, while Taylor-Williams and Comer are both on solid form as Spike’s parents.
In short, 28 Years Later isn’t quite the zombie-tastic hit fans might have been hoping for (there’s surprisingly little gore) and the undercooked script leaves something to be desired, but there’s enough here to sink your teeth into, even if it’s slightly short on brains.
*** 3/5
28 Years Later is in cinemas now.
