Joey Magidson
Well, this is something different. You’d be forgiven for assuming that 28 Years Later was simply more of the same from the dormant zombie franchise. The genre that Danny Boyle and Alex Garland revolutionized with 28 Days Later already had a solid but fully expected sequel in 28 Weeks Later. Then, we never got the presumed follow up in 28 Months Later. It turns out, in making us wait, Boyle and Garland have been considering ways to do things differently once again. Boy howdy, have they. I have no clue how audiences overall will react to this new installment, which is being presented as the start of a new trilogy, but I’m certainly tickled that this is what they chose to do. Playing it safe? Not in the slightest.
28 Years Later begins one way, but by the end, has gone off in a whole other direction. That might divide audiences, given expectations, but it does lend itself to a fresher feeling than the flick would otherwise have had. Boyle and Garland are following the beat of their own drummer, keeping their own interest level up, which in turn should buoy an adventurous audience member. Come for the blood and gore, to be sure, but stay for the new ideas, as well as the human component, which brings out some real emotional elements by the end.
This is the sort of thing where you want to tread carefully about the plot, so I’ll be a bit vaguer than usual. 28 years after the Rage virus began turning people into hoards of zombies, cities remained quarantined and cut off from society. However, amongst survivors, life goes on. A group on a small island have made themselves a new normal. Connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-fortified causeway, there’s a society. When we meet young Spike (Alfie Williams), his father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is preparing to take him on a mission to the mainland. It’s a right of passage, even though Spike is younger than most boys who go. Leaving his sick mother Isla (Jodie Comer), they venture forth, where Spike gets his first zombie kill, as well as the pair discovering new kinds of infected, as an evolution has taken hold.
When Spike and Jamie return, the former is shaken by his experience and uneasy about his presumed heroism. When events lead him to take his mother to the mainland, in search of help from the mysterious Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), Spike, as well as us the audience, learn just how much has changed in the nearly three decades since life was forever altered by the release of the Rage virus. To say any more would spoil the surprises.
Alfie Williams is our lead here, and gives a solid, if passive performance. Best in show, though only appearing in the third act, is Ralph Fiennes, who has a hell of a character to play. Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson are good, to be sure, but they do feel slightly overqualified for their parts. So does Fiennes, but he’s just such a talent, you don’t really care. Supporting players include Christopher Fulford, Erin Kellyman, Emma Laird, Jack O’Connell, Robert Rhodes, Edvin Ryding, and more.
Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland clearly did not want to just continue what they started, opting to go to some very new places. As always, Boyle is visually experimental, with creative editing choices and interesting cinematography from Anthony Dod Mantle. Garland’s screenplay takes a while to get going, but once it finds its footing, there’s a lot of unusual things happening. Infected evolution feels like a picked over idea, though they find a way to do something unexpected with an aspect of that. There’s a mild incomplete feeling to the story, but they do leave you in a place of being very curious to see what happens next, so there’s that. Plus, the third act is sneakily emotional and touching, despite all of the violence and gore that’s come before.
28 Years Later is a bit more uneven than I’d like, but once it’s humming, you’re more than along for the ride. The best compliment I can give is that I’m now excited for next year’s sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (directed by Nia DaCosta, though Garland penned the script). Assuming that manages to be solid, Boyle and Garland coming back to finish this new trilogy feels like a no-brainer. As long as you’re open to new ideas, this new installment should take you to some very interesting places.
SCORE: ★★★
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