“28 Days Later” reinvented the zombie apocalypse for audiences in a new and terrifying way with the Rage Virus. “28 Weeks Later” attempted to be worth anyone’s time but failed to meet expectations.
Now 23 years later, director/writer duo Danny Boyle and Alex Garland have reunited to bring audiences “28 Years Later,” the first of three sequels set to continue the story of the outbreak, which proves itself as a worthy sequel.
The film follows a traditional hero’s journey as Spike (Alfie Williams) and his father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) leave their community’s island separated from the mainland to introduce Spike to the world of the Quarantine Zone, now pushed back around all of Britain.
After learning of Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) out on the mainland, Spike goes against his father’s wishes and seeks out the doctor in hopes of curing his mother, Isla (Jodie Comer), of an unknown illness that keeps her bedridden, confused and weak the majority of the time.
Watching trailers leading up to the film’s release, I was under the impression that the film would mostly revolve around Taylor-Johnson’s character.
That wasn’t the case.
I was thoroughly surprised to find that Williams was the actual lead of the film and does an incredible job in his role.
Williams has great emotional chemistry with all of those he interacts with to the point where you aren’t feeling like it’s fabricated, but rather you’re in the room with them.
That type of talent is rare, especially for child actors.
Having Williams be the lead effectively pushes Taylor-Johnson and Comer into the supporting roles, both of which do a great job.
They don’t have much chemistry with each other, but they don’t need to as their lack of chemistry is part of the first act’s plot.
I do wish we got more of Taylor-Johnson as he doesn’t appear much beyond the film’s first act, but we get the bare minimum needed for the story to flow properly.
Fiennes’ role doesn’t really appear on-screen until the third act, but he kills it in his role as always. You can tell from the moment he appears that he is fully immersed in his role and is genuinely enjoying it, a common thread among all the actors within the film.
The good chemistry between all the characters eventually culminates in an emotional moment during the third act.
I wasn’t personally moved by the emotional moment, but all the elements for it to move the audience are present and done well, so results among the audience will likely vary.
One of my favorite parts of “28 Years Later” is how it acts more like a sequel to “28 Days Later” than “28 Weeks Later” as the characters have good chemistry and a reason for the audience to care about them.
The environments characters interact with are primarily practical and feel just as real as they did in the original film, if not more so thanks to modern filmmaking technology and techniques.
Yes, that includes the iPhone rigs and drones used to film what Boyle previously described as “a poor man’s bullet time” that would give 180-degree views of graphic Infected deaths via arrows.
It also includes the camera finally slowing down enough in chaotic moments for the audience to grasp what’s happening while still having frantic cuts that add to the chaos.
The camera not slowing down enough was my biggest complaint with “28 Days Later” and one of the many complaints with “28 Weeks Later,” so it’s nice to see it finally fixed here.
Regarding the Infected, they’ve evolved to form a hierarchy among themselves led by Alphas, which are more intelligent, faster and stronger Infected that serve as the main antagonistic force spread throughout the film.
Seeing this evolution makes the world feel much more alive and detailed, leading to my attention being kept for the entire runtime.
For example, early in the first act, when Spike and Jamie are traveling through the woods there is a needle drop of Rudyard Kipling’s poem “Boots” being recited by Taylor Holmes in 1915 overlayed with eerie theme music.
This needle drop and shots of the duo walking are intercut with shots of the British Empire, maps of the Quarantine Zone and red-filtered scenes showing events from the Infected’s perspective.
What keeps you on your toes during this montage is the fact that you have no idea where the Infected are. For all you know, they could be behind the bush on the left of the screen or in the trees just out of frame, adding onto the horror of the film.
Despite my attention being kept throughout the runtime, there are certainly slow moments within “28 Years Later” that do drag the pacing down a tad.
The slow moments are usually led by intercut scenes that are disconnected from everything else or scenes that genuinely just feel slow as they don’t have any build-up to them or for something else.
Some scenes are purely just for setting up the second installment in this sequel trilogy that simply don’t work well here.
The ending is a big one as it nicely resolves itself, prompts a good cut-to-black ending shot, and then ignores it to set up the sequel.
It’s nothing detrimental to the film itself when compared to the slow moments Jamie being a tad underutilized, but it’s still worth pointing out.
“28 Years Later” learns a lot from the past two films by taking the best parts of “28 Days Later” and doubling down on them while fixing some of the mistakes made in “28 Weeks Later.”
The story serves as a classic hero’s journey in the Quarantine Zone that keeps audiences engaged through both the chaotic and slow moments.
While “28 Years Later” does misstep in some places, it’s still a worthy sequel.
Rating: 3.5/5
