A dangerous and unvaccinated zombie sequel made by the original filmmakers.
When I reviewed “28 Days Later” in my 2020 article “How to Survive a Virus Flick,” I mentioned how it did get crazy and shaky from time-to-time, but still, director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland both reinvented the zombie genre by making the zombies faster and more vicious. And this movie was daring and original.
If you recall that film, the rage virus began in the U.K. when a group of animal activists were trying to steal some infected chimpanzees from the labs. And if you recall the standalone sequel “28 Weeks Later,” there was a safe zone in London that got destroyed when a father stupidly kissed his infected wife. And I think you know where that leads to.
Now, we have the threequel “28 Years Later,” which reunites Boyle as the director and Garland as the writer, and I must say: they push the franchise further and deliver one of the best sequels this year.
28 years later (I had to say it), we travel to an island whose inhabitants are training to kill the infected, if either they go the mainland or if the infected come to the island. There’s a path that gets blocked during high tide. If you travel there to kill the zombies, you can still come back if you don’t get infected, but you’re on your own when it comes to rescue parties. Nobody can risk that.
We meet a young boy named Spike (Alfie Williams), whose mother Isla (Jodie Comer) is terminally ill and whose father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) takes him to the mainland to kill zombies for the first time. Breaking the rules, the boy takes his mother to the mainland to find her a doctor who could cure her illness. It might be Dr. Alan Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), who is said to have survived the outbreak there.
Some of the zombies look and feel like they need to go on diets (which is a dumb suggestion given their diseases and mental instability), and others look and act like they’re part of a cult with the Alphas being the strongest and fastest. They kill people and animals in more gruesome ways than how I should describe them, which I won’t for the sake of spoilers and your stomachs. And they look like they’re standing aimlessly, but they’re just waiting to strike.
I think we can agree that no “28” movie is for the faint of heart. But for everyone else, “28 Years Later” takes many risks as a sequel in the franchise. It represents a number of family themes in reality like love, loss, and anger, and it even raises some really good questions. For example: If a pregnant zombie gave birth, then would the baby be infected, too? At this point, my guess is probably not, but I’m still cautious.
There’s a lot for the franchise to throw at us, but it’s still an edge-of-your-seat zombie series with the chases and attacks, but it’s also with complexity and emotions. And this zombie franchise is still strong. I’m amazed at the performances by Comer, Williams, Taylor-Johnson, Fiennes, and Edvin Ryding (as a Swedish soldier the mother and son cross paths with). But it’s mostly Comer who gives a devastating and gripping performance. From “Free Guy” to “The Last Duel” to “The Bikerriders,” she has a unique acting ability. And in “28 Years Later,” she exceeds our expectations.
I watched this movie with a group of friends last night, and we all had a good time and were intrigued by the ideas and nature that this sequel unfolds. And I’m told that another sequel with the subtitle “The Bone Temple” has been filmed back-to-back and will come out next year. And Nia DaCosta directs it with Garland still as the writer. So, I guess we have that to look forward to.