Jonah Naplan June 21, 2025
“28 Years Later” is a smart, compelling thriller that’s a zombie apocalypse movie until it isn’t anymore. It doesn’t behave like most of the other “legacyquels” I’ve seen, and has more in common with the “Predator” franchise, which famously invented a new set of characters and locations in each movie and the only consistency among them was the presence of an extra-terrestrial “Predator” that played as the vicious antagonist, than with modern reimaginings of well-known IPs such as “Karate Kid: Legends” or “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”
Danny Boyle, who directed the original British “28 Days Later,” and stepped down to an executive producer role for “28 Weeks Later,” returns to direct this one, alongside co-writer Alex Garland (“Ex Machina,” “Annihilation,” “Civil War”), and the result is perhaps the least “horror”-oriented movie of the trilogy, one that plays around with the zombie schtick for a little bit but ultimately becomes a topical commentary on the fragility of life and the often beautiful inevitability of death, and how we as a society view both of them, by the end. These themes are illustrated through a few fantastic performances that reach the kind of gravitas we don’t normally see in a genre movie like this and a ravishing production design and cinematography from Anthony Dod Mantle that brilliantly captures a dilapidated but thriving community of survivors.
After a cold open that shows one of the early days of the spread of the Rage Virus, “28 Years Later” jumps forward, well, 28 years, to tell a coming-of-age tale of a young boy named Spike (newcomer Alfie Williams) who lives with his tough father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and bedridden mother Isla (Jodie Comer). Boyle changes locations from the heart of metropolitan London to a rural Scottish isle called Holy Island, a society that has secluded itself from and adapted to the apocalypse over the years and has created a semi-religious, semi-agriculture-based utopia with strict “safe zones” and areas citizens aren’t allowed to cross into. At the ripe age of 12, Spike’s dad takes him beyond the gates for his first hunt, a village ritual that most boys don’t embark on until they’re at least a few years older. Standing between the island and the mainland is a causeway that’s only visible and safe for traveling on while the tide is low enough, and one of the best sequences of the movie is Spike and Jamie’s return to the island along this bridge as they’re chased by a ferocious zombie.
On Spike’s first outing alone, he’s exposed to a whole variety of “infected” types, which the movie takes a near-“Zombieland” approach to, giving them different names and classifications depending on body shape, behavior, and physical activity. He kills his first zombie with a bow and arrow and ends up running from quite a few others, seeing the horrors of a catastrophe that began long before he was born with his own two eyes. What initially begins as a father-son story soon turns into a mother-son one, though, when Jamie and Spike return home to find Isla in worse condition than they’d left her. Frustrated and not believing his father that the one doctor who could cure his mother is a total madman not worth reckoning with, Spike defies community protocol and takes his mother beyond the gates to find the one man who could offer their family hope, if there’s even any left.
And so ensues the real meat of Boyle and Garland’s script which is, at times, overly intentional with its heartstring-pulling and nearly becomes too over-the-top with its pathos firehose. What saves it is two astounding performances from Comer and Williams, both of whom are incredibly subtle in the ways they communicate their grief and despair. The former has perhaps the hardest role to play in the whole movie. She’s banished to a bed for the first half, and has difficulty moving or speaking full sentences for the second. She’s not much empowered as a character and has to be cared for during the entire movie, but Comer manages it well. She’s the most memorable emotional device in a movie that has many of them. On the other hand, Williams is simply remarkable in a star-making performance that completely feigns cuteness unlike so many of his fellow child actors. He handles some of the movie’s most mature themes strikingly well, using key film acting tricks to convey emotion that even some of the fully-grown adults in the industry haven’t seemed to master yet.
The duo soon becomes a trio after they’re saved from a zombie attack by a Swedish soldier named Erik (Edvin Ryding), who mainly acts as a plot device to communicate one of the movie’s central themes about seizing your moment and doing what makes you happy before our time runs out. His wonder at Spike’s odd relationship with his mother makes for the movie’s funniest scene. Eventually they track down Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) who is, indeed, quite quirky, but there’s a method to his madness that’s endearing and ultimately heartbreaking. Seeing the wise Fiennes speak to the curious Williams is the film’s highlight. Not often do we get to watch a legendary actor and a soon-to-be legend fizz and bang off each other in this way.
And yet, for all the things “28 Years Later” does well, there’s a lot here that feels underdeveloped. But that can partially be excused because we know that a sequel, “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” is arriving in January, directed by Nia DaCosta, who made an excellent “Candyman” remake and will surely do great work here, too. The ending of the movie is bizarre along these lines, and feels like a teaser for what’s to come rather than a part of this narrative. I’m hopeful and interested to see what more Boyle can do with these characters, despite concerns that the story, similar to “The Hobbit” franchise, will eventually wear thin. There’s more to explore in Johnson’s character, who disappears for the last hour of the movie, and certainly more to develop in Spike, who Boyle seems to be building up as a badass franchise protagonist who will grow tougher and tougher as he gains experience over the next few movies.
“28 Years Later” feels very much so like a natural progression from “Days” and “Weeks” while still being entirely a thing of its own. It’s the strongest of the trilogy in many aspects, certainly emotion-wise, even though it takes a good moment to find its footing. But once it finds where it’s headed, it’s a rewarding experience, like killing your first zombie.
Now playing in theaters.