The Plot: The second strain of the Rage virus has evolved and is more resistant to the passage of time. With the virus stamped out in France, Britain remains a no-go quarantine zone while the rest of the world keeps calm and carries on. Survivors are left to fend for themselves in a wasteland of the infected. In the isolated community of Holy Island, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), his unwell wife Isla (Jodie Comer) and their young son Spike (Alfie Williams) are eking out some sort of living. Jamie takes Spike to the mainland for training i.e. dealing with the infected. With no knowledge of the world before the virus, Spike will have to grow up that bit faster…
The Verdict: It’s been a long time coming. Danny Boyle’s 2002 film 28 Days Later was something of a game changer for the horror film. It moved away from the traditional, shambling ‘Romero Zombie’ to introduce the idea of a deadly virus that turns people into turbo-charged rage machines. Not so much a zombie but an infected person who was once human. Looking back on it now through the passage of time, those early scenes of a deserted London are eerily prescient in our post-Covid world. Worthy sequel 28 Weeks Later developed those ideas further and coolly introduced a deadly evolution at work in the second strain of the virus. For a long time, 28 Months Later was mooted… but various factors got in the way. Now Boyle and his screenwriter Alex Garland (himself an accomplished filmmaker) have returned to the well of the infected and moved the story forward further in time due to that passage in filmmaking time.
That significant time jump to 28 Years Later initially seemed like a puzzling one – abandon all hope, ye who enter here as Dante Alighieri put it. However, it makes sense when viewed in the context of the film. Time was the healing factor in the previous films, but that is not the case here. Britain and – surprise – Ireland are now quarantined from the rest of the world (viruses don’t respect borders after all). Time is a curse for those that have been left behind, the humans still alive regressing in time to bows and arrows as their key weapons. A whole generation has grown up in this doomed world, so it’s then an effective move on Garland’s part to shift the focus of the film very much onto the shoulders of its young protagonist Spike. He’s positioned the script as a coming-of-bloody-age story as Spikes heads out to hunt with his father and learn how to survive. They’re not the only humans out there. The infected are also tougher and have more of a survival instinct.
28 Years Later is a film that consistently surprises. After the bombs, helicopters and panicky streets of its predecessor, Boyle has gone back to basics by stripping the characters back to their basics too. There’s no cavalry swooping in to save the day. These characters are on their own in the wilderness, which is a goldmine for both character development and for sanding down Spike’s character arc as it comes full circle. The film is a creation of raw beauty – amidst the killing and savagery there are moments of tenderness and compassion. One might even say a Romero Zombie-style sympathy, but that would be consistent with Boyle’s intention of keeping some level of humanity at work here. Boyle even allows a character – an outsider – use the word ‘zombie’ at one point, but that just illustrates the difference of opinion between an outsider and a survivor. The infected were once us and this is an exciting and perhaps provocative new direction to take the story in, while still keeping them terrifying.
There’s a propulsive drive to the film which revels in the gory moments of which there are plenty, while keeping a sharp focus on what this baptism by blood all means. That’s not to say it’s all doom and gloom. Garland’s script has a dark vein of humour running through it – hats off to a film that compares the rotund oddness of the Teletubbies in one sequence with the rotund oddness of worm-eating infected in a forest later on. The performances are strong throughout, with Ralph Fiennes stealing the show as a man who has gone native in the woods and young Alfie Williams doing a lot of the narrative heavy lifting (he’s more than capable). 28 Years Later is a film of many layers, beautiful compositions (a frantic night-time causeway sequence), interpretations and meanings. It’s infectiously thrilling throughout, with Boyle and Garland working in unison to bring hope to a world where there is no hope. It’s a very solid start to a new trilogy of films, with the second film The Bone Temple already shot and due in January. That long wait has been worth it. Bloody good stuff.
Rating: 4 / 5
Review by Gareth O’Connor
In short: Infectiously thrilling
Directed by Danny Boyle.
Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Alfie Williams, Ralph Fiennes.