Name: 28 Years Later
Rating: 3.5
Author: Sean Kelly

Content Advisory: Death/harm to Child, Excessive or gratuitous violence, Terminal Illness

A member of an island community of survivors takes his son on a coming-of-age journey to the infected British mainland in 28 Years Later. It has been nearly three decades since the Rage Virus placed the entire United Kingdom under strict quarantine. Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is a member of a village of survivors on the island of Lindisfarne, with the only path to the mainland being a causeway accessible at low tide. Jamie is preparing to bring his 12-year-old son Spike (Alfie Williams) to the mainland for the first time to hunt some of the Infected.

While out on this coming-of-age excursion, Spike sees some fires in the distance. Upon return to the village, Spike learns that they belong to Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), a survivor who has apparently gone insane. However, Spike hopes that Dr. Kelson would be able to help his mother, Isla (Jodie Comer), who has been suffering from a mysterious illness. As such, Spike takes Isla and sneaks off with her onto the mainland to find Dr. Kelson.

28 Years Later Synopsis

28 Years Later is a legacy sequel to 2002’s 28 Days Later, featuring the return of director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland. The film arrives 18 years after the first sequel, 28 Weeks Later, which was co-written and directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intruders). However, the cliffhanger ending of 28 Weeks Later, showing the Infected in Paris, is quickly retconned through opening text saying that the Rage virus was driven out of mainland Europe.

Following the opening prologue showing the outbreak of the Rage Virus in the Scottish Highlands from the point of view of a kid named Jimmy (Rocco Haynes), the action moves ahead 28 Years Later to a village of survivors on the island of Lindisfarne. The film’s central protagonist, Spike, played by newcomer Alfie Williams, is preparing to embark on a coming-of-age excursion to the mainland with his father, Jamie, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Bullet Train, The Fall Guy). However, Spike is concerned about the well-being of his mother, Isla, played by Jodie Comer (Free Guy, The Bikeriders), who is bedridden with a mysterious illness. As such, when Spike learns about Dr. Ian Kelson, played by Ralph Fiennes, he ignores his father’s warning and takes Isla to the mainland to find him.

My Thoughts on 28 Years Later

A mix of rights issues and a falling out between director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland can be attributed to the nearly two-decade gap between 28 Weeks Later and 28 Years Later. The gap was so great that they skipped over the more natural third title of 28 Months Later. As was the case with 28 Weeks Later, this new film is a relatively standalone story, taking place in a now fully post-apocalyptic United Kingdom.

The film utilizes the coming-of-age narrative of the first act to explain how the Rage Virus has evolved over the decades. This includes different variants of Infected, such as ones that are fat and slow and the Alphas, who are stronger and more intelligent than the rest. The film also drops hints that the Infected are not as mindless as they are made out to be, echoing the plot of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend.

The majority of the plot of 28 Years Later involves the 12-year-old protagonist, Spike, taking his mother, Isla, to find Dr. Ian Kelson. Along the way, they encounter Swedish NATO soldier Erik Sundqvist (Edvin Ryding), who saves them from an encounter with the Infected. Erik otherwise has no real bearing on the narrative, other than to give expositionary dialogue revealing that the rest of the world has continued normally, as the United Kingdom stays under quarantine.

This leads into my main issue about 28 Years Later. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland seem to be having great difficulty settling into what type of post-apocalyptic narrative they want to tell. So much so that they have decided to make three 28 Years Later films instead of one. The next film, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, directed by Nia DaCosta, was filmed concurrently with this one and is scheduled to come out next year. The third film has yet to be greenlit, but is expected to feature the return of one of the original 28 Days Later characters.

While 28 Years Later does have a little letter of resolution to its story, it also ends by introducing a very jarring new character, who will likely play a big role in the next film. This franchise mentality ultimately ends up hurting 28 Years Later, which already feels quite disconnected from the first two films by replacing composer John Murphy and his haunting and intense piano and guitar-based theme with a new, decidedly less iconic score by Young Fathers, who previously provided music for T2 Trainspotting, another decades-later legacy sequel by Danny Boyle I ended up shrugging off.

Ultimately, 28 Years Later is a fine film, but I am also having a hard time justifying its existence. It’s just too much to expect us to get into a legacy trilogy of films after so many years. Even the fact that 28 Years Later is notoriously shot on iPhones just feels like a gimmick more than anything else.

Trailer for 28 Years Later

Sean Patrick Kelly

Sean Patrick Kelly is a self-described über-geek, who has been an avid film lover for all his life. He graduated from York University in 2010 with an honours B.A. in Cinema and Media Studies and he likes to believe he knows what he’s talking about when he writes about film (despite occasionally going on pointless rants).

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28 Years Later - Bilingual - UHD/BD Combo [Blu-ray]

Academy Award -winning director Danny Boyle (Best Directing, Slumdog Millionaire, 2008) and Academy Award -nominated writer Alex Garland (Best Original Screenplay, Ex Machina, 2015) reunite for 28 Years Later, a terrifying new story set in the world created by 28 Days Later
It’s been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected
One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway
When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well