"28 Years Later" - The Boldest Zombie Film of All Time

The zombie film is one that has proven itself very difficult to revolutionize. From The Walking Dead to World War Z, or the classics of George A. Romero, there is not much aesthetically or thematically that distinguishes many from being a dime a dozen. Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later from 2002 has since evolved into something of a modern classic, and one of the few examples of revolutionary presentation in the zombie subgenre. Its follow up, 28 Weeks Later received critical acclaim, but failed to reach the same level of love from general audiences. We’re now nearly 20 years out from that film with the most recent release of the franchise, once again helmed by Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, 28 Years Later. I can confidently say that there is not a single area where this film did not surprise me, and it is undoubtedly the strongest of the franchise so far. 

Where the original film opted for an intentionally grainy, grimey, borderline found-footage visual style, 28 Years Later incorporates lush landscapes, deeply saturated colors, and far wider angles. This, in my opinion, serves the film far greater. Many BTS images have gone viral in recent months showing the various iphone rigs that the crew used to create many of the scene-stealing kills in the film, and the way that many of these rigs and set-ups were incorporated into the edit was something I’ve never seen done before. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t get some getting used to in the first act, but once I settled in for it all, I sat back and watched in awe.

I’m still not as entirely sold on the final scene as many seem to be, and there is one sequence about a third of the way through that is so bafflingly ugly and poorly cut together, that it feels as though it was plucked from an entirely different film. But besides those two moments for me, I found every single frame of this film to be oozing with daring direction, camerawork, and editing. 

Phenomenal newcomer, Alfie Williams leads the film as Spike, a 12-year-old boy born and raised on a quarantined island just off the coast of mainland Britain. With a sick mother, played by Jodie Comer, and a well-meaning, but often cruel father played by Aaron Taylor Johnson, Spike spends the course of the film coming of age in the most hellish landscape possible. Garland’s spectacular screenplay uses the coming-of-age feel to his maximum advantage, and comments on fatherhood, toxic households, the inevitability of death, and even fascism in consistently surprising ways.. I’m going to have to see it several more times to get a grip on everything the film is trying to say, and I can already feel that I’ll love it even more each time. This is one of the last films this year that I expected to cry at, but there is a sequence so beautiful leading into the third act, that it almost made me weep in the packed auditorium. 

Ralph Fiennes’ character additionally, is one of the most surprising things in this already deeply surprising film. The few glimpses we’ve seen in the fantastic marketing have left a lasting impression amongst future audiences, and what they wind up doing with him is far better than anything I could have imagined.

The film also has a lot more comedy interwoven in the dread than I anticipated, and it offered some much-needed moments of levity. I expected this film to be dreadful, and sometimes sad, but the lengths that they go to here, once again deeply surprised me. 28 Years Later till somehow manages to be more graphically violent than I ever could've expected.

I’m thrilled at how well this film did at the box office this weekend, all but ensuring a green light on the third film in the now-planned trilogy. Given how visually assaulting a lot of the runtime is, I anticipated far more divisiveness from general audiences. Sure, some small coalitions on TikTok are praying for its downfall, but that happens with any film that takes any creative swings. For every deeply noticeable wart I had with this film, there were at least 10 other things it did that I found deeply, deeply admirable. I’m once again beyond thrilled that it did as well as it did this weekend, and if you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, I highly recommend you check it out in a theater, and a Dolby Cinema if you can. It’s worth the upgrade.