28 Years Later (2025)

 

28 Years Later (2025)

 

5/10

Starring

Jodie Comer

Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Jack O’Connell

Alfie Williams

 

Directed by Danny Boyle

 

The main issue I have with this movie is how it struggles to balance the sadness written into it, which drives the character Spike, with the gore and horror you’d expect in movies like this. Since this is meant to be the first part of a two-parter, I guess it was a way to end the sad part of the series before shifting focus to other aspects.

I also don't like the introduction of another kind of zombie called Alpha. It seems there are many of them, and they lead packs of zombies. My issue with this is the idea of adding some kind of organization and family dynamics to creatures that are supposed to be on a mindless rampage, eating everything in sight.

That said, everything else in the movie like the acting and the story itself, is not that bad. The production brings together Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, who worked on the first movie, which was released back in 2002. I remember watching that with my sister. There, we had Cillian Murphy waking up from a coma to discover that the world had changed. A highly contagious, aggression-inducing virus had ravaged almost everyone. The first thought that crossed my mind was, is he the only human left?

This new movie continues the story from the first and second films in the series. It starts with the virus being contained to areas like the British Isles. There's a community of people who stay away from the infected on the Mainland. During the coming-of-age rituals for young boys, they're taken to the Mainland to hunt the infected, get their first kill, and be prepared for whatever's coming.

The boy going on his first kill is a young boy named Spike, whose mother is terminally ill. After they return, Spike discovers that his father knows of a doctor on the Mainland but refuses to go see him. Spike, fearing for his mother’s failing health, creates a diversion and escapes to the Mainland to find this doctor.

This is where the movie also loses me. Spike barely made it back from the first trip to the Mainland. In fact, his actions on that visit should have made him think twice about going again. But I’m supposed to believe the feeling of his father’s betrayal was strong enough for him to risk the journey again and drag his ill mother along to a place he’s only been once, that’s crawling with infected zombies and Alphas.

Anyway, the movie is very watchable if you're into this kind of horror. I still find the whole Alpha concept, with its organized, family-style dynamic — annoying and off-putting. But if you can overlook that, you can enjoy the film.