28 Years Later (2025)
First there was 28 Days Later in 2002, the now classic horror film from director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland. Then, in 2007, there was 28 Weeks Later, made by other filmmakers, and it's pretty terrible. A 28 Months Later was skipped over, and, now, Boyle and Garland return for 28 Years Later, a worthy follow-up to the original movie.
That terrible Rage Virus is still in
full swing with people still getting infected and turning into rabid murderers.
The British Isles are under quarantine, and a small band of survivors have built
themselves a village on an island that is connected to the mainland by a tidal
causeway. As a rite-of-passage,12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) is taken to
the mainland by his father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), to hunt. After barely
making it back to the island alive, Spike gets the idea of returning to the
mainland with his mother, Isla (Jodie Comer)—who suffers from an unknown
illness—to locate a mysterious doctor (Ralph Fiennes) in order to make her
well.
We've seen post-apocalyptic/infected
type movies before, but Garland's script takes surprising turns and ultimately turns
out to be a meditation on death. The movie also has some clever action scenes, such
as one involving the tidal causeway. This film is also gory as hell with
visually arresting freeze-frames of blood and brain splattering kills during
the moment of impact. Young Williams is also excellent and carries the film
well.
28 Years Later is going to be
its own trilogy, with two more chapters coming soon. That sounds exciting,
especially if they are as good as this one.
