PLOT: Twenty-eight years after the Rage virus escaped from a medical analysis laboratory, the UK has been decimated and fully faraway from civilization. But, small pockets of humanity have discovered to adapt and dwell among the many contaminated. When a younger survivor, Spike (Alfie Williams), journeys to the mainland for the primary time, he believes he might have found a technique to save his mom, who’s been stricken with a mysterious sickness. This leads him to depart the protection of his village in a Hail Mary try to get her some assist.
REVIEW: I lately rewatched 28 Days Later, and it’s not a stretch to say that—much more than George A. Romero’s traditional Lifeless trilogy—it instantly led to the superb resurgence in zombie content material we’ve seen during the last twenty years. With out 28 Days Later, there’s no approach AMC would have greenlit The Strolling Lifeless, and it’s lengthy been the barometer by which trendy zombie motion pictures are measured, even when the movie itself most popular the time period “infected.” But, a correct sequel has been a very long time coming, with many having forgotten 28 Weeks Later, which—regardless of being a fairly stable effort—lacked Alex Garland’s scripting and Danny Boyle’s powerhouse path.
Each are arguably much more on a roll now than they have been again then, with Garland a effective director in his personal proper and Boyle now an Oscar winner. As such, this can be a rather more bold movie than the unique, designed to kick off a trilogy that tackles how society may rebuild itself a long time after such a catastrophic occasion.
That’s a compelling hook for a sequel, as a number of of the characters we comply with right here have by no means even recognized a world with out the contaminated, akin to our hero, Spike, performed by Alfie Williams. A twelve-year-old, his father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is a scavenger who’s develop into a pacesetter of their village, and Spike is raring to start out incomes his preserve alongside the dad he idolizes. Over the course of the movie, we comply with Spike’s journey from a considerably sheltered little one to a younger man compelled to return of age far too quickly, as he begins to be taught the reality in regards to the world he was born into and the way he’ll must navigate it.
A lot of the film revolves round his relationship with three adults: his father; his half-crazed (however loving) mom Isla (Jodie Comer), who’s ailing and presumably dying; and Ralph Fiennes’s mysterious Kelson, a survivor who’s chosen a lifetime of solitude among the many contaminated. All three actors are very good, however that is Williams’s movie, and he delivers a uncooked, gritty efficiency that avoids cliché.
Technically, the film is notable in the way it marries an unusually epic search for the franchise (it’s shot in 2.76:1 widescreen) with the grittier digital really feel of the unique (which has been problematic within the days of 4K). It was filmed utilizing difficult rigs that allowed iPhone cameras for use to nice impact. The outcome feels each actual and elevated. The movie additionally boasts a terrific soundtrack by Younger Fathers, although the absence of the traditional John Murphy theme takes a little bit of getting used to.
Nonetheless, I discovered myself considerably deflated by the film—and it’s an identical difficulty I had with the primary. In each 28 Days and 28 Years Later, Boyle and Garland masterfully evoke the world of the contaminated. Their first acts are at all times so robust that they wrestle to keep up that vitality as soon as the story turns into extra contemplative and fewer propulsive. This movie, specifically, has an unbelievable first act, following Spike and his father as they develop into trapped on the mainland after darkish and are stalked by the contaminated. Every little thing that follows doesn’t fairly dwell as much as that opening, very like how 28 Days Later slowed to a crawl as soon as the villainous troopers entered the image. Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s character is particularly short-shifted, with it feeling like his arc was prematurely deserted, even when there’s maybe extra to return from him.
It additionally suffers from a well-recognized drawback with movies shot back-to-back: it ends on an enormous cliffhanger, which makes it really feel incomplete and fewer satisfying as a standalone film. Nonetheless, the flip facet is that after the remaining movies are launched, they might work higher as a cohesive trilogy.
Even so, I had fun with 28 Years Later, with Johnson, Comer, and particularly Fiennes delivering nuanced performances—although, once more, Williams is the true star. I’ll undoubtedly be watching 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple when it comes out subsequent yr.
