Film Review: Danny Boyle’s ’28 Years Later’

I guess Danny Boyle is ready to make his Lord of the Rings trilogy…with zombies.

Ambitious, kinetic and surprisingly touching, 28 Years Later is a sprawling film that sets us up for the next two movies that he intends to make. As a matter of fact, we meet an entirely new cast of characters right at the very end.

I adore everything Danny has done, and this is one of his most deeply felt works.

Set the Scene

After nearly three decades of the apocalypse, the zombies are still shambling nakedly on the Scottish mainland (their clothes having rotted off ages ago), while living people are surviving on a quarantined island — with boring consistency being their only comfort. Hey — this sounds familiar.

In fact, flash frames give you fleeting glimpses of what is to come — or maybe has already happened . There’s an opening scene with a priest who can’t wait for the monsters to come in and devour him while he screams in bloody, satiatied agony. It sets the tone for the rest of the film.

Let’s Go

Here comes the establishing story. On the secluded island, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), the father of 12-year-old Spike (a superb Alfie Williams) and husband to Isla (Jodie Comer). She seems to be inflicted by a mysterious malady — but it’s not rage. She gets confused and says the same things repeatedly.

Spike loves his parents, but something is not quite right with this family unit.

Off to the Mainland

Today, Jamie has decided it’s time for Spike to earn his stripes. They set off to explore the mainland, even though they’ve been warned that no one will come to rescue them if they get in trouble. It’s just too dangerous.

Evolution, bless its little heart, has transformed the zombies into three species: screaming skinny runners who are easy to kill; disgusting bloated slow-moving crawlers that are almost like slugs; and Alphas, who are the most cognizant. Shoot them multiple times and they come back for more. They almost seem to be unstoppable. When an infected delivers a normal baby, Boyle doesn’t answer the question: “Was she inseminated before of after death?” Nope. She delivers and gets killed and her particular Alpha is super angry. More to come.

When Spike makes his first kill, Jamie is so proud. As he says, “Every time you kill, it gets easier.” But during a celebratory party afterward, Spike accidentally happens upon Dah orally helping himself to a woman’s delicacies. Betrayed, he decides he needs to save Mum. At knifepoint, he tells Dah to piss off.

Spike’s goal is to get Mum to a doctor on the mainland to diagnose her — a mysterious man whose distant bonfire is the only thing that consistently points the way to hope. Ralph Fiennes wins as this character. When you can be weird and compassionate at the same time, you earn your marks.

So nice to see Alex Garland add his coda to the zombies. Maybe some sequences are too familiar, but they’re twistedly touching. Plus he has two more films to expand upon it!

From a cinematic standpoint, Antony Dod Mantle’s widescreen photography is simply breathtaking, especially when an Alpha is chasing our protagonists down a half-flooded causeway. Boyle always loves a good, offbeat score, and Scottish band Young Fathers fit the bill.

I really adore how Danny’s taking it slow. And well he should. There’s four more hours of celluloid to go, I reckon.

Photos courtesy Sony/Columbia Pictures.