28 Years Later

Although 28 Days Later isn’t technically a zombie movie (the monsters aren’t revivified corpses, but people infected with the “Rage Virus”), it’s safe to say that after George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead series, it’s likely the second most influential zombie movie. Purists decried it for the inclusion of “fast zombies,” but overall, the film was heralded as an instant classic, and it’s remained so. The sequel, 28 Weeks Later, received a more mixed reception, but I believe that film was quite entertaining if not as groundbreaking and is underrated. This leads us to the current release, 28 Years Later, which is very different from its two predecessors. This has disappointed some people who were looking for the exact same content, but I think it’s interesting and well made. It’s also supposedly the beginning of a trilogy and is left deliberately open-ended, which makes it more difficult to rate without seeing the other two films.

Twenty-eight years after the second outbreak of the Rage Virus, the British Isles have been quarantined after the virus has been eradicated in Europe. 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) and his parents live in a community on the island of Lindisfarne, which is connected to the mainland by a fortified causeway. Spike is excited because his father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), is taking him out on the mainland to get his first “infected” kill as a rite of manhood. His mother, Isla (Jodie Comer), is bedridden and sick with an unknown illness, and she doesn’t want Spike to go. Jamie takes Spike anyway, and what Spike sees on that trip and immediately after changes his life and the life of his family.

Williams, in his first major film role, is outstanding as the forthright Spike, sympathetic and frightened and brave all at once. Taylor-Johnson is very good, convincing as the imperfect Jamie, a man who loves his son but whose judgement is sometimes questionable. Comer continues to impress me with the range of her acting talents, and she adds another brilliant performance as the suffering but not beaten Isla. A section of the story in which she confuses Spike with her beloved dead father, regressing somewhat to her childhood, is especially poignant. Finally, Ralph Fiennes is quiet and quirky as Dr. Kelson, adding a certain gravitas by his very presence.

Danny Boyle’s direction unfortunately seems somewhat like he’s repeating his style from 28 Days Later – all fast cuts and loud music cues – but what was fresh in 2002 feels less so now. His use of editing in old footage of English archers (including from a Laurence Olivier Shakespeare film) to stress how the Britain in this story has returned to medieval society is heavy-handed and extraneous. There are a couple of successfully suspenseful sequences, specifically an urgent chase along the causeway, but a lot of the action stuff is familiar. Thankfully, the movie works regardless, largely due to the terrific performances and Alex Garland’s intelligent and unexpected script.

The main change from the previous two films in the series is that almost three decades have passed. The survivors have communities and traditions. Spike has never known any other kind of life, as shown by humorous scenes in which he has no frame of reference for cell phones or other such “modern” things that still exist in everyday Europe. Huge herds of deer roam the mainland as nature reclaims its place. Garland’s twist on the formula is that 28 Years Later is largely a character study of someone in this vastly altered world, a 12-year-old boy whose mother is very sick and needs help. 

Another surprising focus of Garland’s writing is the emphasis on the fact that the “zombies” in the story are actually infected people. They’re sick, they’re violent, but they’re still people. To drive that home, one character in the film creates a giant memento mori as a tribute to all of the dead, infected and uninfected alike. Although there is certainly action and plentiful gore in this movie (some of it is kind of over the top), at its core it’s a thoughtful character piece about a person in a world gone tragically wrong. 

The conclusion of the movie has created some discussion, because although one specific story ends, there isn’t a real sense of closure. In fact, the sequel film was shot concurrently and will be released in January of next year. It will continue the larger storyline, and word is that there will be a third film down the line to conclude this new trilogy. Without going into spoiler territory, some new characters are introduced in the film’s last scene in a style so different than the rest of the picture that some audience members found it jarring. I found it amusing, but I don’t know why they all are wearing hairstyles like the disgraced British tv personality Jimmy Savile. Also I’m not sure why all the infected are naked now, but that is neither here nor there.

One of the great things about the horror genre is that it has room for crowd-pleasing big-budget entertainments such as Final Destination Bloodlines and outliers such as 28 Years Later. There’s something for everyone. I liked and would recommend this film, and I’m very curious to see where the story goes in the second movie next year.