28 Years Later Movie Review

28 Years Later (2025)

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Written by: Alex Garland
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Starring: Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, Alfie Williams
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
When a rage virus survivor leaves his small island on a mission into the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors.

Verdict
It's an interesting premise that becomes a mash up of different ideas. I was hoping the conclusion would pull this together, but it only undermines whatever the goal might be. It's a journey into the unknown that's never as scary as it should be. This is a boy growing up and seeing his father differently. The movie is also some strange monument to the dead. I could never escape the feeling that the movie writes rules and situations that serve the plot when convenient. This tries to do several things but none of it is effective.
It depends.

Review
Spike (Alfie Williams), his father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and mother Isla (Jodie Comer) live on a self sufficient island fort, connected by a causeway to the mainland that's only accessible during low tide. Each boy must venture to the mainland, a coming of age ceremony. Jamie accompanies Spike on his first hunt on the mainland in the hopes of killing an infected and marking his ascension into adulthood.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Jamie

Upon exiting the fort we see a juxtaposition of images depicting battles and wars that add to the intensity and confusion. It signifies the new fight between survivors and infected. Spike notches his first kill quite easily though this does a great job being unsettling with these quick cutaways, night vision shots of the infected, and jerky camera movements. The movie introduces alpha infected that at times seem like full fledged giants and other times just quite tall infected. That generates the question of how alphas exist. Do kids that are turned continue to grow? Can the infected reproduce?

Spike and Jamie encounter a mob and must hide out before finally making a break for the causeway. An alpha spots them and chases them along the causeway. It's an intense scene as we wonder if they'll make it.

Spike is venerated as a hero, but he doesn't like how Jamie embellishes their adventure. That in conjunction with his mother's mental suffering and the newfound knowledge that a doctor lives on the mainland causes Spike to formulate an ill advised plan to return to the mainland. He barely made it back and that was with his father who is a warrior. Spike isn't the same level, but he's desperate to find the doctor and see if Isla can be helped.

Ralph Fiennes, Alfie Williams play Kilson, Spike

As dangerous as the situation seemed with Spike and Jamie, Spike's trek with Isla is almost uneventful. I'm surprised at how few infected they see. They encounter an infected woman that gives birth to a non-infected baby. I just don't see how that's possible. This seems to play fast and loose with rules and logic. The infected have never seem cogent enough to reproduce. Isla takes the baby which seems like a wholly unnecessary plot addition. They find Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) who is certainly unique if not outright crazy yet somehow he's survived. He's created a monument to the dead.

This boils down to a coming of age movie set in the apocalypse. Spike has much too easy of a time getting to the doctor. Then, the conclusion is completely unsatisfying. Spike plans to wander the mainland. How will he get supplies or make arrows? It seems like the movie tries to make something out of nothing. Then it becomes more odd. Spike encounters track suite wearing ninjas. It seems like it's out of a different movie, some kind of parody, and it connects this character to scenes at the beginning of the movie.

The 28 franchise has always featured a bleak, if not hopeless world. With this island fort, we see a community that's managed to thrive only to throw caution to the wind by actively hunting for the infected on the mainland. Spike's plight to save his mom stretches credibility due to the lack of danger and encounters, and all the movie can give us to tie the events together are track suit wearing fighters. It's just not enough.