Film Review: 28 Years Later

Welcome back to the blog readers. You know by now that I have a love-hate relationship with horror films, and you also know I have gone into every one I have seen with bated breath. Some are good (like Sinners, Final Destination Bloodlines, an Bring Her Back (all 2025)), and some...not so much. With this being one of the key horror films releasing in 2025, would it continue the hot streak we are already on this year? Stick around to find out.

28 Years later was directed by Danny Boyle from a script by Alex Garland, based on characters created by Garland. The film stars Alfie Williams, Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jack O'Connell, and Ralph Fiennes. In the film, set 28 years after the events of 28 Days Later (2002), a hardened survivor and his son trek into the heart of mainland Britain and discover a mutation that spreads not through just the infected, but the survivors as well.

Like I mentioned in the introductory paragraph, I was hoping this film would continue the hot streak we were on in terms of horror films. I have always been hoping I could like horror films because when they are great, they are great. But films like Halloween Ends (2022) (my worst film of 2022) and The Pope's Exorcist (2023) (my second-worst film of 2023) really give the genre a bad name. While I did not think this film was as bad as those films, I certainly had some problems with the film. The story and pacing were big issues for me, but the thrills, music, and performances of Alfie Williams and Jodie Comer were brilliant.

I want to start by talking about the performance of Jodie Comer as mother Isla. Comer is not a well-known actor, but she has been in some significant projects like Killing Eve (2018-22) and last year's The Bikeriders (2024) that she was fantastic in. While she is not the main focus of the first half of the film, she is the emotional throughline for our main character. And when she becomes the main focus in the second half of the film, she is utterly brilliant as the mother to Spike. Her emotional journey throughout this film is one of the better ones of the year, and she really knows how to deliver on said emotion when she needs to. I hope between this and The Bikeriders she starts getting more deep roles like this because I can see a few Oscar nominations in her future.

Speaking of Oscar nominations in their future, Alfie Williams's performance as Spike needs to be discussed. The 14-year old kid's performance experience is limited to only an episode of His Dark Materials (2019-22), so I really doubted he could really grip me emotionally. Thank fuck I was wrong because his performance is my favorite of the year so far. Not just for child actors, but my favorite acting performance of the year so far. Let me preface this again: HE'S FUCKING 14 YEARS OLD. He immediately attracted me to this character (emotionally, you fucking weirdos) and his emotional journey throughout the film, and he is already great at making you feel for Spike. This kid got me emotional near the end of the film. I freaking almost got choked up because of what he was able to do. I am not looking forward to seeing this film's sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026), but I will just to see this kid tear it up again.

I next want to talk about the music of this episode. It would make sense that I never heard of the composers of this film, Scottish progressive hip-hip group Young Fathers. If you told me beforehand that they were hip-hop I would not have believed you at all. I say that because they are masterfully able to blend many different genres like rock, punk, hip-hop, and straight-up orchestral music at points. Their instrumental rendition of "Boots," an old British poem recited by actor Taylor Holmes, near the beginning of the film was haunting as shit and it left me in the feels. I personally think that these guys should get a Best Original Score nomination for this score. And yes, I'm serious.

And the final positive I have with this film is with the thrills I faced when in this film. I would really not go as far as to call this film horror more than I would consider it a drama film. The way Danny Boyle is able to bring tension to every frame of the film is masterful to the highest degree (and his last film was Yesterday (2019)). One particular scene involved a chase down the causeway we see in trailers, and I absolutely felt the tension in this scene. If Nia DaCosta is able to do half of what Boyle did in The Bone Temple, then we have a tense trilogy on our hands. By the way, I would classify this film as a thriller rather than a horror. There was nothing inherently scary about it.

Now I have to talk about the negatives of this film. The first thing I need to talk about has to do with the pacing of the film. For context, this film runs for 1 hour and 55 minutes. But this film really drags by the second half and it can get really frustrating. The uneven story does not help the matter at all (but I will talk about that in the next paragraph). Like I said, Boyle was able to manage tension beautifully in this film, but the pacing is spotty and uneven, and at some points it feels like I am watching two films back-to-back. I think part of the issue is that it really does feel like a first part of a story. The sequel is coming in January, so I am curious to see if it feels more complete in that regard.

And finally, I want to talk about the story of this film. And I do want to preface what I am about to say by saying I believe the story has its good moments and its WTF? moments. One of the good things I want to talk about has to do with the character and the characterization of our real main character in Spike. As a young boy who is trying to make his father proud (but still is a 12-year old boy at the end of the day), Spike is someone who becomes radicalized really quick and learns what people in this world truly are capable of. He then realizes he may be the only person who can save his mother, and learning he cannot is going to really affect him in The Bone Temple. And I also loved the zombie stuff.

But one of the WTF? moments I had involved Jack O'Connell's character Jimmy. We start the film with him losing his entire family as a kid but we literally end the film with a whole cult dedicated to him to do what exactly? Are we really sure this character needed to be added and are we sure it will lead to something substantial in future films? It just feels like after O'Connell killed it in Sinners that he is going to be wasted in a franchise that sounds like it does not need him. At least there was a purpose for Ralph Fiennes' character (he should be an Oscar winner after Conclave (2024) by the way). I am also curious to see how Cillian Murphy's character from 28 Days Later will be introduced.

In conclusion, 28 Years Later is too imbalanced to call it memorable or forgetful, but its strengths are strong and its weaknesses are weak. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.