Directed By Danny Boyle

Starring – Alfie Williams, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer

The Plot – It’s been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.

Rated R for strong bloody violence, grisly images, graphic nudity, adult language and brief sexuality.

28 YEARS LATER – Official Trailer (HD)

POSITIVES

Not that I hated “28 Weeks Later”, the sequel to Boyle’s “28 Days Later”, but his return here certainly conveys everything missing in that uninvolved installment, with the elements of dread and overwhelming anxiety articulated from one of the game’s most expressive visionaries. Boyle simply directs the hell out of this movie, both in the tensely riveting set pieces, which elicit not only the franchise’s most gruesomely gnarly carnage candy at the audience’s disposal, but also an overwhelming vulnerability factor for our lively protagonists that see them heading back into the wild, against such overwhelming odds of dead zombies who have since grown even more lethally evolved. Because Boyle is a stylistic-auteur of a director first, we’re treated to more of those unorthodox style choices within the presentation that made the original film flourish with frenetic chaos, this time with nearly the entirety of the film being shot with an iPhone, which gives the visuals such a grainy grittiness in color contrast and texture that truly sets itself apart stylistically from any other movie currently in the public eye. Boyle’s adaptability with a mobile lens conjure these freshly innovative death scenes that seemingly inscribe punctuation to penetration so suddenly sporadic that it requires magnifying emphasis in every crushing blow, alongside 360 panning in and around characters that offers a different perspective towards physical conflicts that are typically depicted one-sided. Speaking of different perspectives, the return of screenwriter Alex Garland is just as integral to the movie’s foundation as Boyle’s, with a level of ambitiousness and fearlessness within this movie’s script that is sure to alienate certain audiences seeking one distinct product from a bit of a manipulative marketing scheme. This is not to say that the film doesn’t flourish with aforementioned zombie influence, because it definitely does, it’s just that Garland inspires a thoroughness to world-building and philosophical impulses among his talking points that forces the audience to ask some meaningful questions pertaining to everything from the inevitability of death, to what it truly means to live, and it unloads a thinking man’s zombie film that I truly didn’t expect, even from one of cinema’s most intelligent writers. This is realized through the tender dynamic of a suffering mother and her protecting son, and while the bond is ultimately cemented by the mesmerizing performances of Williams and Comer’s affectionately warm and glowing chemistry, it’s made all the more impactful in the echoing parallels between her crippling condition and the zombie epidemic surrounding them, which cleverly puts their anxieties into perspective while tapping into the universe’s bigger picture. Aside from this, Garland’s world-building in the 28 years that have followed this story is impeccably rich and blessed with complexly layered characters that I spent so much enjoyment living alongside, particularly in the realistic aspect with quarantining the original location of the epidemic, as well as life goes on ideal that still perseveres within these survivors. Because zombie epidemics thankfully aren’t a part of our real world, at least not yet, there’s no precedent for what the world would do under such dire circumstances, but the village depicted in this film feels closest to the ideals, traditions, and resourceful plotting of its people, with the characterization towards the film’s closest protagonists given so much time and focus to flesh out their respective psychologies. This leads the performances to endless opportunities within the talented ensemble, with Williams and Comer commanding the strongest brand of lived-in authenticity in the approach to their portrayals. In a day and age full of precocious child turns, it might feel premature to label Alfie Williams as the next big thing, but his emotional dexterity is quite remarkable for a twelve-year-old, made all the more noble by the ways the script articulates his coming-of-age, despite not deliberately focusing on it. Coming in a close second to the movie’s benefit, Comer continues to shine with her most vulnerably perplexing role to date as a suffering mother attempting to keep what pieces she has left of her diminishing life. Comer’s strength coherently rides in the blankness and confusion that she conquers throughout so many heart-shattering interactions with her boy, occasionally deviating to articulate Comer’s gentility and sincerity, in order to give us insight into the woman she was before this mysterious illness began to take shape.

NEGATIVES

Coming into “28 Years Later”, I expected it to be the final piece of an original trilogy twenty-three years in the making, but instead found myself surprised that it’s the first piece of a new trilogy that Boyle is developing (Second film has already been shot in its entirety), and where that unfortunately ails the newest installment is in the lack of satisfying resolution with so many arcs and characters, which leaves it feeling like an advertisement for future installments. We’ve seen it plenty of times with movies that either split one film into two halves, or fully realized franchises meant to span out contextual answers in satisfying moderation, when it’s not completely wasting “Sinners” Jack O’Connell in a cameo portrayal, but Boyle’s film here almost forgets entirely to leave audiences riveted by the closing moments, leading to one of the worst and most spontaneously ridiculous endings that I have experienced in quite sometime, which completely desecrated the integrity and consistency of the tone that he took nearly two hours to perfect. The sequence that plays out during the film’s closing moments is not only so ridiculous in concept that it doesn’t fit properly into this world, but also satirically spoofs everything that Boyle and Garland has cleverly built for themselves in deconstructing typically bland zombie films, giving me not even an inkling of interests towards the next film, if this is more of what we can expect. Beyond a super shitty ending, the movie’s editing schemes sacrifice the sanctity of so many spectacularly shot sequences and breathtaking scenery, where Boyle’s indulgence for overzealous presentation lead to some of the most arduously distracting sequencing that seemingly compromises clarity and coherence every single time. If the action is left to flourish on its own merits of impactful blows and tangible trauma in the practical side of its special effects, then the sequences would effortlessly maintain the audience’s vested interests, but they’re complicated and convoluted in such a way that makes it difficult to discern just what we’re seeing with ratcheted cutting and pasting, creating an ocular chore for the senses that grows all the more nauseating in a theater with the biggest screen conceivable. As for those aforementioned special effects, the torn limbs and bodily contortions are enacted brilliantly enough to the movie’s devices, but when the film opts for computer generation of the most obvious variety, it takes the focus away from a sequence where it rightfully should be, made worse by the decision to shoot the film with an iPhone, which definitely isn’t up to the standards of capturing realism among artificial properties quite yet. I say this because there are breathtaking scenes involving the Scottish hillsides that flourish with colorful exuberance, and then there are artificial backdrops and legions of animals that transpire greenscreen effects in a studio far away from the setting, taking naturalism entirely out of the environment in the most obviously demeaning kind of ways, which feel far from the confines of the established gritty consistency that drive Boyle’s one-of-a-kind visionary impulses. Finally, there were some occasionally stupid choices with the characters that made it necessary for the resolutions of the scene to materialize in a springing jump scare, and though I didn’t necessarily have an issue with the scares in this instance, the telegraphing of the sequences made it easy to spot what would eventually surmise from miles away. Such an example pertains to one character in the wild who is shouting frantically at another character, while strangely walking backwards away from them, all in the needs to make him a lunch for some hungry zombie, and it’s a sequence that never would’ve happened if this character stayed directly in place while holding all of the power cards. If this was the lone instance in the film where impeccable timing and placement carried over, then I could’ve easily forgiven it, however it’s one of the three examples that I can remember, directly off of the top of my head, and it telegraphs the jump scares all the more emphatically when characters are making unnatural moves to enact them, resulting in some of the more obvious gags for an original installment to the franchise that thrived on the element of surprise.

OVERALL
“28 Years Later” does take a bite out of genre conventions, with its brand of thorough world-building and stirring philosophical commentary that asks some pretty meaningful questions for a zombie sequel, but it’s ultimately and unfortunately a grave distance from its game-changing predecessor, feeling like a noticeable disappointment for a film twenty-three years in the making. While the performances, direction, and writing all equally contribute to a sturdy foundation, a strangely surreal ending nearly destroys all of the progress from nearly two hours of captivating storytelling, taking with it a carnage-hungry audience who inevitably won’t be as excited for the next two promised installments.

My Grade: 6.8 or C+