28 Years Later
Released July 1, 2025
Directed by Danny Boyle
Written by Alex Garland
* No Spoilers *
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland are back together to continue their tense, chaotic, and revolutionary post-apocalyptic series. Returning with the signature grungy, gritty, and extremely varied directorial style but elevating it with a sentimental and surprisingly deep family drama. The zombie-apocalyptic-horror genre is prone to cliché, but 28 Years transcends these tropes to tell a beautiful, powerful, harrowing, and extremely tense story that’s far more cohesive than its predecessors.
The focus is on the interconnected and ever-changing relationships between members of a family unit. There is so much excellent character development, and the dynamics shift as character choices reverberate through the narrative with real consequence. Though there is no shortage of tense and terrifying action, there are points where it really slows down, becoming deeply contemplative, philosophical, and sentimental. Touching on the idea of death and its inevitability, and how we cherish compassion and love in the face of that death. These moments of sublime beauty contrast the macabre and violent world.
This is mirrored in the cinematography as well, which I was shocked to learn was primarily shot on an iPhone 15 Pro Max. The series is known for its rough and chaotic camera work, especially when the infected are on screen, and It’s as unnerving as ever. Full of extreme close-ups on gritted teeth and off-kilter views of bloody, contorted bodies. It’s perfectly in line with the first film but also adding new techniques to the toolbox. My favourite addition was a janky twitch any time there’s a kill shot. The camera does a brief, bullet-time-like turn, almost teleporting, to emphasize the impact of each blow. It draws a lot of attention to itself but is so creative.
There’s a lot of grotesquery and gore, but it’s juxtaposed by the gorgeous wide shots of the countryside or even the beautifully lit interiors. One scene shows a character silhouette over a massive sunrise during a pivotal moment, it’s stunning and an emotional gut punch at the same time. That contrast between the grotesque and beautiful is a powerful mirror to the story’s major themes.
The sound design is fantastic, with no shortage of growls, hisses, and rumbles. I also loved the stylistic choices for the music with an off-key electronic fuzz persisting through the score. Keeping the lifeblood of a 28 movie we’re treated to the return of John Murphy’s In the House – In a Heartbeat from the previous movies.
The performances are superb. 13 year old Alfie Williams as Spike really stands out, with a complex and subtle performance, well beyond his years. Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Bullet Train), despite his fame, gets lost in the character, and Ralph Fiennes (Conclave) delivers as both wise and peculiar. Jodie Comer (The Bikeriders) has the most impactful performance, it’s layered and complex, portraying pain and vulnerability with an unpredictable edge.
Director Danny Boyle is a genius, delivering a variety of styles without sacrificing the cohesiveness of the film. You’re getting the janky zoom-ins and chaotic hysteria of the infected, with the contemplative, philosophical moments for the family. This is a textured abstract plaster sculpture mashed together with a renaissance painting, but somehow it works. I loved the intercut found footage layered terrifyingly over the recitation of “Boots” by Rudyard Kipling, it distills and diffuses so much meaning by foreshadowing the journey of the young Spike as well as the greater themes.
This has so much of Boyle’s signature style but is unlike anything you’ve seen before, even the other 28 movies. It’s masterful and so unique, varied, and experimental, blowing the bland, boring, and safe direction of most movies out of the water. This is the creativity I yearn for in movies.
9.25/10 - One of the best movies of this year and one of the best pieces of zombie fiction I’ve ever seen. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland hit it out of the park with an impactful, intense, and refreshing cinematic experience.
— The ending gets kind of odd, but I think it earns the right to be just a little silly.
A spoiler-free review of the character-driven drama Marvel’s First Family has always deserved.