Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
A mysterious ‘rage virus’ sweeps through the UK, turning people into flesh eating zombies… 28 years later, a group of survivors lead a peaceful life on an isolated island. A quick intro graphic informs viewers the virus has been successfully eradicated from most of Europe, but the British Isles remains indefinitely under quarantine, still plagued by zombies, and maybe a few survivors. The lsland is also part of the quarantine zone, yet if safe from the zombie infested mainland, however, every now and then, the residents have to go there for supplies or just to train themselves fighting the undead creatures.
Created by Danny Boyle (director) and Alex Garland (writer), the horror drama ’28 Years Later’ focuses on 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams), whose father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) decides to take him on a premature quest to the mainland to secure the boy his first “kill”, a raging zombie. In a nod to Boyle’s 2002 original ’28 Days Later’, the film even includes a brief 28-day jump in the second half, just to flash the older title on screen, an apt nod.
Also Read: 28 Days Later Review – Rage, Run, Hide, Kill
Interestingly, ’28 Years Later’ opens with a flashback to when the rage virus first broke out, centered on a completely different set of characters. The cold open shows a group of children hiding in terror in a room with the TV playing, while infected adults wreak havoc outside. Eventually, all of the kids except one called Jimmy are torn apart by the zombies. The little boy rushes to a church in search of his father, a pastor who makes no attempt to save himself from the infected, accepting the virus as “God’s Plan.” What happens to Jimmy? We don’t know, at least not until the climactic minutes roll in.
Until then, we follow the father-son duo Spike and Jamie, as they head away from their safe island, even though Spike’s ailing mother Isla (Jodie Comer) is against it. On the mainland, Spike faces the wonders of an unending landscape for the first time, but also the horrors of facing the infected. What was supposed to be an easy mission to kill a few stray zombies becomes a tense life-and-death battle. The creators do not hold back at all from the blood, gore, and ghastly violence, so best not eat while watching!
In the second half of ’28 Years Later’, little Spike goes on a daring adventure to find a doctor for his mother, instead of choosing to live within the comforts of his isolated island. There he meets a young foreign soldier called Erik (Edvin Ryding), freshly stranded in the quarantine zone, and an eccentric old man called Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) who seems intimidatingly strange at first sight.
One of the most distracting bits about ’28 Years Later’ is Danny Boyle’s choice to intersperse Spike’s first outing into the mainland with black-and-white footage of young soldiers, backed by an eerie war anthem. On one hand, it does establish an unsettling tone and tries to draw a parallel between a child’s journey and a soldier marching to his death. On the other, it quickly becomes annoying, since as a viewer you want to stay in the present moment, not cut away to random war imagery. Thankfully, this editing choice is used sparingly, because it was becoming gratingly unnecessary.
There are a few subtle nods to the original that fans will catch, including the opening church sequence and some light foreshadowing of a new character who is introduced toward the end. There’s also a sequence of zombie chaos aboard an abandoned train that feels like a quiet nod to ‘Train to Busan’. Well, intentional or not, any zombie carnage on a train is bound to remind fans of the Korean classic.
Overall, ’28 Years Later’ blends survival horror with Spike coming-of-age story, which in the end feels like a live-action adaptation of a side quest from a zombie game. Despite the tension, the grisly infected, and the addition of alpha zombies that arefaster, stronger, and harder to kill, ’28 Years Later’ ends up feeling slightly underwhelming. The climax pushes Spike to the brink of a bigger adventure, but the story cuts off just as things start getting interesting. It seems like the director always intended it as a two-part horror fest.
If you’re a fan of Danny Boyle’s earlier horror work, this is definitely worth a watch.
Watch ’28 Years Later’ on Netflix.
Also Read: The Housemaid Book Versus Film – 12 Differences (Audio Version Below)