28 YEARS later (2024)

Director Danny Boyle returns to the world of his rabid living zombies from 28 Days Later(2002(. The question is was it worth the wait ? It is about a boy named Spike living on an island off the coast of post-apocalyptic Britain. He must journey into the post-apocalyptic mainland to seek treatment for his ailing mother. I feel like most of the film is well shot, well-paced, and well-acted. The downside is that I’ve become rather desensitized to the zombie genre. This is particularly strange to me because the Infected of the film and the 28 Days Later franchise (we don’t talk about 28 Weeks Later,…) are not traditional zombies at all. The infected are essentially just living humans with a rabies-like virus spread through blood. Sure, 28 Years tries to “evolve “ the concept, but instead ends up turning back to zombie tropes we’ve seen before. There are even examples of a type of infected that is slow like a standard zombie despite the fact that Infected famously be able to run. It boggles the mind why this type was included in the first place, when there are fast ones, and new behemoths like “Alphas” are far scarier in my opinion. In an effort to update the setting, writer Alex Garland gives the viewer more of the same. How many times have you seen raiders, isolated settlements, and “a wise and wierd survior ” in a post-apocalyptic film or series? I will tell you the reader this now, the gang’s all here! The acting almost saves the film but not by much. Ralph Fiennes plays a character is great as Dr.Kelson , the aformentioned wise and weird survivor" and is great when he’s on screen. The film suffers because it’s clearly meant to start a trilogy , which I think is a mistake. The next chapter, subtitled The Bone Temple, is out in theaters now and is not doing well. I would've preferred if this franchise was quarantined until it can come up with a standalone story.