28 Years Later (Movie Review)

 

If there ever was a case for why it was important to craft strong, compelling movie trailers, then surely it was made by the one for 28 Years Later. Easily one of the best trailers I've seen in years, it masterfully struck that delicate balance between showing just enough to entice prospective viewers without giving too much away. It evoked in me a sense of dread and tension that immediately had me on the edge of my seat, and it effectively took a film that I was mildly interested in at best and made it one of my most anticipated of the year. But does the movie itself manage to live up to that hype, or did that trailer oversell it?

As the title suggests, the film is set 28 Years after the outbreak of the Rage virus, a zombielike infection that has since been confined to Great Britain. It follows the coming-of-age story of a young boy named Spike (Alfie Williams), who lives with his father (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and mother (Jodie Comer) on the secluded island of Lindisfarne. As a rite of passage, he must accompany his father to the mainland in an effort to hone his hunting skills. But as they quickly grow to discover, the infected have taken on a few new skills of their own. Now they must both struggle to survive against increasingly stacked odds.

Ask any fan of zombie films, and they would most likely cite 28 Days Later as one of the most influential movies of that specific horror subgenre. Not only did the movie introduce concepts like fast, agile zombies, but it also managed to elevate the genre and post-apocalyptic fiction in general, with a story that focused more on character development than cheap thrills or jump scares. And while its sequel, 28 Weeks Later, had opted to take things in a more action-oriented direction, with effects-laden setpieces and no shortage of gory kills, many still consider it a worthwhile follow-up.

So heading into 28 Years Later, I was hoping for something that landed somewhere between those two extremes. And to an extent, that is precisely what the movie delivers. Both Alex Garland and Danny Boyle return to write and direct the film, respectively, so one would expect a certain level of gravitas to the screenplay and direction from filmmakers of their caliber, except the amount of suspension of disbelief required to make sense of certain developments within the story is off the charts. I unfortunately can't get into specifics without going into spoilers, but suffice it to say that this is the one area of the film I felt they kinda dropped the ball.

Thankfully, nearly everything else about the movie is a notch above the standard horror fare or very nearly flawless. The movie is often striking to look at, with the beautiful scenery of its lush, green countryside setting often juxtaposed against the horrors of the infected inhabiting it. Danny Boyle often makes use of surrealist imagery in the movie, creating a dreamscape of light and color that is always mesmerizing, regardless of what is being depicted. One shot in particular that had our two leads being chased by the infected as the aurora borealis blares in the night sky remains seared in my mind even now.

Speaking of the infected, they are as much the stars of this particular enterprise as our would-be heroes, and we get to see just how much they've evolved since the early days of the outbreak. We now have several variants, none of which I would spoil here, and each as deadly as ever. Gorehounds will be pleased to learn that the film never shies away from showing all the gory details. Ever wondered what it would be like to watch a bunch of soldiers get beaten to death with the severed head of one of their comrades? Well, now you know, because that is just one example of the kind of extreme violence on display. 

Admittedly, the herky-jerky editing employed by the film to show that violence did take some getting used to. It calls to mind Danny Boyle's earlier movies like Trainspotting, so fans of that specific style of adrenaline-fueled storytelling will have plenty to love about this one. The film also employed some rather cool tricks with its cinematography, using a grid of smartphone cameras to capture certain shots in an effect akin to the one employed in The Matrix to create its bullet time sequences. The overall result is a movie that demands to be seen on the big screen, assuming you have the stomach for it.

28 Years Later is a glorious gorefest that is just as bloody as it is visually stunning. Its ending does pull a bit of a fast one on viewers, though, which many might find cheap or unsatisfying. I mean, it is one thing for a film to end with a last-minute stinger, like 28 Weeks Later did, but another thing entirely to end on a full-on cliffhanger. I guess we will just have to wait till next year for its sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, to find out what all that is about. But for now, the film we got certainly lived up to all my expectations, and it managed to leave a big smile on this often-jaded moviegoer's face.