Movie Review: 28 Years Later

In the early years of the new millennium, Academy Award winning director Danny Boyle and Academy Award nominated writer Alex Garland revitalized the zombie film with their now classic movie 28 Days Later. While it wasn’t the first to feature fast zombies, it did catapult the idea into the mainstream and brought about a new wave of horror films and TV series featuring the monsters. Now, the duo has reteamed for sequel 28 Years Later, and once again they are delivering audiences something that is likely different from what they expected.

Taking place in the year 2030, the Rage Virus has been completely contained to the British Isles and any survivors who remain are quarantined within, left to fend for themselves. 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) lives with his father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and ailing mother Isla (Jodie Comer) in a small village on the island of Lindisfarne, which is solely connected to the mainland by a narrow walkway that disappears at high tide. Jamie decides it’s time for Spike to accompany him across it and into the woods to learn how to keep himself safe among the infected, which have mutated to include new varieties over the years. Upon their return Spike is surprised to find himself being celebrated as a hero as a result of his father’s misrepresentation of their journey and is then shocked to see him cheating on his mother. Now looking at his dad in a new light, Spike decides to bring his mother across the walkway in search of a doctor rumored to still be residing there in the hopes he might be able to diagnose and cure her illness.

While the character’s motivations are understandable, they still make some boneheaded decisions that can take the viewer out of the story a little bit, though thankfully the strong performances and striking visuals manage to reel us back in. Taylor-Johnson and Comer are excellent as usual, and Ralph Fiennes leaves a strong impression when he appears, but it’s Williams who really stands out. The young actor is a true find, able to convey deep and sometimes conflicting emotions so well that he commands our attention as he experiences a heartbreaking coming-of-age. I sense that great things lie ahead in his career.

Anyone coming into 28 Years Later expecting more of the same from the franchise may be in for a bit of a shock. There are a few tense zombie encounters and some extremely grisly violence, but that is less the focus this time around. Instead, Garland’s script is more interested in watching Spike begin to take his first steps into a very dangerous world, dealing with mortality, and coming to realize that his parents aren’t necessarily the idealized figures he had always thought them to be. This is a movie that is certainly capable of showing us horrific things, but more than anything it feels deeply sad.

Boyle and his frequent cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle capture some memorably stunning images here, many shot using iPhones. The ultraviolent moments, while comparably rare this time around, leave a mark, lending a lingering tension to the quieter scenes. It’s an unfair world that Spike has been born into and it’s hard not to be affected by his realization of just how true that is. 28 Years Later is not without its flaws, but it’s still one of the more interesting movies of 2025. Using the zombie movie to attempt such an emotionally resonant story is a bold move, and like the heads of an Alpha’s victims, these two talented filmmakers have handily pulled it off. ★★★★