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28 Years Later film review: Breathtaking camera work is backed by a cracking script and top performances

28 Years Later film review: Breathtaking camera work is backed by a cracking script and top performances

The Sun18-06-2025
28 YEARS LATER
15, 115mins
★★★★★
ZOMBIE films can be a bit like zombies themselves - they just keep coming back for more.
And thank god those relentless undeads do.
Because they make an excellent subject for this outstanding movie, which has to be the finest of the '28' collection so far.
It's been nearly three decades since a deadly virus escaped from a weapons lab and Cillian Murphy woke up from a coma in a deserted hospital in 2002's cult classic, 28 Days Later.
Britain is now completely quarantined, meaning if you step onto it, you can never get off.
It's a wasteland of roaming, hungry zombies and pockets of hidden communities that are desperately trying to survive.
One of those is on a small Island off the coast of the north east, where Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), his wife Isla (Jodie Comer) and their son Spike (Alfie Williams) live.
The island feels very The Wicker Man. They have their own laws, hierarchy and a cult-like mentality, with the men and women having traditional roles.
One of those is that the men go to the mainland - crossing the heavily defended causeway which is mostly underwater - to hunt zombies with homemade weapons.
We meet Spike on his first day of shooting arrows at the undead. To show his childish nativity, he considers packing an action man doll in his rucksack to take on the savage trip with his dad.
The expedition doesn't go that smoothly - as massacring the walking dead rarely does - and there's plenty of watch-through-a-squint, heart racing moments.
The trip opens Spike's eyes to truths he was shielded from before, including a brilliant meeting with Ralph Fiennes.
The breathtaking and gritty camera work is backed by a thumbing soundtrack, cracking script and some mighty fine performances from some of our best actors.
Having dipped out of directing 2007's 28 Weeks Later, Danny Boyle is back along with writer Alex Garland, showing once again they are the dream team of this genre.
Let's hope they come back for another bite.
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