28 Years Later Review: Danny Boyle And Alex Garland’s Legacyquel Proves Well-Worth The Bloody Wait

I have been obsessed with director Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s vision of the apocalypse ever since discovering 28 Days Later in the early days of internet film discourse. In a weird way, the 2002 movie become a sort of comfort watch for me, as it never fails to captivate whenever it’s available to watch. For over two decades, this indie horror classic has seen a larger studio sequel, and a couple of tie-in comics, keeping the flame alive. But fans perpetually wondered if we’d actually get the long teased sequel that Boyle and Garland seemed to periodically drop hints for.

That sort of hype is what 28 Years Later has been up against since its announcement, and it’s something that makes any legacyquel a daunting prospect to produce (or even watch out of fear of disappointment). Now that the wait is over, I’m pleased to say that 28 Years Later is the epitome of what these sorts of follow-ups should aspire to achieve, as it honors the time-tested adage that slow and steady wins the race... provided, of course, you’re not racing against the Infected.

Decades after the initial Rage Virus outbreak, the UK is officially quarantined from the rest of the world. 28 Years Later’s first act wastes no time filling us in on how military patrols and an information blackout leave the country cut off from foreign populations. In this tale, our focus is on Spike (Alfie Williams), a child coming of age in the sequestered community of Holy Island.

As his father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) tries to teach him to hunt the Infected on the Mainland, mother Isla (Jodie Comer) is suffering from an unknown affliction. As a turn of events sees Spike fleeing the island with his sick mom, he ventures into the world abandoned, encountering obstacles that will shape him into the man he wants to become.

While it arrives 18 years after the previous entry, 28 Years Later doesn’t waste time picking things up.

A long wait between sequels is always intimidating, especially with a genre like horror. What was once fresh and frightening can feel dated and unnecessary without a proper hook. That was never a problem with the movie that started it all, and 28 Years Later doesn’t succumb to that pitfall either. The Rage-plagued UK is a logical extension of what its predecessors (28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later) had done in the past, but remains timely as ever.

Writer Alex Garland’s potential trilogy of follow-ups is inspired by, among other things, the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit, but it’s never solely defined by those recent influences. As modern as 28 Years Later feels through its various upgrades, the poignant storytelling present in 28 Days Later isn’t abandoned at all. Instead, it uses the advantages available to heighten some aspects of the original vision for the franchise's seminal title – as seen in an early sequence where Jamie and Spike make a star pre-dawn run for safety against a super starry sky.

Director Danny Boyle’s eclectic style is still sharply present, and isn’t a mere nostalgic return to an aesthetic. Shooting on a fleet of iPhones with returning cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, Boyle is still capturing the apocalypse through his prosumer tech lens, giving the film an intimate look with which the audience is well-familiar. It also allows the 127 Hours filmmaker to include some pretty amazing bullet time shots, capturing the deaths of some Infected with a new twist.

Musical accompaniment by the hip hop outfit Young Fathers offers a non-traditional score that also bolsters Boyle’s unique view on the end of the world with a special flare. Though 28 Years Later is a visually crisp and refined product, it retains the lo-fi charm that made its progenitor a classic.

Even with a cast full of recognizable names and the aid of several modern technological advances, 28 Years Later doesn’t betray its indie horror roots.

Though I’m a fan of the 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later, one cannot deny that it’s definitely a more traditional Hollywood offering. So when it came time to mentally prepare for 28 Years Later, I was naturally a bit worried we’d be getting a course correcting legacyquel that simply “plays the hits” in order to recapture the magic of days gone by. I swear, if someone had said, “Somehow, Christopher Eccleston's Major West has survived,” I would have been acting like an Infected myself.

Fans can put that concern aside, as Alex Garland’s new chapter in this ongoing story does adopt familiar beats but also offers a much deeper examination of themes embedded since day one of the plague. That specific note shines brightest with the employment of a more A-list cast including Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, and Ralph Fiennes.

The fact that such marquee names are present this time around isn’t a distraction, as Danny Boyle’s direction allows all to be easily immersed into the 28 cycle’s existing world – which makes the story consistently tense, even outside of scenes where the running Infected pursue the leads. You're not watching familiar stars pretend to be terrified by the speedy or crawling masses that want to devour them; you're watching people in a horrific a slice of life.

However, there is a young breakout star that needs to be highlighted, and it’s young Alfie Williams. Playing Spike, Williams definitively holds his own among his veteran co-stars, looking poised to become one of their peers after 28 Years Later. The majority of the narrative rests on his shoulders, and it never loses its potency in his hands.

Alex Garland’s writing for this young innocent is as tight as it is for the seasoned adult cast, and Williams never takes that for granted. While he’s clearly in good hands with top tier talent on both sides of the camera, the actor emerges as a name to watch out for by the time we arrive at this first chapter’s exciting finale.

28 Years Later is a darkly beautiful examination of the desire to return to the past and the necessity to move into the future.

Many may have forgotten the emotional and dramatic weight that 28 Days Later carried upon its release. In the wake of a decades-long wait for more, 28 Years Later still proves that it hasn’t run out of things to say about the duality that is human nature facing the end of life on Earth. In its radically transformed world, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s horror homecoming revisits the themes it’s always held in its tender but frightening heart.

One pivotal moment (that I won't spoil here) acts as a reminder of that bittersweet terror, which may surprise some in the audience who came purely for the horror show. But long time fans will recognize that decades after seeing Cillian Murphy wander around a deserted London, the drama is as well preserved as the scares. The screams, as well as the tears, are back in fine form.

28 Years Later is a captivating return to form that casts away cheap nostalgia and doubles down on the powerful nature the first movie was known for. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland recognized that the message of empathy versus conflict still carries a charge, and pick things up in a sweeping epic that doesn’t miss a heartbeat.

The six month wait for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is now even more of an endurance test for fans who’ll be hungry for more. But I think we should all take comfort in one last drop of happiness that could spread into something greater: 28 Years Later already feels as rewatchable as 28 Days Later; which in and of itself is an awe inspiring feat.