About halfway through 28 Years Later from director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland, I turned to my girlfriend and whispered “I fucking hate this movie.” So that should give you a bit of an idea as to where I’m coming from here.
Let me note that, by the time 28 Years Later was finished, I didn’t actually hate the movie. The tale of 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) as he comes of age in his village, cut off from the mainland that’s been overrun by the infected we met some 28 years ago, starts off strong. With his father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), leading the way, Spike heads out to hunt for his first infected kill. Along the way, they encounter an evolved version of an infected, called an Alpha, and barely make it back alive. Before long, Spike becomes disillusioned with his father, who doesn’t seem to care that Isla (Jodie Cormer), Spike’s mother and Jamie’s wife, has taken ill and is getting worse. Upon hearing that there’s an actual doctor from the old days out in the forest, Spike decides to sneak his mother out of the village and try to get her help.
When it comes to storytelling, my trigger is watching what I think are people making stupid decisions. We’ve seen this concept deconstructed in the Scream films multiple times (“I’ll be right back!”); in the case of 28 Years Later, I had such a difficult time getting behind the character of Spike once he and his mother set out into the wild, especially after his less-than-stellar showing with his father at the film’s start. When you’re not connecting with a film’s main character, well, you’re going to have a hard time connecting to the film as a whole, I think.
It doesn’t help that 28 Years Later isn’t nearly as frightening as the classic first film (I’ve only seen its first sequel, 28 Weeks Later, once, and I don’t remember much about it). There are a few jump scares and moments of tension, but by the end of the film, I couldn’t help but think, “We waited 28 years for this?”
All was not lost, mind you, as Ralph Fiennes delivers an outstanding performance as Dr. Ian Kelson, the doctor Spike and Isla are searching for. Thankfully, the character isn’t what I expected. Though he isn’t in the film for long, Fiennes’ Kelson goes a long way in making me genuinely interested in seeing what happens when the film’s follow-up, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, arrives in January 2026.
Here’s hoping for more Dr. Kelson and less Spike.
