It has taken me three attempts to watch this movie as each time I hype myself up for the zombie fest I get worn out by my day or something gets in the way and I never make it. But Monday just gone was the day and Jamie and I finally went off to see the much anticipated sequel to 28 Days Later which we only watched last year.
28 Years later centres on an entirely different cast and dynamic. We've not seen 28 Weeks Later but I know enough to know that the cast has changed again and that we are following a current which doesn't centre on the original Jim from the first movie.
I must admit that when we finally sat down to watch it, I didn't get what all the hype was about. The movie is so obviously setting up a sequel that other than the storyline with Spike and his mum, there was no point to this one as a stand alone. In the first movie we saw how it started and what it was like 28 days later, this was ground breaking as it detailed how quickly a virus spreads (18 years before Covid, quite scary now we've lived it). In the second one we see how the virus has started to leach across Europe and how higher forces have stepped in to make safe zones within the UK and how badly this goes. This third one we see the UK has been totally isolated and any survivors are on their own, aside from that it's just a really long look at how the survivors are surviving and the infected have mutated. All of which could have been established within 20 minutes and to be fair it was.
28 Years Later follows a 12 year old lad called Spike as he tries to cope with his mums illness while coming of age and finding out that his father is having an affair. We open with Spike being taken to the Mainland by his dad in order to make his first kill. Once there we see 3 different types of infected, the fast ones, the slow ones, and the Alpha. The two of them kill a few infected before fleeing back to their island pursued by an Alpha, it's at Spike's coming of age party that he discovers his father having an affair.
Confronting his dad the next day, the two have quite a violent falling out and so Spike decides to take his mum to the Mainland to see the doctor he had found out about the night before as he doesnt want to be near his dad who he feels has betrayed them. Successfully making it to the Mainland, we see the extent of Isla's suffering and condition. During this time we also see an infected giving birth to a non infected baby which they rescue and take with them to see the doctor.
Doctor Kelson has developed an obsession with honouring death and to be fair, I completely get it. He's seen so much death and bodies just laying there that he's decided to honour the dead by constructing towers of their bones. It is creepy but also beautiful, he takes a lot of care and does his bit for the people who have lost their lives, both infected and not.
Kelson diagnoses Isla with Cancer and not long later Spike is asked to place her skull in the best spot in the make shift cemetery and so he complies. Both Jamie and I agreed that this was a beautiful moment, her diagnosis and death were portrayed so delicately and with dignity. But in reality this was the main plot point of the movie, aside from establishing how society has moved on, Spike and Isla's story was the focus. When Isla died we see Spike decide to travel in order to come to terms with his grief rather than return to his father who had already moved on, he's not ready. He writes to his dad as he leaves the baby to be cared for on his island and we see how deeply sorry his dad is and how he grieves as his entire family has now gone because of his mistakes. We see how Jamie loved Spike in his own way, but it was too late.
The ending shows Spike coming across Jimmy and a gang of Jimmies who hunt the infected for fun. This Jimmy is the grown version of Jimmy from the start of the movie, both the opening scene and this one having no relevance to this particular plot other than to set up for the next movie. No one knows why they are all dressed like Jimmy Saville but it is certainly in poor taste. We see Spike make friends with this group and no doubt we will learn more in Bone Temple, but I cant help but note that this entire movie was just a device to set up the something bigger in the next one, therefore it was a bit pointless.
Obviously, as it as already been well reported, the movie heavily relies on pushing Brexit themes which is clear by the rest of the world ganging up on the UK, it's their mess let them fix it. No aid, no sympathy, just keep them contained. I am not political and so don't really want these themes shoved down my throat by the media. In reality, it made sense. The UK was primarily infected by the rage virus, in the second movie it was carriers who infected places in France, there is no way to save anyone there as it endangers life everywhere else. Isolation was necessary, plain and simple, let's not drag real world problems into fiction please.
In terms of the acting, it was well done. Ralph Fiennes was brilliant as a sympathetic hero figure. We assumed he'd be a villain but he's not, he's probably the only sane person here. Aaron Taylor Johnson's accent was a little squiffy and dropped in places but we'll get over it, he made us dislike his character so good enough for me. Jodie Comer played a confused, Cancer ridden mother so brilliantly it made my heart break. Alfie Williams was the star of the show for sure and it's unfair he's so talented at such a young age. He carried this movie.
It's no secret now that Cillian Murphy is not in this movie. I'm unsure how they are going to shoehorn him into the next one as his involvement is inevitable, but the big Jimmy thing doesn't seem to be related to him, or so we think. The Jimmy thing seems to be about Jimmy from Scotland who is now a psycho, but considering we saw two endings to 28 Days Later, one where Jim lived and one where he died, I'll be interested to see which one turned out to be canon.
I'm awarding the third instalment in this horror series a 7/10. The zombies/infected were not actually that scary in fact the slow ones took me back to Shaun in the Dead, specifically the garden scene with the records. The plot was slow and moving emotionally, but not exactly what you'd expect from a horror. The film trailers before the movie were scarier than the actual film. While I appreciate that as you all know how I struggle with zombies, I'd still like just a little jumpscare every now and then. This felt more like a documentary and I was a little bored in places. Dont get me wrong it was good, but not 28 Days Later good.
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