28 years Later (2025)

I went into 28 Years Later, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s long-awaited return to their genre-defining zombie apocalypse, with sky-high expectations. The teaser trailer is one of my all-time favorites, an unnerving montage of haunting imagery over a stress-inducing Rudyard Kipling poem. It spoiled nothing, leaving everything to the imagination. I’m thrilled to say that the full-length film blew my mind as well.

Everything (well, almost everything) came together beautifully in this latest Garland/Boyle collaboration. These guys are absurdly talented. Garland’s been on a roll with Annihilation, Civil War, Warfare—with only a blip in Men, his weird-ass dive into misogyny. Boyle? I don’t know what he’s been up to, but Trainspotting 2 was mildly enjoyable.

The cast was phenomenal. Ralph Fiennes channels a gentler Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now, complete with skin stained a sinister red from coating his skin with iodine, apparently a great prophylactic to protect the skin from rage-virus blood. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is rock solid as a father guiding his son through a ruined world, his Scottish brogue adding authenticity to his scenes (wait, is he Scottish or English?).

Jodie Comer and Alfie Williams (as their son, Spike) provide the emotional core. Comer’s performance was excellent as always, and her character arc subverted my expectations. A late scene between her and Spike had me misty-eyed, even if my youngest thought it was lame. But Alfie Williams is the heart of the movie. This is his journey, Cillian Murphy’s Jim and Rose Byrne’s Scarlet wrapped in a very satisfying coming-of-age arc, even if his story is only partially told. 

The cinematography and score are otherworldly. I don't care if he used iPhones to film this; the scenery was drop-dread gorgeous. 

And for the infected with their fast metabolisms, evolution arrived early. Garland must have absorbed all the zombie lore, film, games, and everything. The “Slow-Lows”—bloated, pale, worm-eating crawlers—are a grotesque, fascinating new breed, a brilliant contrast to the original’s frenzied runners.

I can’t wait to rewatch this with subtitles and headphones on my precious OLED. This one’s going into permanent rotation at the Repo Jack household.