Summary
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland reunite for a bold, sensory assault that elevates its genre roots into something far more visceral and unexpectedly reflective.
In what might be the boldest move of Danny Boyle’s career, 28 YEARS LATER begins with The Teletubbies. Shot like it’s 2002, only now with an iPhone 15 Max replacing the old Canon XL-1 digital camcorder, it quickly descends into a bloody mess. The best kind of mess, of course, the kind we’d hope for from the reunion of Boyle and writer Alex Garland.
As the title suggests, it’s been 28 years since the rage virus was first unleashed. While Europe has managed to push back the infected, the UK remains quarantined. On a small island linked to the mainland by a tidal causeway, a small community has learned to survive in isolation.
When scavenger Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) takes his 12-year-old son Spike (Alfie Williams) to the mainland to hunt, Spike encounters and kills his first infected — but they get more than they bargained for with the sudden appearance of a ferocious head-ripping ‘alpha’. With Spike’s mother Isla (Jodie Comer) suffering from a debilitating illness, the boy risks everything by taking her back into the wilderness in search of the mysterious Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), hoping he can help.
The ‘zombie’ landscape has changed considerably since 2002, and Boyle and Garland seem acutely aware of this, even if their creations were never strictly ‘zombies’ to begin with. Consciously avoiding many of the genre’s familiar tropes, they deliver something far more visceral and arguably more elevated. With brutal cutaways, infrared inserts and rapid-fire editing, it often becomes an assault on the senses. Not that I’m complaining.
Fiennes makes his entrance following one of the most intense chase sequences in the film, his body coated in iodine and grime. Boyle then allows a brief pause for reflection, as Kelson’s grotesque memento mori of bone sculptures reveals the film’s true themes: grief, letting go, and the inevitability of death. Perhaps my only gripe isn’t with the film itself but its marketing. The striking poster, a boy placing a skull atop a towering pile of bones, plants a very specific image in the viewer’s mind, one that lingers and colours expectations from Fiennes’s arrival onward.
With Taylor-Johnson largely confined to the film’s first act, relative newcomer Williams proves to be an outstanding discovery as Boyle’s ostensible lead. Comer continues to demonstrate remarkable versatility, while Fiennes seems to be thoroughly enjoying his recent run of eccentric roles.
Unlike its predecessors, loosely connected but largely standalone, 28 YEARS LATER ultimately positions itself to set up future instalments. In fact, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the immediate sequel in a planned trilogy, was shot almost concurrently and is scheduled for release in early 2026. Whatever the case, Boyle has aimed high and mostly succeeded, delivering not just one of the boldest films of the year, but one of the most interesting in the genre.
2025 | UK, USA | DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle | WRITERS: Alex Garland | CAST: Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Ralph Fiennes | DISTRIBUTOR: Sony Pictures | RUNNING TIME: 115 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 19 June 2025 (Australia), 20 June 2025 (UK/USA)