28 Years Later (dir. Danny Boyle)

by Jack Martin | Jun 19, 2025

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 115 mins

UK Distributor: Sony Pictures

UK Release Date: 19 June 2025

WHO’S IN 28 YEARS LATER?

Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Edvin Ryding, Chi Lewis-Parry, Emma Laird, Christopher Fulford

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Danny Boyle (director, writer, producer), Alex Garland (writer, producer), Bernard Bellew, Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice (producers), Young Fathers (composers), Anthony Dod Mantle (cinematographer), Jon Harris (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Decades after the spread of the Rage virus, a community of survivors uncover some disturbing truths…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON 28 YEARS LATER?

To understand just how influential 28 Days Later has been on the zombie horror subgenre, one only needs to take a look at much of the undead-centric media that’s been made in the 20-odd years since. From movies like Zombieland and Train to Busan, to TV shows like The Walking Dead and The Last of Us, many of them have lovingly adopted not just the faster sprinting movements of the zombies – erm, I mean “Infected” – themselves, but also the much deeper metaphorical commentary being made on humanity and its own monstrousness in the wake of total societal collapse. Granted, that stuff existed well before 28 Days Later came along, but there was something truly unique in how director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland created a world that, at the time, felt unlike anything we’d ever seen from the kind of film.

So, the fact that both are now returning to the very genre they helped redefine with 28 Years Later is quite interesting, because at this point audiences are so used to seeing these kinds of running zombies and heavy social commentary that they’ve become as conventional as any other zombie trope. But Boyle and Garland, as they did all the way back in 2002, have more than a few subversive tricks up their sleeve with a sequel that does its job by expanding this world and exploring how people react to it, but also goes further in departments you’d never expect from a seemingly straightforward zombie movie, let alone one that follows almost directly from one that changed the game forever.

Taking place – when else? – 28 years later from when the Rage virus spread like wildfire across Britain, transforming most people into mindless sprinting monsters, we begin our story on a small island just off the North East mainland, where a small but thriving community lives peacefully whilst being well prepared for any potential ambush from the Infected. Amongst this community, a hunter, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), decides that it’s the right time for his young son Spike (Alfie Williams) to come out with him to the mainland for a spot of slaughter against the Infected, and the pair quickly encounter some of the horrors that have persisted since the spread of the virus.

But then, just when you think this is what the entirety of the film is going to be, like it’s some warped rendition of The Most Dangerous Game, things take a turn not necessarily for the worse (though in some cases, yeah) but for a direction that’s way more humanist than you might expect. Jodie Comer, seen briefly as Spike’s mentally ill bed-bound mother Isla, plays into the film a lot more in a role that arguably surpasses her on-screen husband in terms of development. Certain figures who we previously spent a lot of time with and seen many of their noble traits turn out to be rather huge dickheads who lie, cheat and be generally abusive. And just how Ralph Fiennes factors into all this, as a doctor living on the mainland who’s said to have gone insane, is best left for the movie itself. As for the Infected, they absolutely have a presence throughout – and in a lot of instances are utterly terrifying, especially a hulking “Alpha” that is essentially its own one-person army – but for the most part they linger in the background, only occasionally being central to some fascinating new reveals that might even change your perspective on them.

These are just some of many shake-ups that Boyle and Garland apply to a film that, unlike the majority of legacy sequels, remarkably doesn’t require nostalgia of the original to enjoy (it doesn’t even need you to have watched the previous Boyle and Garland-free sequel 28 Weeks Later, the events and revelations of which are pretty much ignored entirely). Instead of relying on references after references, the director and writer keep their eyes forward by telling a compelling new story with fresh characters who are interesting and well-written enough to prevent you from counting down until a Cillian Murphy appearance – slight spoiler: he’s not in this film, not even as that one Infected from the trailer that everyone thought was him for a little while – while also allowing plenty of room for some genuinely emotional human drama to dominate without erasing the horror elements entirely. 28 Years Later ends up being, like 28 Days Later before it, an engrossing drama about humanity at a time of horrifying crisis, with powerful moments that hit you like a ton of Rage-laced bricks thanks to its relevant and very British themes of isolation and fear, especially in our post-Brexit and post-COVID world, and characters who fit almost perfectly within the bleak atmosphere and its haunting messages.

Standout performances from Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes, and especially young Alfie Williams are certainly key to your overall investment, as is the eye-grabbing visual style that swaps the grainy digital video camera look of the original for a slightly more refined barrage of iPhone-shot carnage (which itself is a nice evolution in terms of both technology and aesthetic without diluting the unique feel of the original film). But largely, it is both Boyle and Garland who triumphantly carry their film over the finish line, with their respective sharp direction and poignant writing both honouring what came before without relying too hard on it, if at all, and setting the stage for even more intensity to come, with the film ending on a cliffhanger than leads directly into the upcoming Nia DaCosta-directed 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.

Honestly, though, that segue is one of the film’s wobbliest sequences, for it awkwardly feels as though an entirely different movie of an extremely different tone has just invaded this one (partly because, well, it is), complete with ridiculous costumes and over-the-top moments you’d see in something like the far more comedic Zombieland than something in this much dourer universe. Funnily enough, I had almost the exact same issue with the theatrical ending for 28 Days Later, so maybe this is just a recurring thing with all films in this franchise?

Either way, it shouldn’t entirely dampen your anticipation for that next film, especially when 28 Years Later is such a strong beginning to this new story that, once again, sets out to change the rules of the zombie – sorry, “Infected” – genre all over again.

SO, TO SUM UP…

28 Years Later is a strong follow-up to the horror classic that expands the bleak post-apocalyptic world without relying on nostalgia for the original, as director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland focus on compelling new characters and subversive new tricks in both storytelling and filmmaking to kick off an emotional and engaging new trilogy.