This summer has seen the revival of one of the most popular zombie franchises in movie history… the 28 Days Later franchise, with the third installment of the franchise in theatre’s now. Check out our review below

Official trailer for 28 Years Later courtesy of Sony Pictures

Review Summary:

28 Years Later was an amazing film to watch in theatres. The story, while not overly complex, excelled in many areas, and the filmmaking took a good film and turned it into a great one. The film, which comprises a story split into two parts essentially, really hits the emotional high notes in the third act. It builds success in unexpected moments of both horror and emotion rolled into one successful story. Below, we will discuss some of the film’s strengths and highlights.

Story:

The film builds a lot of its success on top of what could be considered a pretty standard plot. While a basic plot is often considered a negative aspect, for 28 Years Later it actually helps springboard a lot of the story decisions that really allow the film to shine in its own right.

The film spends much of the first half as a “father-son” story, which then shifts to a “mother-son-and-barbaric-looking-but-actually-quite-nice doctor” — a mouthful, we know. The concept of a village built away from land to protect from the infected is also quite interesting.

Seeing an apocalyptic world all these years later, and how humans have evolved (or devolved, if you want to view it that way), was a really interesting aspect of the film. We see a world inhabited by people who have largely forgotten what life used to be like — and for the younger characters, never knew it in the first place. It’s a standard plot, but one that really expands and springboards off of itself to create something unique, something unexpected.

Visuals:

The visuals are an aspect that this movie excelled in. The film uses visuals in a variety of ways to help build fear and add to a dreadful aesthetic throughout. Some of the visual variety was jarring early on in the film but became powerful as it went on, building an atmosphere where you truly did not know what was coming next. As soon as you were comfortable with a scene, it cut to something truly terrifying.

Learning behind the scenes that a large portion of the movie was shot on iPhone cameras makes the visual power of the film even more incredible. It is truly a visual feat of a movie, and it is the visuals and sound that really elevate the story.

Sound:

The sound design is also an aspect the film excels at. Seeing it in a theatre with the loudest speakers possible really adds to the feeling of dread and fear, especially early in the film. It’s the type of sound design that really gets your heart pumping and makes you feel the anxiety of the characters on screen.

The zombies also greatly benefit from the excellent sound design — the loud noises they produce make them even scarier than their general appearance, which is already terrifying. The sounds of this film, combined with the visual feats, create an atmosphere where nothing feels truly safe — mostly because, for the characters, it isn’t.

Characters:

Building characters that people can root for or against in a film where death is the main plot device can be difficult. Oftentimes, characters are written merely as meat to be put in a shredder. In this film, however, that is not a problem. The characters are all written to feel real and have an impact on the plot — both good and bad.

The writing also does a great job of adding layers to the characters that maybe we wouldn’t have thought were there. It builds emotion and surprise when character motivations are revealed that are quite different from what we previously thought. Without giving too much away: “not everyone is as they seem,” you might say.

Hall of Fame Moment:

The first trailer for 28 Years Later won numerous awards by using the poem “Boots” by Rudyard Kipling and mixing it with frightening visuals to create an atmosphere of terror. What I did not expect was for the poem to actually be used in the film — to possibly even more terrifying effect. In a montage of medieval wars and the current state of war in the film, the poem being read in the background helps create one of the most memorable scenes in the film.

MVP of the Movie:

For this film, the MVP is a co-MVP of Ralph Fiennes as Dr. Kelson and Jodie Comer as Isla. Both play such key roles, especially in the film’s third act, adding emotion and even a bit of hope in an otherwise terrifying film. The layers of emotion and unexpected beauty — especially for Dr. Kelson — make the film’s emotional components hit even deeper than before.

Conclusion:

28 Years Later is a wildly good film that combines a solid story with great sound and visuals, as well as some great acting, to create one of the most unique and terrifying films of the year.

Our Rating: 9.5/10
Grade: “A”

References & Resources

• Official Trailer – 28 Years Later
  Watch on YouTube (Sony Pictures)
• IMDb Page – 28 Years Later
  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12345678
• Rotten Tomatoes – 28 Years Later
  https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/28_years_later
• Poem: “Boots” by Rudyard Kipling
  Public domain text via Poetry Foundation
• Press Coverage / Feature Articles
  “28 Years Later Brings the Rage Back” – Empire Magazine
  “Why Danny Boyle Returned to the Franchise” – Variety Interview
• Official Poster – 28 Years Later
  Image courtesy of Sony Pictures via IMP Awards (used under fair use for editorial review)