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Danny Boyle and Alex Garland reunite for the much anticipated ’28 Years Later’, a spectacle that needs to be seen on the big screen
Memento Mori. Remember death. These are some of the first words that come out of Dr. Kelson’s (Ralph Fiennes) mouth when we meet him, easily marking one of the most powerful moments, most powerful phrases in any blockbuster that has been released so far this decade. Thinking of death can be scary, but why should it be? In the end, we are all united by death, maybe the only thing us humans completely share with one another. Danny Boyle’s and Alex Garland’s pursuit of this idea makes ‘28 Years Later’ stand out amongst movies that are afraid to push their limits, and it has been searing through my brain since I walked out of the theater.
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Opening with a truly horrifying sequence where teary-eyed kids are watching a ‘Teletubbies’ episode as terror unfolds right outside their door, presumably just as the rage virus outbreak begins, only one child, Jimmy, escapes as everyone around him is slaughtered, quickly turning into the very beings that kill them. This includes his father, a priest seemingly excited by the end of times, thinking of it as a day of judgement, who Jimmy sees meet his grisly demise in a church.
Flashing forward 28 years past the events depicted in the prologue, we are thrust into the main story of ‘28 Years Later’, immediately meeting Spike (Alfie Williams), his scruffy looking father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and mysteriously ill mother, Isla (Jodie Comer), all of whom are living on an island (Holy Island) detached from the mainland in a commune-like village. Spike is meant to travel onto the mainland with his father in a rite of passage where he quickly learns of the horrors, the beauty, and the mystique of the collapsed United Kingdom. Although the first act may seem like a small tonal departure from ‘28 Days Later’, we are still focused on the human relationships in a time of terror, even decades after the initial outbreak, and then thrust back into the nerve-racking atmosphere reminiscent of Boyle’s 2002 masterpiece.
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Spike’s family is clearly dysfunctional. Jamie wants his son to be as masculine as he makes himself out to be, even if he is a womanizing liar, while Isla has a hard time remembering what day it is, who she’s living with, or the journey her son is about to embark on, which can sometimes be overwhelming to the viewer, but Comer tip-toes the line between a dementia-ridden mother and outright crazy person, giving possibly the supporting performance of the year. Garland’s vision of how people living in a post-apocalyptic world will deal with the same things we deal with in society today is quite fascinating. Whether it be infidelity or illness, future generations will always experience what we experience, even if there are homicidal, super-speed zombies running rampant in the background.
Life and Death
Expanding upon the lore that was built up in the Cillian Murphy led ‘28 Days Later’ (while also retconning some of the ideas presented in ‘28 Weeks Later’), we see what the infected are like and how they have mutated in the past 28 years. The Alphas (one is hilariously named Samson by Dr. Kelson), are the “leaders” of the infected, and he separates himself from the rest because, well, he likes to separate heads from bodies in brutal fashion. Both physically and mentally different from your typical infected, The Alpha is an interesting subject that could be explored more in the sequels, because they were mainly depicted as massive (in a couple regards), long haired men, but what if there were female Alpha’s that were even more violent?
Garland’s attempt at humanizing some of the infected, trying to make it seem like they are no different than the survivors, works surprisingly well, especially in a birth scene where we see an infected, pregnant woman in pain touch the hands of Ilsa as she is giving birth, for a moment at peace with one another. Life still goes on if you are infected, even if it’s happening in an extremely different way. Although this film is extremely gruesome and bloody, there are still quite a few moments where we sit with the characters at their most vulnerable, and they play out in such beautiful ways, some that are rarely seen in big, studio movies anymore.
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The Memento Mori, masterfully weaved into the beautiful third act by both Boyle’s visuals and Garland’s writing, touches upon the idea surrounding how the infected and survivors will die no matter what, but time will only tell for each and everyone one of them. Dr. Kelson states, “There are many kinds of death,” and there is a good chance you will experience a different death than, say, the person sitting next to you in the movie theater, watching this very movie. Kelson doesn’t see a difference between the infected and the survivors, they are all one in the same, waiting for their time to go, just in a different way. In a world where someone like Spike may be fearing a grisly death at the hands of an infected, he’s forgetting about the little things that can take someone as well, and is taught this lesson by Dr. Kelson in an extremely gorgeous yet saddening way. This coming-of-age side of the story is explored in such an immense way, and it might be up there with some of Garland’s best writing.
A New Kind of Blockbuster
Danny Boyle has always been experimenting with and pushing the limits of filmmaking, whether it be the grainy digital camcorders seen in ‘28 Days Later’ or shooting in three different formats on ‘Steve Jobs’. ‘28 Years Later’ proves that he will never stop experimenting and that he is only getting better and more comfortable with utilizing digital cameras (he and Soderbergh are in a league of their own). Primarily shot with an Iphone 15 (of course with many attachments) and action cameras, ‘28 Years Later’ makes for one of the most unconventional blockbusters that’s been released in a movie theater so far this decade, almost groundbreaking in some aspects.
In the midst of a decade with a lot of stale blockbusters, there were sequences in ‘28 Years Later’ that should be impossible to create. This includes some of the action where an infected would be shot in the head with an arrow, the camera angle would jump from one side to another in the snap of a finger, and the editor would cut the two together into a freeze-frame sort of thing. Using a rig with about two dozen Iphones positioned in a semicircle, Boyle brought his vision from storyboard to screen in an extraordinary way.
By Aidan Reidy
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Aidan Reidy is a writer who’s currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in motion pictures screenwriting at the University of Miami. He is passionate about the entertainment industry and enjoys watching most genres. He is interested in every aspect of filmmaking ranging from technical aspects like editing and sound mixing to acting and directing styles. Hollywood Insider’s commitment to substance-filled articles rather than gossip columns attracted him to the website, creating an enjoyable environment for him to write in and aligning with his personal values, as well.
Aidan Reidy is a writer who’s currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in motion pictures screenwriting at the University of Miami. He is passionate about the entertainment industry and enjoys watching most genres. He is interested in every aspect of filmmaking ranging from technical aspects like editing and sound mixing to acting and directing styles. Hollywood Insider’s commitment to substance-filled articles rather than gossip columns attracted him to the website, creating an enjoyable environment for him to write in and aligning with his personal values, as well.
