28 Years Later Review

Twenty-eight years after the outbreak of the rage virus, the infected have been contained to just the UK as the rest of the world goes about its business. The islands are now under strict quarantine, and any survivors have been left to fend for themselves. But amid the bleak situation, a group of people in Scotland has managed to stay safe by fortifying a small island.

Living on this island are Jamie, his wife Isla, and their 12-year-old son Spike. Life is otherwise normal in the town except for Isla, who is plagued by a mysterious illness. Without a doctor, there is little that can be done for her, and it takes a toll on Jamie and Spike.

Now that he’s old enough, Jamie prepares to take Spike on his first expedition onto the mainland, where he is expected to kill his first infected. Jamie teaches Spike the rules of survival and the basics about the infected.

But as Spike faces the hazards of this new world, he learns about the mysterious Dr. Kelson. Jamie warns him that Kelson is yet another mad survivor on the mainland who should be avoided, but Spike sees him as a potential savior for his ailing mother.

There are a lot of post-apocalyptic stories out there, but not many of them explore the world so long after the apocalypse. Nearly three decades after the initial outbreak, we see how the world has healed itself, scars and all. We also see the evolution of the infected and the unexpected ways it has changed them.

Despite this bigger backdrop, 28 Years Later is very much a smaller story about a boy’s journey to manhood and his relationship with his parents. The entire movie revolves around seeing the world through Spike’s eyes, and fortunately, newcomer Alfie Williams is up to the task of taking the audience through his journey.

Despite having only a couple of credits to his name, Alfie Williams hits the ground running (literally and figuratively) as Spike. While the role calls for a lot of physicality as Spike runs from one horror after another, Williams really stands out in the more emotional scenes with his parents.

He’s well paired with Jodie Comer as Isla and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Jamie. The film starts out largely focused on Jamie and Spike venturing into the mainland together. The two share a strong father-son bond as they face the infected horrors together. However, the two find beautiful moments together as the Earth continues to move on, ignoring the infected.

Later, as Spike and Jamie come into conflict with one another, you can see Spike’s heroic impression of his father slowly get chipped away. As the film shifts focus to the relationship between Spike and his mother, we get an equally moving performance from Comer. She is slowly losing her mind to her illness, and that’s a dangerous thing in this world.

Spike becomes her caretaker, and Williams portrays the protective son well. Their path eventually takes them to Ralph Fiennes as Dr. Kelson. He’s a complex character, and Fiennes plays him in a way where you never quite know if he’s friend or foe. In this world, it could go either way at any moment, and Finnes makes the most of it.

Since 28 Days Later came out in 2002, there have been a lot of zombie films. We have seen a wide variety of zombie action and zombie kills. Despite this, 28 Years Later still manages to keep the audience on edge and deliver a few original moments.

It is established that the infected form a sort of society led by an “Alpha,” and this beast of a zombie delivers most of the original action. But he definitely delivers those scares in an unusual fashion – he’s totally naked.

The rating for 28 Years Later cautions of “graphic nudity,” and it is definitely as advertised. Logically, it makes sense that after a few decades, these rage-infected individuals would lose their clothes in some way. But seeing it on the screen is rather distracting and off-putting. Seeing the Alpha charge our lead characters in all his full-frontal self just adds another level of “yuck” to already horrifying scenes.

As if naked zombies weren’t already extra unpleasant, 28 Years Later has them doing odd things. One set of infected seems to have formed a family unit in the woods. It’s hinted at but is not further developed. Another disturbing scene has a pregnant infected woman delivering a baby, which is bad enough without throwing in the zombie element. There are several other odd moments that seem to be an attempt to rewrite the rules of the infected, but they don’t seem to lead to the satisfying direction one would hope.

Without getting into spoilers, the ending also feels terribly rushed. We embark on this journey with Spike as he transforms from a scared boy to a brave man, yet if you take a step back, you realize this film spans only a few days. In that context, where he ends up feels like it happened unrealistically fast.

The resolution of Isla’s illness feels like it happens too fast as well. It was the whole point of the film, yet it is resolved in what seems to be a very short amount of time, shoehorned in at the end. If Danny Boyle had spent less time with long scenes of them walking through the pretty Scottish countryside, there could have been more screentime between mother and son at the end. 28 Years Later might have benefited from the long-form storytelling of a TV series rather than a theatrical film.

The ending is also a bit of a head-scratcher. While the bulk of the film is grounded in reality and dark, the ending scene is wild and comedic. It’s completely out of tone with the rest of the movie and is solely there to tee up a sequel. It’s like going from 28 Days Later to Shaun of the Dead. It will be interesting to see if it lures audiences back for a fourth film or if it scares them away permanently.

28 Years Later is a bit of a mixed bag. It has a lot of emotional depth and post-apocalyptic action that audiences have come to expect from the series, but it also features enough weirdness and graphic nudity to deter many other moviegoers permanently.

28 YEARS LATER REVIEW SCORE: 5 OUT OF 10

Sony Pictures will release the film in theaters on Friday, June 20, 2025. It is rated R for strong bloody violence, grisly images, graphic nudity, language, and brief sexuality.