28 Years Later Review- A Brutally Honest Review

There was a viral trailer buzz for 28 Years Later when it first came out, gaining record trailer views. The teaser showed Kipling’s eerie poem, “Boots”, which ramped up the excitement.

The third installment in the ‘28’ franchise, 28 Years Later, is finally out. Why this one didn’t work for me- didn’t impress me much- let me explain why in this ‘fresh out of the oven’ 28 Years Later review.  

Plot details of 28 Years Later

The story, as the name suggests, takes us 28 years after the virus broke out and how people have learned to live in disastrous circumstances, having made a world of their own, other than the infected mainland. 

Although the village, where the non-infected ones are living with limited resources happily, is separated with barricades from the mainland, the risk still looms.

Watch the trailer here for a quick recap: 

Actors’ performances in 28 Years Later

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is Jamie, and Jodie Comer is Isla, the parents of Spike, a 12-year-old boy played by Alfie Williams. The actual story revolves around the three, with some of the latter half focusing on the weird doctor, played by Ralph Fiennes. 

Jodie Comer was great, portraying the ill mother who is struggling with her unknown illness. Aaron Taylor-Johnson was amazing too, trying hard to keep his family together, supposedly a “tough” man who wants to make his son the same tough guy. 

Jamie seems to take good care of her ailing wife, but there is something wrong. Spike does not like the way his father is falsifying his image in public after they come back from the mainland, having fought with some of the mutated zombies and survived an alpha.

What I believe is that the entire film is about Alfie (playing Spike). It is HIS story, it is his evolution, it is his desperate attempt to save his mother. It is he who takes her to the mainland to find the crazy doctor living in ‘memento mori’, stands in front of his father (Jamie), asking him to stay away from them, and then come back stronger from what he had learned with his father in the mainland in the film’s beginning gathering courage again to take her mom in an effort to find a cure. 

Alfie is scared, Alfie is brave, Alfie is emotional and sensitive for his mom, and Alfie is fierce when a zombie comes near him. Alfie is everything we can expect, seeing such a young kid star who SHOULD be in a zombie-infected area. 

There wasn’t a single instance where I felt that the act was overdone or short of any feelings for the scene. According to me, Alfie was mind-blowing, which is a good thing as the movie has a sequel as well, The Bone Temple with Cillian Murphy in it.

The ending of 28YL has a clear cliffhanger that leads us to the next part, directed by Nia DaCosta. It is speculated that the sequel will focus more on Spike’s fate and the evil gang that Jimmy leads. 

Alfie’s strong performance will have a more ferocious angle if we are to see him face to face with Jimmy, an adult version of the kid we saw at the beginning of 28YL, watching Teletubbies with other kids in a room, the lone survivor of the zombie mayhem then. 

What do critics add to the 28 Years Later review?

The film has embedded themes of coming-of-age generational trauma with an emotional depth, survival of humanity amidst horror, and a social commentary digging deep into factors like Brexit, COVID, and immigration. The obvious elements of the film are folk horror, Pagan rituals, and Medieval rites.

The critics’ consensus on Rotten Tomatoes showed positive reviews. It said,

“28 Years Later taps into contemporary anxieties with the ferocious urgency of someone infected with Rage Virus, delivering a haunting and visceral thrill ride that defies expectations.” [Source]

 

 

 

 

 

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Fans reaction

With only 65 percent on Pocornmeter, fans aren’t very satisfied with what the film delivers. One of the reviews straightaway asks you to stay away from the cinema and rather get a “pirated” copy of it, only if you like the first two movies. 

The other found it “boring” and an injustice to the whole zombie franchise as there were limited zombies and just plain storyline. The fans felt something didn’t feel right, something was missing.

There is a possibility that the directors kept it that way so that we look forward to the trilogy’s next part, The Bone Temple. Otherwise, apart from a few fans, most of them found it “garbage”. 

Let me keep it short: Trailer was fire, a traumatically mediocre payoff but one brilliant kid actor saved it! 

Is it worth watching?

As compared to the hype that the trailer had set, I don’t like it at all. There are so many questions in my head regarding the mutated zombies and the “intelligent undead” known as alpha. Firstly, don’t they have a brain enough to get some clothes?

If they are that intelligent, where did the pregnant zombie lady get a piece of cloth hanging on her body? And why was she the only one wearing clothes? Why didn’t the other ones get any? They are intelligent enough to make families and smart enough to get a bath in the river. Ugh, seriously? 

Okay, if you feel I’m having my head very much into the clothes thing, the dark lighting did save us from that. Most of the scenes were covered with dark lighting, which was fine. Thank God, I was able to watch those scenes fully, otherwise either I had to slide forward the scenes, because definitely I do not drool over the nude zombies, or I had to roll my eyes here and there when they came on screen out of nowhere. Certainly, that snatched away most of the fun part of the movie from me, making it just an okay-ish horror film despite the raging hype the trailer had set earlier. 

But of course, you gotta watch it for Alfie, the brave chap! And once you have watched it, you surely will be all in for the next part where we presume to see Alfie with or against the gnarly Jimmy at the end of 28 Years Later. 

It’s expected that a third part will be filmed, making 28 Years Later a trilogy. The Bone Temple was shot back-to-back with 28 Years Later, but the third one is still in the talks. The audience, including me, needs to get answers for other confusing hints as well.

For example, we see during a father-son journey, they come across a house where an infected man is hung upside down. His head has a plastic bag tied around with pooled blood. His torso has an engraved name, JIMMY.

Also, we see the name Jimmy written as graffiti on a house on the mainland during their quest to find a doctor for Spike’s mother. The entire graffiti said, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds. Jimmy.” How did they become the hardcore zombie fighters? What role will Cillian Murphy play?

So obviously, we are looking forward to the sequel, The Bone Temple, to see Spike fighting against Jimmy or becoming his ally, who is the head of his own cult? He has matching costumes with Teletubbies characters- which gives a sign too? Or will Spike actually join his cult as Jimmy offers him his hand while saying, “Let’s be pals” in the end? *drum roll* WE NEED ANSWERS! 

Nia DaCosta, the director of the next part of the trilogy did not forget to leave some hints. As per Indie Wire, she explained, 

“Well, I think the first one is about the nature of family. The second one’s about the nature of evil. And the third one is about the nature of redemption.” [Source]

Our rating: 5

Is 28 Years Later available for streaming? 

28 Years Later (rated R) is distributed by Sony Columbia Pictures theatrically from June 20, 2025. Sony Pictures will wait six weeks after its opening in theatres, and then you will be able to get it in PVOD (premium video on demand) for digital streaming.  

Genre: Zombie horror, horror, thriller 

IMDb rating: 7.1

Rotten Tomatoes: 88 percent on Tomatometer (critics’ score) and 63 percent on Popcornmeter

Cast: Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Alfie Williams, Jack O’Connell, Ralph Fiennes, Erin Kellyman

Director: Danny Boyle

Writers: Alex Garland, Danny Boyle

Producers: Andrew Macdonald, Peter Rice, Bernard Bellew, Danny Boyle, Alex Garland

Release date: June 20, 2025

Movie runtime: 1 hour 55 minutes