MOVIE REVIEW: 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE

 

Dr. Kelson finds himself in a shocking new relationship with consequences that could change the world as he knows it, while Spike's encounter with Jimmy Crystal becomes a nightmare he can't escape.

Director: Nia DaCosta

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O'Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Chi Lewis-Parry

Release Date: January 16, 2026

Genre: Horror

Rated R for strong bloody violence, gore, graphic nudity, language throughout, and brief drug use

Runtime: 1h 50m

Review:

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the second film in the planned trilogy, takes the story and style in a different direction than its predecessor to effectively find its own voice thanks to a pair of contrasting but equally stellar performances from Jack O'Connell and Ralph Fiennes.  Nia DaCosta takes over the reins from Danny Boyle behind the camera and delivers a brutal sequel that’s hauntingly beautiful at the same time.  DaCosta takes a different approach than Boyle’s kinetic style with something more straight forward but just as visually impactful.  She delivers plenty of brutal gore throughout especially from the Jimmy’s story thread but she counterbalances it with thoughtful, pensive beauty and a healthy influx of music with Dr Kelson’s side.  Kelson’s storyline does offer more humor than expected thanks to Ralph Fiennes’s all in performance that plays as an incredibly nuanced character study.  Fiennes delivered excellent work in the first film even with his limited screentime but he’s just phenomenal here with the expanded screentime.  The character’s established empathy is further expounded on, but we get more insight into his mental state as he tries cope with loss of his former life and world.  His relationship with the infected Sampson offers him a sliver of hope as he attempts to treat him with plenty of real-world subtext simmering underneath that story thread.  On the other end of the spectrum is Jack O'Connell who fully embraces his deliciously garish villain that’s built a person army through violence and indoctrination.  His character is mentally twisted but manipulative enough to have created his own Satanic cult as a response to his childhood trauma from the start of the outbreak.  O'Connell give his Jimmy Crystal a sense of self-awareness especially when it comes to his belief structure especially when he comes face to face with Fiennes’s Kelson who is purported to be his father, Satan.  When he and Fiennes share the screen there’s a delicate dance between the two performers after initial trepidation before finding common ground to speak to each other with a sense of honesty.  It’s a fascinating sequence that leads into the film’s grand finale, which is a spectacle all on its own thanks to subverting expectations of where this would all go.  There’s set up for the final entry which clearly hands off the baton but 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple proves to be the rare middle feature that stands on its own two feet with impressive confidence.

A

MOVIE REVIEW: 28 YEARS LATER

 

It's been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped from a biological weapons laboratory. Still living in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amid the infected. One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily defended causeway. When one of them decides to venture into the dark heart of the mainland, he soon discovers a mutation that has spread to not only the infected, but other survivors as well.

Director: Danny Boyle

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

Release Date: June 20, 2025

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Rated R for strong bloody violence, grisly images, graphic nudity, language and brief sexuality.

Runtime: 1h 55m

Review:

28 Years Later subverts expectations at every turn as Danny Boyle's return brings back his frenzied, kinetic style paired with an overstuffed script from Alex Garland that aims for something far more meaningful and epic than you'd expect.  Boyle takes the reins behind the camera, after ushering a new age of zombie films with 28 Days Later, with confidence that shines through as he delivers an evocative, fever dream of a film.  There are moments scattered throughout its nearly two-hour runtime that are simply mesmerizing in such a way that they almost feel other worldly even though the story boils down to coming-of-age tale.  It’s a visually aggressive film that feeds images in such a steady succession that it rarely gives the audience a moment to fully dissect what is being splashed on screen.  There's still plenty of "rage" induced action, but Boyle is far more concerned with the characters living in this postapocalyptic landscape.  It’s chock-full with allegorical meaning, speaking to variety of issues and concepts currently playing out in the real world.  Those looking for more action heavy, more mindless zombie fare might be left disappointed here as the story stakes out its own path with some choices working better than others.  Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Alfie Williams carry the first half of the film as we follow a seemingly straightforward father/son relationship before slow reveals open up the story to its back half with the character's mother played well by Jodie Comer.  Ralph Fiennes gets the least amount of screentime of the main characters, but his inspired turn leaves such a big impression that you wish Boyle would have given him more time to flesh him out.  When it’s all said and done, Alfie Williams deserves a hefty bit of credit for serving as the film's life blood as the film ends with a set up for the 28 Years Later sequel that looks to take everything in a more Romeroesque vibe.

A-