Dallas Fisher

The world has waited a long time to see what has changed in the world of 28-Time Frame-Later, but was it worth the wait?

Split into two halves, it’s almost like Garland and Boyle directed one each. Without a cohesive vision, I think it’s fair to say their chemistry has finally worn off. I know this world has never fully been about the “zombies,” but the human connection could have been more crisp. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Jodie Comer are parents to a young boy, Spike (Alfie Williams). Spike slowly became the focus of the film and will determine your involvement in its enjoyment.

To kick off the movie we get a father-son dynamic that worked for me. It builds a bond and helps develop care for the two we spend a solid chunk of time with. The tone and music slip right into the world we are familiar with and wanted. Introduced to the infected, we get something fresh, bloody, and nasty. Arrows rip through them like a replay in an NFL game and each one becomes more of a trophy.

Characters have very little playing time as it was seemingly not in the contracts to have more than two of them on screen at a time. Comer is the latest example of a female character to be bed stricken for a majority of their film. She does good enough with the situation given and surprisingly leads to the most interesting and beautiful part of the whole thing. The pieces that unfold to get her to that place were unnecessary rough though. 

Visually stunning set pieces grace the screen in a movie that could have benefitted more by moving to even more of a grand scale. Going backwards was beneficial for minute reasons. There’s so much promise to this world that is missing one strong character to grab onto and it didn’t necessarily need more infected or humans being shown as the bad guys, but it needed some conflict outside of what we got.

Knowing there’s a sequel to this sequel makes sense for the story we get, but it leads to a product that’s incomplete and really kills the excitement. 28 Years Later has killer music, strong performances, but feels like it’s trying to hide something more from the audience as it’s process is scattered and unevolved.

Saving the last bit to really dig in how truly awful the ending was. I understand what it was coming back around to and what it was spelling out in a more grounded sense, but oh my is it executed poorly. The jarring nature of its presence is unwelcome and proves how weak the writing was.

5.4/10