Dallas Fisher

After being a wee bit disappointed in 28 Years Later (2025), mainly because of its inconsistent and jarring choices, I can happily say that its direct sequel rules. Nia DaCosta was the perfect swap out for the director role as she unleashes the audience into a world that feels like something we have never seen before. And even though we already did spend some time in this realm last summer, the choices made on who to spend it with this time around made for a subtly brutal and more cohesive ride.

I love a story that volleys back and forth between two heads of the same snake. Those two heads are our devilish Jack O’Connell as the leader of the Jimmy’s and Ralph Fiennes as Dr Ian Kelson. Jack was one of the main reasons I was so off put in the last installment, but this time around I welcomed him with open arms and was eating up everything he was doing. Jimmy and company make for a more compelling and downright scary villain than the infected themselves. Having both around makes for an unlivable world for any survivors.

Now let’s see if I can put into words what a delight Ralph Fiennes is here. Ralph gets exponentially more screen time and it was one of the better choices made by anyone in recent years. The ending of this film is glorious and it’s all because of him.  He puts on a performance that will be talked about for years to come and even after multiple views, I’m still not sure I’ll be able to fully comprehend the wild and incredible choices that were made. Fiennes is unshakeably odd but he left me so nourished.

With more Dr Ian Kelson, comes more time in the titular Bone Temple. It might be the single greatest set design in a “zombie” movie ever. I’m not going to take too much time to think about that statement because I want it to be true. It’s a mysterious barrier that is resourceful inside and out for the audience, as well as the characters. I seriously enjoyed the way this movie handled the zombie tropes, by basically ignoring them. Sure, it’s still a zombie movie, but it gets so much deeper than that. Take any connotation of the genre you think you knew about before and throw it out the window, as this will rip apart your ideas of what a movie like this should or could be.

I don’t know if single sentence paragraphs are legal, but I have to tell you the cinematography is GORGEOUS.

I respect the hell out of every one involved in this movie so much more than I did before the film started. Nia DeCosta being at the helm for Alex Garland’s writing was pretty dang close to a perfect match and the cast are all delivering such sick performances. Without super concrete evidence of a third movie, I can’t wait to see where this world continues to go. This benefited so much by being a direct follow up in a story sense and in the cinema world. I will say there are a few weird choices again here, but I vibed with them so much more.

8.4/10