The Gist
28 years after the Rage Virus is first released across the UK a young boy tried to find help for his mother within the quarantine zone.
The Review
Twenty-five years ago a very special cinematic relationship was forged. Director Danny Boyle chose to bring a novel by a young writer named Alex Garland to the screen – in the form of The Beach.
From there the duo then teamed up again when Garland wrote the screenplay for Boyle’s zombie film 28 Days Later and then again for Boyle’s epic sci-fi Sunshine. It began to look like the perfect screenwriter/director relationship had developed – even to the point where it was once rumoured Boyle mentored Garland when he had to direct some parts of his Dredd film.
From there though the pair went in separate directions. Garland went on to make masterpieces like Ex Machina, Warfare and Civil War while Boyle went on to make a plethora of movies including the Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire.
Meanwhile the 28 franchise moved on without them with the not-so well received 28 Weeks Later but Garland and Boyle declared that they would one day return to it – even teasing fans occasionally saying they were working on 28 Months Later. Now the two said too long passed to use that name but they have finally returned with 28 Years Later.
With nearly three decades passed the Rage Virus has been eradicated in Europe but still runs rampant across the UK. In fact the UK is now considered a quarantine zone – nobody leaves and nobody is supposed to enter.
One lucky colony though have found solace. They live on an island separated by a causeway and life is genuinely happy. It also means that for youngsters like Spike (new comer Alfie Williams) they have never had to come face-to-face with the infected. It also means that they have to live like they are in the 1800s with no electricity, internet etc.
The normally happy life of Spike is interrupted though by the fact that his mother Isla (Jodie Comer – The Last Duel) is sick. While he is worried about her his father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson – Kick-Ass), decides it is time for him to come scavenging on the mainland.
This leads to Jamie coming face-to-face with the new more intelligent and deadly infected like Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry – Gladiator II) and learning about Dr Kelson (Ralph Fiennes – Schindler’s List) – the latter someone Spike feels might be able to help his mother.
If you are expecting for 28 Years Later to be like a modern day blockbuster designed for a pop-audience – think again. Boyle, Garland and their cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (Slumdog Millionaire) take this film in a whole new direction – this goes to the extremes of artistic cinema with flashy fast-paced edits and a soundscape that hits the audience in the same way Garland’s recent Warfare did.
What brings the film to the fore though is the naturalism that seeps its way through the entire film. While the norm these days is to deliver out of this world CGI and environments in post-apocalyptic films here the world at hand looks and feels the way our world would if everything went to hell tomorrow. In a way that makes this film even more terrifying.
That naturalism also floods the story with Garland’s screenplay allowing Spike, the hero, to more focussed on his concern for his mother’s health rather than the zombie apocalypse that is happening around him. While the themes of human emotion during a world ending event have been thoroughly explored in TV Shows like The Walking Dead and Jericho here it feels like Garland using the eyes of a child takes it to a whole new level.
The realism of the film also allows for some stunning acting performances. Alfie Williams is sensational putting in a performance well beyond his years as he often carries this film, even if some confronting and intense scenes.
Alongside him Julie Comer is amazing as the seriously ill Isla while Ralph Fiennes is memorable in a role that sees him channel Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now. With so many questions left about Fiennes’ character it is good to know that he will feature heavily in the next film as well.
The Verdict
If you take the artistic scenes featuring Robert Carlyle’s character in The Beach you can easily see that Boyle has always had a film like this in him – still the artistic side and breath-taking cinematography of 28 Years Later makes this a stunning visceral experience that will stay with its audience for a long time. The fact that it also concludes some elements of the plot while leaving some questions unanswered for the next film shows once again why Alex Garland is the best screenwriter this generation has.
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