A group of survivors of the rage virus lives on a small island. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors.

I’m a little zombied out with the prevalence of the undead from the Walking Dead, The Last of Us, Marvel’s What If… and more. It’s become a bit tired. So I did go into 28 Years Later a bit reluctantly. I immensely enjoyed the original (2002’s 28 Days Later starring Cillian Murphy), but never bothered with its 2007 sequel (28 Weeks Later), and wasn’t necessarily excited for this but with the original’s writer (Alex Garland) and director (Danny Boyle) behind it, I was at least intrigued. The two haven’t collaborated since 2007’s Sunshine. Boyle was busy with Oscar-friendly fare like Slumdog Millionaire, Steve Jobs, and 127 Hours with Garland directing his sci-fi projects like Ex Machina and Annihilation as well as last year’s Civil War and this year’s Warfare.

The movie opens with a quick and violent reminder of the rage virus that took over the UK in the first movie. Now, nearly three decades have past and the mainland of Great Britain is still quarantined and cut off from the rest of the world. The virus has (presumably) been contained. On a small island a large causeway away from the mainland, Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Jamie lives with his sickly wife Isla (Jodie Comer, brilliant as per usual) and twelve-year-old son Spike (Alfie Williams, ably commanding the bulk of the film) in a town that is isolated, self-sufficient and blockaded from any undead oppressors. Jamie and Spike venture to the mainland so Spike can get his first undead kill, which he does ably if a bit nervously. But the story veers quite unexpectedly from there.

What follows is a misguided attempt to connect with a mysterious doctor on the mainland (Ralph Fiennes). There are plenty of jump scares and tons of creepy and ultra-violent segments. Spike and his mother share a sweet bond, and their dynamic is the backdrop of the film’s themes on family, death, and repressed emotion. It’s entertaining throughout even as the gore gets a little much. That the entire thing was shot with iPhones is nothing short of a marvel, but the story is a bit weak, and also serves to set up future installments, including a what-the-fuck ending that feels not only from a different movie, but a different genre entirely and really casts a pall over the rest of the movie.

Jonathan’s Grade – C+