28 Years Later

Review

The opening scene shows a boy named Jimmy sitting and watching Teletubbies with a group of other children — most likely his siblings — when the infected suddenly break in. What follows is fast, brutal, and uncomfortable in the way this series does best. The boy runs as his family is torn apart, eventually making it to a local church where he finds a priest preparing himself for death.

There’s no big speech or moment of comfort — just brief dialogue and quiet acceptance. The boy leaves him behind to meet his God alone. It’s the end of the world, and the film doesn’t blink, even though the priest is the boy’s real father. The film doesn’t slow down to let that sink in — it just keeps running forward in the middle of this high-stress moment.

From the opening scene, I thought we were following Jimmy. That expectation shifts as the story quickly moves its focus to Spike, played by Alfie Williams.

Spike becomes the main character we follow through the chaos. He’s positioned as the young savior of the story, though it’s not immediately clear what he’s meant to save — his town, his mother, or maybe just himself.

The character that stood out the most to me was Dr. Kelson, played by Ralph Fiennes. Some know him as the Dark Lord. When he first appears, you’re not entirely sure who he’s supposed to be, and I found myself constantly watching him, trying to figure out his role in the larger story. Eventually, he settles into the familiar place of the wise man in the hero’s journey — the keeper of truth and hard-earned knowledge.

Behind the Camera

Behind the camera is where 28 Years Later becomes the most interesting — and where some of its choices start to work against it.

In 28 Years Later, Danny Boyle said he used two aspect ratios, one of them being an ultra-wide 2.76:1 (often associated with Ultra Panavision). The film was shot using smartphones fitted with anamorphic lenses to establish those wide, immersive shots, which is wild to think about — a smartphone being paired with anamorphic glass and other top-tier cinematic prime optics to achieve that look.

They built an array of around 20 synchronized smartphones mounted on a single rig to capture certain close-up shots of the actors while still maintaining that wide, immersive feel, almost like you were inside the action. The way these shots were cut felt like rapid snapshots being taken around the subject, one after another.

That technique feels very similar to the technology used in The Matrix to create bullet-time effects — conceptually the same idea, just with much smaller cameras. Using smartphones also made it much easier to shoot in extremely tight locations that would normally be difficult or impossible with larger camera bodies.

I think as smartphone cameras continue to advance, we’ll see them take on a much bigger role in filmmaking. They won’t fully replace traditional cinema cameras, but they’ll likely dominate certain aspects of how films are shot in the future. It kinda already is.

Camera & Framing

The film makes heavy use of handheld camera work, which I’m a fan of — when it’s done right. This movie mostly does it right, with only a few missteps. It has that run-and-gun, almost voyeuristic feel that clearly pays respect to 28 Days Later. You feel like you’re right there in the middle of the chaos, running and fighting for your life.

This works especially well in close, tight spaces, like the abandoned house sequence with Spike and his father James (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).

Where it starts to lose me is in the editing. Some shots last only a second or two before cutting away. When this approach works, it creates urgency and panic. Here, it often felt like too much. Slowing some of these cuts down — and removing a few altogether — would have made for a better experience.

The wide shots, though, are gorgeous. The rolling hills and open landscapes are framed beautifully. One shot in particular stuck with me — a single tree sitting between two hills during the journey to find Dr. Kelson. The composition naturally pulls your eye exactly where it should.

Lighting & Color

The blues in the sky and the greens in the landscape work really well together in many of the wide shots. The soft blue hues in the clouds look great, and when the film pulls back and lets the environment breathe, it’s visually impressive.

The problem is that the movie often pushes vibrancy too far. Some scenes feel overly bright, almost to the point of being uncomfortable, with moments that border on overexposure. I found myself wondering if this was partly due to the smartphone cameras being used and how their sensors handled certain lighting conditions.

The color grading works best in darker settings. The bone temple and the wildflower fields stand out visually, with purples and yellows popping against deep greens in a way that feels intentional rather than overwhelming.

Pacing & Sound

Pacing is the film’s biggest weakness. It moves too fast during moments that needed space to breathe, causing emotional scenes — moments that should have pulled at my heartstrings — to come and go without even a gentle tug.

The chase scenes are where the pacing works best. They’re intense, focused, and effective.

Sound design is where the film really frustrated me. Several scenes would have worked better with less sound, or even silence. The crossing from the holy island to the mainland early in the film is a good example. Another is the “welcome home” celebration for Spike. The music there felt loud and distracting.

Overall, much of the score doesn’t seem to match the mood of the scenes it’s paired with, which ends up pulling you out of the moment instead of pulling you in.

Themes & Meaning

The main theme running through the film is memento mori — “remember that you must die.” The bone temple makes this impossible to ignore, especially with the tower of skulls at its center. It’s a blunt reminder that death has always been part of human history.

Spike’s journey ties directly into that idea. His father begins teaching him these lessons early on during their journey in the mainland. It’s his mother who ultimately completes that lesson during their journey to find Dr. Kelson, forcing Spike to confront the hardest truth of all.

⚠️ “Oh Sh*t” Moment — Spoiler Alert ⚠️

Earlier in the film, we briefly see an infected woman who is clearly pregnant. It’s one of those quick moments where you immediately think, that’s not going to end well, but the movie doesn’t linger on it.

Later, when she reappears, you instantly realize you’re about to see the outcome of that setup. Spike’s mother ends up connecting with the infected woman — something we didn’t think was possible — and delivers the baby. I won’t say whether the child is infected or healthy, because that’s not the point of the moment.

What makes the scene hit is the fact that connection still exists where we assumed it was gone. It’s easily the most unsettling and memorable moment in the film.

Verdict

Final Thoughts

28 Years Later is packed with strong ideas, but it rarely gives those ideas enough time to fully land. The director leans hard into symbolism, and while some of it works, it often comes at the expense of pacing and emotional payoff. Scenes that should have hit hard rush past before they can really sink in.

There’s real ambition here, and visually the film has moments that genuinely stand out, but as a whole, it left me disappointed. It wants to say something meaningful about death, survival, and legacy — but it moves so fast that those ideas never quite settle.

Interesting Facts

• The “naked” infected weren’t really naked — a lot of that was prosthetics and makeup. Thinking about the burden that puts on extras and makeup artists really makes you tip your hat to them.
• Bone Temple build facts (from your behind-the-scenes notes): 1,000 bones in the upright columns, 5,500 skulls in the skull stake in the center, and roughly 250,000 bones total to build the entire Bone Temple.

What Worked

• The wide landscape shots are genuinely beautiful
• Strong performances from the cast, especially Spike and Dr. Kelson
• Chase scenes that deliver real tension

What Didn’t

• Overly vibrant color grading that sometimes feels blown out
• Sound design that distracts instead of supporting key moments
• Pacing that rushes scenes that needed more time

Audience Feedback

I’d love to hear your feedback and thoughts on the film. Email me at daniel@nobodycritics.com.