This article was originally posted on the DIASPORA newsletter on June 19, 2025. Subscribe here.
SPOILER ALERT: This article includes details about 28 Years Later.
As I sit waiting for the screening of 28 Years Later to begin, I am made aware that there is an argument about whether or not Solo is a good movie happening behind me. At the same time, I’m sure ICE raids are happening somewhere in Los Angeles and around the country. Protest rights are being criminalized. LGBTQ rights — specifically trans rights are being rolled back left and right. DEI is a forbidden word. Women are being silenced more and more. The leaders of this country are basically playing a game of “say you’re racist without saying you’re racist”. Politicians are abusing power more than usual. Journalism is not just dead it is morbidly deceased. Lies are being sold as fact.
I can’t help but think and laugh about how the world is unraveling into a whirlwind thunderfuck of chaos and I am about to sit through a movie about a zombie apocalypse and the dystopian wasteland it left behind.
”This could be our future,” I think as I try not to take a hit of my 701 Labs vape in my pocket. I do not vape indoors. Because I’m a lady. And ladies excuse themselves and go to the restroom and vape in the stall.
It’s been a minute since I stepped foot in the world of the 28 Days-iverse. 28 Years Later is a “let’s get the band back together” moment as director Danny Boyle reunites with screenwriter Alex Garland for the post-apocalyptic zombie extravaganza.
The pair worked together on the original 28 Days Later (2002) starring Cillian Murphy before going on to produce the standalone sequel 28 Weeks Later (2007) directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.
Now here we are… 28 Years Later and it’s the same shit different year.
Actually, things have gotten worse.
After almost three decades of the virus, there are communities of people who have managed to live amongst the infected (btw: they never say “zombie” in this franchise) in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine. Zoom in on an island of survivors in a heavily guarded community. It’s giving M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village but dystopian and British with a blue/gray color palette.
Zoom in on Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), his wife Isla (Jodie Comer), and their son Spike (Alfie Williams).
Jamie is a proud dad. Because today is the day his son Spike “becomes a man.” More on that in a bit. Meanwhile, Isla is suffering from mental and physical ailments. It is apparent that Spike cares a little bit more about his mom’s well-being than Jamie.
At 12 years old, Spike has been approved by the town council to take Spike to the infected-ridden mainland via the land bridge at low tide. It’s a rite of passage and the whole town is rooting for him. Very fun heteronormy stuff — but mom does not approve. Even so, Spike and Jamie go against her wishes.
But hold on, let’s rewind to the very beginning of the movie. The cold open, if you will. Because it’s important.
Boyle and Garland are all about vibes and they build it from the jump. With a gaggle of children watching an uneasy, lo-fi fractured video of The Teletubbies, as the world is being taken over by the infected. The parents do their best to protect the kids, but alas, they violently become zombie chow… except for one. And his name is Jimmy.
He survives after a gnarly sequence that involves a church and a priest taking one for the team.
Needless to say, Jimmy is, like Destiny’s Child, he is a survivor. He’s not going to give up. He’s not going to stop. He’s going to work harder.
But let’s get back to Jamie and Spike’s adventures. While they are in the dangerous wilds of the mainland, there are amazing hyper-violent zombie-kill sequences. The action is wild and I forget that Boyle loves to create these visual soundscapes that create a vibe. It supports the narrative and feels so punk rock. It feels like a zine. It’s a bit much, but I don’t mind. And we get to see that much-talked-about iPhone rig in action!
But what happens on the mainland becomes an interesting study of masculinity, what it means to “be a man” and what it means to be a father. Multiple times we see Spike, who is too baby-faced for his own good, wildly panicked when the infected attack. But he still knows what to do. He still manages to know where to hit with his trusty bow and arrow: “the head and the heart”. He’s not as clumsy as you expect.
There are moments when Jamie yells at him, forcing him to look at dead carcasses and the body of a dead man hanging by his feet, saying that it will be good for him. There are tender moments when he is that father who says “That’s OK, you’ll get ‘em next time kid” and the other father who doesn’t know any better and runs up to the line and yells “I don’t want my son to act like a girl!” He takes a beat before he steps over it. There’s an exploration of the imperfect father. You feel sorry for Jamie because of what he’s been through not because Aaron Taylor Johnson was in Kraven.
28 Years Later ups the stakes with a new breed of infected. It just makes sense that this virus would evolve. And now, there are Alpha infecteds with — I am just going to say it — huge schlongs. And I argue it’s a character choice. It just makes sense that Alphas would rip off the heads of his victim Sub-Zero style a la Mortal Kombat and have a huge penis. As a result, there would be a pregnant infected woman. And lo and behold, there was a pregnant infected woman because the infected have to get down, too.
[Yes, there is a pregnant zombie which I don’t want to get into too much. The baby delivered by Isla in the movie was not infected. I have a theory that the infected pregnant woman might have turned whilst pregnant. This may be explored in the next film, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple directed by Nia DaCosta]
Boyle and Garland teaming up 23 years after the flagship film in an era of remakes, reboots, and rehashes is a gamble. 28 Years Later made enough noise to stand out from the ruckus being vomited from Hollywood’s cinematic franchise machine.
Was it a sonic boom? No. But it’s an exciting movie. It feels like it is engaging enough for screen-obsessed audiences to not get distracted. Boyle’s intercuts of random footage of medieval archers, war, and soldier footage to create mood and tension is a signature and gives a film a sharp edge that cuts. It leaves a scar.
Despite being populated with a majority white cast, 28 Years Later gives colonizer energy, but puts more weight on the co-existence narrative — a lesson the majority of humanity could use right now. The non-infected are trying to learn to live with the infected, but it is not reciprocated until the aforementioned scene when Isla comes upon the pregnant zombie woman who is in pain and distress.
Like an animal in labor, she calms her and helps her deliver the baby. There is a moment of “community” and a bond of womanhood in this moment. It is a watershed moment in the film — and a moment of hope. In one split second we think, “Oh, maybe the non-infected and infected can co-exist!” Then, a trigger-happy soldier man from the outside world comes in and ruins it for everyone causing more chaos.
There’s something about Jodie Comer as Isla. There’s something heartbreakingly off-center about her performance that makes sense for this world and this world only. She gives enough melodrama while eating enough of the scenery to leave room for dessert. But it is her unexpected storyline with Spike that is giving telenovela. There’s a moment you ask yourself, “Why the fuck am I crying during a zombie movie?” She reminds you why you fell in love with her in Killing Eve.
Ralph Fiennes as the mysterious, creepy skull collector — and borderline witch doctor caricature — Dr. Kelson leaves so many unanswered questions as does the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it intro of tracksuit-clad Jimmy — yup, he’s the kid from the beginning all grown up! It’s great to see Jack O’Connell again after Sinners. In this economy, seeing a working actor that isn’t a marquee name staying booked and busy is greatly appreciated.
The apocalyptic horror isn’t a full story as we see with its cliffhanger ending — and it’s major tonal shift. It’s a choice. Whether or not a good one, it’s hard to tell because we’ll have to see how it carries over to The Bone Temple which is slated for release on January 16, 2026.
I, for one, can’t wait to sit through more naked, bloody, red-eyed zombies running about with boobs and penises flapping about looking like they are background actors in The Last Temptation of Christ. And there are even moments when Boyle gives gorgeous picturesque shots of the infected running through the fields reminiscent of the closing credits of Little House on the Prairie.
28 Years Later exists in a time when Hollywood is in the eye of a never-ending hurricane of franchises and IP. This one stands out enough because it’s actually tolerable — but honestly, the bar is low. Let’s just say 28 Years Later is good. Only names like Boyle and Garland can transform a zombie dystopia into an arthouse allegory of madness and heart in humanity. The duo was right to marinate for 23 years to give us a new installment of the 28 Days-iverse. It just feels like the right time because, well, the world just feels like shit. Why not lean into it?
