Before watching the latest zombie flick from Danny Boyle, I rewatched the 1st two films in the series – 28 DAYS LATER and 28 WEEKS LATER. Despite its shakey Canon XL1 camera work, the 1st film holds up. This is thanks to Boyle’s direction, which turns anything into an intense moment. Whereas 28 WEEKS LATER is known for having one of the best zombie opening sequences of all time, only to follow it up with a story in search of a protagonist that audiences care about.
It’s instantly exciting to see 28 YEARS LATER dive back into its universe with a sequence that needs to be seen to be believed, involving kids, Teletubbies, and zombies. Where the film starts to fall apart is in the sheer breadth of the story that it’s trying to tell. There are at least three separate stories in 28 YEARS LATER, and really, only two of them were interesting. The stories covered in Acts I and II were my favorites, and by Act III, the film started to move at a slow, “zombie” pace.
28 YEARS LATER is not a bad film. It’s messy, technically impressive, and has some genuinely captivating moments. However, it’s not worth the twenty-five years or so that audiences have waited for Danny Boyle and Alex Garland to reteam.
It’s available in theaters now.
