28 Years Later – Movie Reviews by Ry!
28 Years Later – Humanity’s Worth in Living … Its all about the RAGE
Films are defined by the personal eye. When escaping into a visual story, what enthralls an individual becomes one of perception and appeal. Do you like the thrill of escaping from a burning building to the triumphs of the underdog achieving their dreams. From comedy to romance, the enjoyment at hand becomes a draw of that personal eye. This is true for original ideas … and also returning IPs. In this review, I look at the newest entry in a popular horror franchise. Within its own dying world, it becomes an ironic journey of life. Even when elements become ambiguous, 28 Years Later provides a thoughtful and crazed look at … what does it mean to be alive.
Many years after the Rage virus wrecked Great Britain, a young boy will come to understand what it means to be alive in a world that has left you behind. There is something to be said when excitement and reality become part of the ride. On one hand, a return to a franchise that redefined the horror genre (28 Days Later), with the original director (Danny Boyle) and writer (Alex Garland) becomes an enthralling pull. On the other hand, the unknown is a strike upon seeing what ideas can be built many years since then. With this review, I’m going to steer into what are the three things that will make or break the experience (for the audience):
Characterized Moments
With this entry, the centralized focus is on a boy named Spike (Alfie Williams), who lives with his father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and mother, Isla (Jodie Comer) on a protected small island. Here, the group of survivors have found a way to thrive in a disconnected UK, where the world has quarantined the Rage Virus. Through a series of conversational moments and visual storytelling, you witness how they interact and counter threats from the mainland. The interactions between Spike, Jamie and Isla become an aspiring but endearing journey about growth, family and sacrifice. Being in a world that is completely separate from ‘modern society’ is a reflective window of the personal experience, providing a causality to the decisions each of these characters, especially Spike, makes in the film. From the innocence to the blindness, the path forward makes you feel for each character on this journey.
Ethereal Thematic Prowess
Beyond the characters is a sense of worldly allure that becomes the opening to the unknown, what is truly living on the mainland. When our characters go beyond the safety of their community, the film moves into an undefine sense of reality dissecting morality. What is truly the ideas of living when uncertainty is all around, even beyond those infected with the Rage Virus. From the father/son and mother/son dynamic to the complexion of defining what human values are, it is cathartic how these themes pull on your emotions when there is unexpected tension at every turn. From the crazed rage monsters to the random characters Spike encounters (review the list of characters on the IMdb Page – link), it propels the themes through a sense of technique, visual prowess and smartly written moments that showcase (to the audience) that choices matter in a world defined by survivability.
Arthouse like Appeal
Within the first two pieces, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland are able to pull you back into this world through a sense of grit, tension and tragic reflection of humanity’s worth. For how great it is to see strong characters and original spins of familiar themes, it is the arthouse choices that enhance and weigh down the experience. As Spike (and the others) traverse this ravaged world, moments are dissected with unexpected visual quips and odd characters that can propel suspense, but also detract from the overall journey. These moments are thought-provoking, but at times, they mess with the atmosphere and may drive a wedge into enjoying the characters and the overall world building.
Even when there are odd choices in direction, 28 Years Later is a roller coaster of the horror experience. If you are a fan of those involved, the previous films or like something that can provoke a sense of awe and wonder, this is one for you. For the erratic details, it is an engaging experience that I believe is worth seeing on the big screen.
Full Score – 4 out of 5 (Full Price)