Movie Details
Title: 28 Years Later – The Bone Temple
Director: Nia DaCosta
Starring: Jack O’Connel, Ralph Fiennes, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman
Genre: Horror / Apocalypse / Zombie
Runtime: 1h 49m
Rating: R
A Brief Review With Minimal Spoilers
We are now two films into the 28 Years Later trilogy, and it’s clear that Alex Garland isn’t interested in repeating the past. He hasn’t strayed far from the visceral and gritty action that made the first films classics, but the plot might as well be a different franchise. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple continues to subvert what it means to be a zombie film, even if it gets a little closer to the violence and stomach-churning gore we’re used to seeing.
28 Years Later was a meditation on death (my review), it was slow and methodical at times, showing a side of a post apocalyptic world I had never seen in film. The Bone Temple takes up that mantle, but instead focuses on dueling approaches to living in the remnants of society. On one hand, there is Jack O’Connel’s (Also fantastic in Sinners) Jimmy, the boy from the opening scene of 28 Years Later. Jimmy is chaotic, jittery, and convinced the infected are sent by The Devil. He represents giving up on the world and accepting humanity’s destiny to burn for eternity.
Once again playing the counterweight to this bleak philosophy is Ralph Fiennes as Dr. Kelson. Kelson seems perfectly at home with the new world, if not a little melancholy about it. Rather than rejecting the horrors he sees daily, he accepts them, and finds a way to move on with purpose through life. It’s a powerful metaphor for what one can do when they decide to take their head out of the sand and live with problems rather than against them.
Both performances are standouts and once again anchored by Alfie Williams, a brilliant child actor, playing Spike. Spike is young and still learning to adapt to the world around him, and the series is all about throwing him right in the middle of conflicting perspectives. In the first film, he reckoned with his father’s brutal, survivalist approach to living and burying the hurt down deep. In The Bone Temple, he’s forced to sit with Jimmy and watch horrible atrocities committed in the name of worship.
It all comes together in a beautiful chaotic mix that is highlighted by the way the movie is filmed. Like the first film, The Bone Temple was shot entirely with iPhones. Fight scenes have a close-up, jagged feel, and yet there is still beauty in wide open shots of the British landscape. The camera ping pongs between these two perspectives, generating a sense of unease that only lets up for brief moments in the film’s two-hour runtime.
Unpredictably, the film’s action is mainly in its first half with its climax being somewhat of a rock karaoke show rather than the showdown one might expect. Yes, threads are closed and others are opened—it’s the middle of a trilogy after all—but it all sort of calmly drifts off into a morphine stupor. The ending does lead directly into the third film, which I really hope they get to make, but it doesn’t feel unsatisfying. I felt like The Bone Temple had a specific piece of the story to tell and did it in a satisfying fashion.
Closing Thoughts
Just like its predecessor, I thoroughly enjoyed The Bone Temple. There was a bit more torture and truly uncomfortable dismemberment than I’m keen on, but it is a zombie apocalypse movie. I think I prefer 28 Years Later’s meditative nature compared to the sheer chaos on display in The Bone Temple, but I will still be there opening weekend for the final film.
If you enjoyed 28 Years Later, you’ll enjoy this one, if you didn’t, you won’t. It’s more of the same and pays very little service to fans of the franchise. Instead, Garland continues to craft something unique that will stand longer than any by the numbers sequel could.
Garland continues to prove that when it comes to undead world building, he knows what he’s doing.
If you enjoyed this review, consider checking out my books! I am an action-adventure writer and my latest comedic sci-fi novel, One Night at Kedasi, just released at the end of last year. It follows Zip Turbine, a sarcastic ship captain, and her best friend Tom, a five-foot tall talking shrimp. They’re forced into a deadly mission to an “abandoned” theme park asteroid where they face untold peril and a secret, deadly foe.
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Ashton Macaulay 