28 Years Laterhas been a long time coming — 23 years, to be exact.Danny BoyleandAlex Garland’s original 2003 film28 Days Laterhelped to redefine the “zombie” genre. While the infected at the heart of the original movie weren’t zombies per se, they met enough characteristics to help make the film a landmark in the genre. While28 Weeks Laterwould satiate fans who wanted to return to the world, it’s Boyle and Garland’s reunion in this third installment that has generated real excitement.
However, now that it has finally been released in theaters,28 Years Laterhas received mixed audience reception, in no small part thanks to its ending. While the film would receive rave critical reviews and earn an impressive 90% “Fresh” rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, its audience score would be on the lower end of 65%, indicating that general audiences weren’t as receptive.
Much of the discourse surrounding the movie revolves around its closing minutes, which depict the main character, Spike (Alfie Williams), being saved from a horde of infected by aman calling himself Sir Jimmy (Jack O’Connell). Sir Jimmy is accompanied by his group of Jimmies, adorned in tracksuits and jewelry and makeshift medieval weapons, as they pull off a hyper-stylized and choreographed fight, killing the infected before the movie ends. While this may seem like it came out of nowhere,28 Years Later’s controversial ending should be given more credit, as it stays true to the creative team’s style and had been hinted at throughout the film.
28 Years Later
In ‘28 Years Later,’ the Devil Is in the Details
Right from the start of the movie,28 Years Lateris posited as a coming-of-age story, showing the perspective of youth in light of the horrifying spread of the rage virus and the quarantine of the U.K. The grisly opening scene takes place at the start of the outbreak from the perspective of a young boy who watches both of his parents die violent deaths, with the movie moving forward 28 years later. However, rather than focusing on the story of this boy, the film shifts perspectives to another kid named Spike, who has only known life after the outbreak.
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It’s a smooth narrative transition that keeps a similar kind of perspective, and as audiences are introduced to the small island community that Spike lives in, and the complicated family dynamic with his father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and sick mother Isla (Jodie Comer), they soon can’t help but push the child from the opening scene to the back of their minds. Boyle’s eye for stylistic camera work (now famously reported as havingused iPhones to film) and masterful use of tension have audiences engrossed in the story at hand, andthey can miss some of the more critical details that reference Sir Jimmy’s eventual arrival.
As Spike heads out with his father into the mainland, he can’t help but be curious about those who live in the area. Jamie dismissively talks about groups who are just as bad as the infected, and the duo even run into a strung-up body with the name “JIMMY” carved into it in what Jamie can only speculate is a sick form of punishment from another group.The devil is in the details in28 Years Later, and the controversial ending works even better when looking at all the signs you first missed. Graffiti on a church offers a foreboding warning, with Jimmy’s name etched on it. He was there the whole time, and viewers didn’t know it.
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That Surprise Group of Characters Was Unexpected
Besides the eccentric and weird ending, which makes sense within the hidden context clues in the movie,Sir Jimmy and his group also serve as a striking commentary on British pop culture at the time of the outbreak, which is set in the early 2000s. Online discourse about the film has only grown more intense with the speculation (and eventual confirmation) that infamous British celebrity Jimmy Savile inspired the group of characters at the end of the movie. Once a beloved and charitable figure, Savile would be exposed after his death as being a predatory sex offender, making his influence on the film a controversial issue for some, to say the least.
However, much like the chaotic andvisceral ending of28 Days Later, Boyle and Garland utilize the zombie genre to offer a fresh and striking commentary, only this time on selective memory and the dangers of romanticization. Instead of seeing the tonally jarring and hilariously edited fight sequence at the end of the film as a detriment, it should be viewed as an impressive way of conveying poignant themes, especially for those familiar with the characters' representations. Boyle and Garland aren’t interested in replicating what made their first zombie movie work. The duo is more interested in utilizing this newest story to showcase different ways kids can process and handle their grief while growing up in a turbulent and unpredictable world.
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There is also the fact that28 Years Laterhas, from the start, beenmarketed as a trilogy of films.28 Years Later: The Bone Templeis due for release in January of next year, so those who didn’t like the open-ended nature of the conclusion won’t have to wait long for answers. Despite all that,Boyle and Garland left plenty of clues about the type of person Sir Jimmy is, and the revelation that he is the boy from the beginning of the film feels like the perfect narrative bookend, no matter how zany Boyle’s direction is for the scene. It’s a frenetic and fast-paced sequence that fits right at home with anything else in Boyle’s expansive filmography.
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland Stay True to Their Creative Nature in ‘28 Years Later’
28 Years Lateris a weird, gory, and beautiful movie. From its jarring editing, unconventional camerawork, and genre-bending, chaotic yet beautiful score from Young Fathers, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s return to the world of the rage virus is almost nothing like their first entry from a thematic standpoint. The ending of the movie presents a stark contrast to the original. Whereas Jim from the first movie sees the possibility of a way out, Spike’s encounter with Sir Jimmy only brings the promise of delving further into a world ravaged by rage and the survival of the fittest.
Thecontroversial ending to28 Years Latermay have felt tonally jarring, but it avoided the pitfalls of plenty of other films that try to set up what’s to come. Sir Jimmy’s arrival didn’t infringe upon the incredibly emotional coming-of-age story that saw Spike say goodbye to his mother and try to find his path forward. Instead,there are layers to the manic nature of the conclusion, hidden underneath the superficial layer of a hilariously edited and entertaining action sequence. All that we can do is wait to see Nia DaCosta’s entry into the trilogy pick up on Spike’s story and how he and Sir Jimmy move forward in their world of the infected.28 Years Lateris in theaters now.
