WORTH A LOOK?: ****

Danny Boyle (T2 Trainspotting) returns to direct the 3rd film in this series which focuses on the Kes-like training of 12-year-old Spike to defend himself which is intended to kickstart 2 further movies.

• Read on for reasons including how this is a thrilling reminder of what was so involving about this world

28 Years Later is set in 2031, 28 years after the 1st film 28 Days Later, and starts on a remote Scottish island which has survived attacks by those humans infected by the Rage Virus thanks to fortifications and a natural causeway which is only passable at low tide.

Taylor-Johnson (Nosferatu) plays Spike’s scavanger father and takes him to the mainland for the 1st time to make a kill though things are complicated when they encounter a powerful Alpha opponent during an eventful tutoring.

Boyle uses distorted voices and, we think, clips from Laurence Olivier’s 1944 Henry V to conjure a very British mood of the past which is amplified by the Wicker Man vibe of the remote community and their traditions.

In the film’s 2nd act Spike becomes alienated by his father and resolves to take his sick mother (Jodie Comer, Prima Facie, Harold Pinter Theatre) to see a doctor played by Ralph Fiennes (Richard III, Almeida)

Alex Garland, who wrote the 1st film, returns here and there are lots of interesting ideas to dwell on including boats patrolling the UK which people aren’t allowed to leave as the infected have been eradicated elsewhere in Europe.

Also in a very The Last Of Us twist we are presented in this film with an infected mother giving birth to a child who is free from the virus and will doubtless figure in the movies to come.

There’s also a bookending narrative here which sets up a controversial A Clockwork Orange-type vibe starring a far from recognisible Jack O’Connell (Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Apollo Theatre) we expect to feature in a 2nd film with a different director already in the can and expected to be released in January 2026.

28 Days Later sparked new interest in the zombie genre which has been mined to almost exhaustion in its TV form by The Walking Dead and the superior The Last Of Us.

28 Years Later is a thoughtful and genuinelly thrilling reminder of what was so involving about this world and we can’t wait for the future films in this series not least because we care about what happens to Spike played sensitively by Alfie Williams in a challenging world all the more chilling because of Covid.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy 28 Years Later
• Have you seen a film in this series before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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