28 Years Later Review: Aaron Taylor-Johnson Leads Dark, Brutal Sequel
It’s been over two decades since Danny Boyle‘s 28 Days Later revitalized the zombie genre. Now, director Boyle and writer Alex Garland return to their hellscape to see what happened 28 years after the original outbreak. 28 Years Later is the new post-apocalyptic horror film following Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his son Spike (Alfie Williams) leaving an island to go on a perilous journey into the outside world. Much like the first two films, this is a bleak, depressing drama that contains elements of the zombie genre with its exceptional action and horror sequences.
The opening scene takes us back to the start of the outbreak, this time from the perspective of children. It allows for a particularly terrifying opening, and one that foreshadows the movie we’ll get. We cut to 28 years later and we meet our family. Jamie and his wife Isla (Jodie Comer) raise their son. Isla has been having severe memory issues. Jamie takes Spike out into the world, teaching him how to defend himself and how to survive. Boyle takes a few creative risks with his direction. He previously didn’t return to direct 28 Weeks Later due to his commitments on Sunshine (2007), but he’s now making this movie his own.
Firstly, this movie is primarily shot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. We’ve seen filmmakers like Steven Soderbergh and Sean Baker shoot feature films on iPhones before, but this may be the best-looking film ever shot on an Apple product. Most of the time, when movies are filmed on iPhones, you can tell. Here, it’s seamless. This movie looks just as good, if not better than movies primarily shot on digital or film cameras. 28 Years Later uses digital and film cameras as well, but the fact that the iPhone footage is integrated so seamlessly with the other footage is astounding. Yes, he’s using supplemental gadgets and lenses to capture an image you can’t get by pulling your phone out of your pocket and pressing record, but it’s still remarkable what he captures here.
Many scenes take place in the forest, and not every cinematographer knows how to bring texture to a forest. Sometimes in film, daytime scenes in forests can look a bit flat. But cinematographer Andrew Dod Mantle returns to this franchise after previously helming the first movie, and he brings so much out of these locations. There are great color contrasts and the atmosphere is truly dripping with tension. But not every choice works. Boyle used a camera rig with 20 iPhones attached to it, a setup similar to what the Wachowskis used to create the “Bullet Time” shot from The Matrix. When you see the final product in this film, it looks less like Bullet Time, and more of a video game style that harkens back to Uwe Boll’s work in House of the Dead (2003).
These shots occur right when a character has been shot, and we’ll often freeze, arc around the character, and then unfreeze. It’s not horrible, but it is a bit distracting when it happens. An early scene also has Jamie and Spike walking through the forest, intercut with archival footage. It’s also a bit distracting because we’re not really seeing this scene through Jamie or Spike’s perspectives; we’re seeing it through director Danny Boyle’s. It’s not always clear what he’s trying to tell us in this moment, even if his imagery is as visually arresting as ever. Boyle’s shot composition puts you on edge so that we’re almost always feeling the emotions and danger of our characters.
28 Years Later also does something quite interesting with Aaron Taylor-Johnson. In 2014, we got a Godzilla movie starring Bryan Cranston and Taylor-Johnson. A common complaint people have about that film is that it gets rid of Cranston’s character halfway through and focuses more on Taylor-Johnson’s character in the back half, even though Cranston played a more interesting character. This movie does the inverse of that. Taylor-Johnson plays a significant role during the first half of 28 Years Later, but the attention shifts away from him during the back half to focus more on Comer’s character. In both films, Taylor-Johnson gets the short end of the stick because Isla is a more interesting character than Jamie, so the movie picks up a bit once the focus shifts to Isla.
Taylor-Johnson is good, but Comer is exceptional. She’s genuinely a phenomenal talent, as film lovers have seen in The Last Duel and The Bikeriders. Her character is losing her memory and her perception of the world is distorted. If any audience members have ever had a family member struggle with dementia, this may feel heartbreakingly familiar. But something this movie doesn’t highlight enough is the true protagonist: Spike. 2025 has given us some phenomenal child performances (e.g. Bring Her Back), and 28 Years Later is no exception. Williams is a truly incredible dramatic actor and he gets to shine with an occasionally devastating performance.
There is a moment or two later in the film where the narrative loses some of the momentum and ends up having a lot more humor than you may expect. The final act is also a bit unconventional. This movie has a bleak view of death; a character can exist for a few scenes, have substantial dialogue, and then a few scenes later, the other characters are holding their remains. The marketing has shown images of mountains of skulls, which is a genuinely mortifying idea when you actually think about it and how every skull used to belong to a life. The ending is less of a large-scale action or horror set piece, but it’s more methodical and emotional. Garland brings back a lot of pathos to this series and it’s surprisingly poignant.
One particular dialogue sequence is exceptionally tragic because of how grounded and accessible it feels. Some of the tonal shifts can be a bit jarring between drama to horror to action, but it’s quite a serviceable addition to this franchise. It’s a good enough film to make us excited for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which will release next year and is directed by Nia DaCosta. The film leaves you with enough of a cliffhanger while resolving everything quite well here. This movie has images that are truly nightmare fuel, and it’s a daring, bold horror experience.
SCORE: 7/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 7 equates to “Good.” A successful piece of entertainment that is worth checking out, but it may not appeal to everyone.
Disclosure: ComingSoon attended a press screening for our 28 Years Later review.
Source: Comingsoon.net