When 28 Years Later came out, at first it was a question of why are we getting a legacy sequel without Cillian Murphy, and while the movie as a whole sort of worked I was not a fan of what the end result was. It felt like it was missing something, and with both Boyle and Garland back in their positions there was a sense of disappointment as the hype and hope for the movie to be something to get excited about was far too large. While my opinion on the legacy sequel seems to be the minority, I’d be remised if I didn’t forewarn that it is literal essential viewing to see the sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple as it essentially picks up minutes after the movie ends, which personally is where I thought 28 Years Later got interesting.
Alex Garland returns to writing the sequel, but Danny Boyle has left and Nia DaCosta takes over directing for the Bone Temple which focuses on Spike (Alfie Williams) as he finds himself in the cross hairs of Sir Jimmy (Jack O’Connell) and his myriad of Jimmy’s (Connor Newall, Erin Kellyman, Maura Bird, Ghazi Al Ruffai, Robert Rhodes, Emma Laird, and Sam Locke). At the other end of the island we have Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) who is trying to cope with everything going on, survive, and finds himself exploring some new methods and ideologies with transformed and infected Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry). Without giving away too much of what Kelson discovers, it becomes nearly a buddy cop paradigm between Samson and Kelson which perfectly juxtaposes the chaos of Sir Jimmy and his gang of misfits that Spike does not want to be a part of but finds himself hopelessly trapped in. Continuing the trajectory of the first movie, Sir Jimmy is determined to wreck havoc and Dr. Kelson is determined to find a cure, or at least a way to co-exist. With both of these stories juxtaposing each other the balancing act here that Garland pulls off is a complete different tone and style from 28 Years Later, and the direction Nia DaCosta brings to the forefront injects a new life blood into a franchise that may have otherwise failed to keep the pulse going.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple hinges on the performances of Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, and Ralph Fiennes and all four of them bring over one hundred percent to the role and make this second entry into the rebooted franchise an incredibly high bar that will be hard to surpass, and of course it feels superfluous to state a years best in January, but truly 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will be hard fought to be dethroned as one of the best pictures of the year, exceeding all expectations and prejudgements.
