If you thought the story of 28 Years Later was over, there’s a second film that plays more like an epilogue to 28 Years Later. Releasing this week is 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. This film Explorers more of Great Britain and other groups of people just trying to survive while at the same time exploring more of Dr. Kelson’s story played by the great Ralph Fiennes. At the end of the last movie, we were introduced to the Jimmy’s led by Jack O’Connell. If you remember the end of the last film, Spike as he sets off on his own encounters this cult-like group led by what appears to be a con man. That’s all I will say to avoid spoilers. And this film we get to see what they’re really all about and how they play their part within a world trying to survive 28 years after the zombie-like pandemic. It’s a good movie and if you enjoyed the last one then you definitely should see The Bone Temple. I liked it especially for the fantastic cameo at the end of the movie which will set up a third movie in this trilogy. Again no spoilers, you’ll just have to see the movie and be surprised like I was.
Before we get to my biggest critiques of the film, let’s dive into what makes this movie worth seeing. The Jimmy’s are an interesting group, brutal and unrelenting, they show how humanity can easily revert to tribalism to survive. Jack O’Connell is at his best in this movie. I’ve enjoyed him in pretty much everything that he’s done, but as much as you despise his character, you also kind of root for him which is the mark of a great performance. But the best part of this movie is Ralph Fiennes. It is his performance that makes this particular movie stand out because we get to explore more of his life trying to understand the disease. He is the tragic character within this film. The one that is doomed, but also tries to restore a sense of humanity and it is his relationship with the creatures and the understanding of how the disease works that makes the movie really interesting even beyond all the blood and gore. The movie is at its best when he is interacting with the Jimmy’s. It is very much Ralph Fiennes movie as he is the best part of the story. There’s a lot of great performances and we get to explore more about the world we’ve been introduced to. That’s great, however, this is a movie that could have been better, and I’ll get to that.
I don’t view this film as a standalone film in the 28 Days franchise. This is a second two of a two-part movie and if you were to combine both films and cut it down to a 3-hour movie, it’s certainly would have been better. Even a two-and-a-half-hour movie would have made the story much better. The biggest flaw of this film is it is too slow in the first two acts. The third act of this film is what really makes it worth watching, you just have to sit there for over an hour to get to that point. I understand how the filmmakers need to introduce this cult and how they will play into the larger story, but unfortunately, this is not some huge story where it takes multiple 2-hour movies to tell it in its entirety, it’s not Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which did need two movies to tell the story of the last Harry Potter book. It’s not The Hobbit movies where you needed more than one movie to tell this grand story, although three 3-hour movies were a bit much. The biggest flaw is the fact that both 28 Years Later movies should have been condensed into one film to tell him more concise story. There’s a lot of unnecessary exposition when exploring the lore of the current world and this goes into one of my biggest gripes about storytelling. Are there your story can fit within 2 or 2 ½ hours or if you really need a lot to tell a grand story then make it a limited series. It’s almost as if the filmmakers didn’t know what they wanted this to be, a movie or a series. However, it doesn’t take away from a really good story between the two movies. But this film could have been 90 minutes to where it didn’t feel like a slog to get to the best part of the movie.
My verdict on the film is this…If you’re a big fan of the franchise, yes, go see it in the theater, but you can still very much enjoy it once you can rent a digital copy. The 28 Years Later movies are certainly films that you will want to watch together as they tell a bigger story and it will feel like you’re watching The Lord of the Rings extended editions, which is fine! But it’s obvious that this story is intended to be a trilogy because of how it ended. I still believe that there’s a lot that could have been cut out of this movie to make the first two movies just 3 hours and one big movie that sets up a final film, but in this case, we definitely need a third movie to tell this grand story. If you go to see this movie, you’re doing it because of Ralph Fiennes performance who makes this movie better than it should be. Is this film along with 28 Years Later better than the two previous films, not really, but seeing where everybody is nearly three decades after this disease infected Great Britain and how a country is now a quarantine zone …well, that’s a story worth telling, and this movie is just one chapter within it. Personally, I would wait till it hits digital, but it is a fun movie in theaters as well. I’m being honest, I’m more excited for the third film because of the fantastic cameo at the end of this movie…and that’s all I have to say!
