’28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’ Finds a Little Tenderness Amidst the Rage

January 14, 2026

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Come on, send him your bones! (CREDIT: Miya Mizuno/Columbia Pictures)

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Chi Lewis-Parry, Emma Laird, Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Maura Bird, Ghazi Al Ruffai, Sam Locke

Director: Nia DaCosta

Running Time: 109 Minutes

Rating: R for Big Ol’ Zombie Nudity Again, Plus Some More Graphic Zombie Violence, But Even More Disturbing Uninfected Human-on-Human Violence

Release Date: January 16, 2026 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Last we saw of young lad Spike (Alfie Williams) in post-Rage Virus Britain, his mom had died of cancer, while he opted to fend for himself as his dad headed back home. Now he finds himself in the clutches of the Jimmys, a cultish group of scavengers who sport blond wigs in the style of disgraced English DJ Jimmy Savile. Under the leadership of the charismatically cruel Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), they psychopathically enforce their will over anyone and everyone. It’s a dangerous conscription, though it offers pretty solid protection against the zombified humans infected by the Rage Virus. Speaking of the infected, the most fearsome in the last chapter was the hulking specimen known as Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry), who finds himself forming an unlikely companionship with Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), who may just have developed some reliable treatments all these years later.

What Made an Impression?: I Think I’m Going to Ralph: 28 Years Later featured Ralph Fiennes being his usually terrific self, but it’s The Bone Temple that really lets him explore entirely new dimensions. He brings tenderness to an unlikely buddy comedy, cavorts with the forces of evil, and delivers a choreographed dance to Iron Maiden. It’s as full and varied a performance as you could possibly ask for.
Consistency is Key: It can be tricky shooting multiple sequels together and releasing them within a year of each other. Making matters even trickier is when you switch up the director, with Nia DaCosta taking over the reins from Danny Boyle this time around. But no need to worry, as the same sensibility manages to sufficiently survive. (I’m sure it helped that Alex Garland stayed on as writer.) Furthermore, DaCosta takes firm ownership over this chapter, and it might be my favorite feature from her yet.
The Man Behind the Wig: At times, the Jimmys are just unbearably ultraviolent, and it doesn’t feel like there’s much of a point to that beyond mere indulgence. Plus, O’Connell is all too willing to be as depraved as possible. Fortunately, we eventually get a peek behind the mask to discover how he became this menace in a way that rounds out the full storytelling picture without being overly pat. If things start out a little too mean for your tastes, just be patient, and everything will eventually be in its right place.
And One More Thing!: If things go well enough at the box office, there will be (at least) one more chapter in the Rage Virus saga, and The Bone Temple‘s final coda tantalizingly teases what that will be. You don’t need to stick around until after the credits to see it, but nevertheless make sure you pay attention all the way to the end.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple  is Recommended If You: Like being in the middle of a storytelling circle and winding around the corner with the end in sight

Grade: 3.75 out of 5 Jimmys

’28 Years Later’ Reveals What It’s Like to Rebuild Society Around the Rage Virus

June 19, 2025

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What would you do if Ralph Fiennes handed you a skull? (CREDIT: Miya Mizuno/Columbia Pictures)

Starring: Alfie Williams, Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, Edvin Ryding, Jack O’Connell

Director: Danny Boyle

Running Time: 115 Minutes

Rating: R for Zombie Violence and Graphic Zombie Nudity

Release Date: June 20, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: In 2002, a little movie called 28 Days Later was released, introducing us to the Rage virus, which turned those infected into high-speed zombie-like creatures. Now it’s 23 years later, but a little bit more time has passed in this fictional world. And so, 2025 delivers to moviegoers 28 Years Later, in which the virus has been beaten back on continental Europe, while the United Kingdom remains under quarantine and left to fend for itself. This is the only world that 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) has ever known, as he lives on a Rage-free island village along with his dad Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and chronically ill mom Isla (Jodie Comer). Intrepid souls occasionally travel to the mainland across a causeway for supplies while fending off the infected that freely roam about. With Spike now old enough to make the trip, he determines that he must track down a legendary doctor (Ralph Fiennes) to get his mom a diagnosis. Meanwhile, a few of the Rage zombies have leveled up with some of their own unique abilities.

What Made an Impression?: Out of Time: I only saw 28 Days Later for the first time a couple of years ago, but I already knew long before then that the cinematic landscape had been inimitably altered by its influence. Pretty much every zombie flick, post-apocalypse film, and general actioner owes it a massive debt. You could even argue that it’s influenced 21st century culture at large more than any other movie besides The Matrix. But while it’s timeless in that regard, it also feels very much of its moment. There’s no way that 28 Years could recreate that phenomenon, nor does it try to. But it does recreate its milieu on screen, and that’s a whose choice, considering how this is a world that has been essentially stuck in time for a full generation. I’m not saying that director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland have been grappling with the Rage-iverse every day for the past couple of decades, but it is clear that some significant parts of their souls never left. If this franchise means anything to you, you’ll surely feel the same way
Life is Combat: Several of the early scenes are interspersed with clips of what appear to be old British wartime propaganda videos, as well as movie scenes depicting war throughout the centuries. Life in the village is basically like ancient Sparta with a hint of The Wicker Man, where the threat is ravenous flesh-eaters instead of rival city-states. The vintage footage feels satirical, but also like a Zen acceptance of reality.
Memento Mori et Amori: Perhaps the most striking image of 28 Years Later is the one on its poster: a tower of skulls, consisting of the remains of both the infected and the uninfected. In the midst of inescapable violence, Boyle and Garland advise us once again to look to the ancients, specifically the concept of “memento mori,” Latin for “remember to die.” But add just one letter to that and it becomes “memento amori”: remember to love. In the midst of whatever catastrophe we’re living through, we must also embrace each other.
Surprise!: As I conclude this review, I look back to my state of mind as I anticipated this sequel’s arrival. Would it expand the lore, or would we perhaps get closer to a cure for the Rage virus? But of all the possibilities I considered, none of them were anywhere close to what we ended up with. That’s not to say that the setting or the characters are vastly different from 28 Years‘ predecessors, just that its winding plot path is thrillingly unpredictable and that I was happy to embrace the uncertainty.

28 Years Later is Recommended If You Like: A new chapter that raises more questions than it answers

Grade: 4 out of 5 Teletubbies