28 Years Later Review - 28 Bone Temples Later, American Angst, and British Cinema

I'm clearing out a backlog of materials I haven't been able to get out due to the double whammy of work and Nuna writing. Here is my review of Alex Garland and Danny Boyle's latest infected movie. I had planned to start a YouTube channel for reviews, but it has proven beyond my reach. This was originally a script so a bit different from my normal posts.

WAVE OF ADULATION & DENIGRATION

There were lots of positive reviews before and after, mostly from UK or international creators. But Yank presenters were very negative. The main American criticisms were of 28 Years as a sequel / continuation, as part of zombie genre, and as having too much male genitalia.

As for me, before 28 Years I was hyped.

I refused to see any type of spoiler beyond the trailers.

I went in fresh.

And I LOVED it.

I think a lot of people ruined it for themselves by bringing in dumb questions and preconceptions.

1) Would it continue the franchaise?

2) Would it add to the lore?

WORTHY SUCCESSOR?

I don’t think Danny Boyle or Alex Garland give a shit about making a good sequel or making a franchise.

I think they filmed 1-2 back to back because they foresaw the divided reaction.

I also think this question misses the point.

Z PROBLEM

Zombie franchises are diminishing returns. Look at how Romero’s movies petered out at the end.

By contrast, DB & AG are going out with a bang.

God love them.

THE LORE!!

Another mistake is focusing on the lore or canon.

As AG states, DB does not care about canon.

As I see it, they had two goals with 28 Years Later.

1) Subvert the oppressive American take on zombies (a la TWD)

2) Celebrate UK film

SUBVERTING AMERICANA

Jimmy Carr notes that British music is just American music repackaged and sold back to them. Same goes for zombie flicks.

NotLD = bleak, hopeless death

Zombieland = power fantasy (Hollywood, raves)

Walking Dead = Zombie redneck elegy

This approach is played out, and also doesn't grow well in UK soil.

CELEBRATING UK CINEMA

28 Years Later has more in common with The Wicker Man.

The Infected masks are more like a pagan symbol, the villages isolated and secretive.

Nudity abounds. This is pure UK cinema.

FAREWELL AMERICA'S RETURN TO NORMAL FANTASY

28 Years explodes the fantasy of a return to normal after the apocalypse, as in TWD town arc. It instead explores the strange new world created by the infection, one that has become ahistorical.

UNMOORED IN HISTORY

I loved how 28 Years shows an England unmoored in history. With its lush green landscape and abundant deer, it could be an ancient Celt film, or PreSaxon, preRoman England redux. This allows the loss of industrial time keeping, elevates the iron statue that could stand for millenia, and allows the hopeful discourses of memento mori & memento amoris. This works as an antidote to the apocalypse (end of history) narrative and instead posits a new cycle of history.

ROBIN HOOD INSTEAD OF CLINT EASTWOOD

Whereas TWD's Rick Grimes is a Clint Eastwood stand in, complete with honking big revolver and cowboy hat, Spike's father is Robin Hood, that quintessential British hero. Spike himself is young Arthur, wandering the land, counselled by an old wizard (Dr Kelso). Might he become king in a future film?

A ZOMBIE BY ANY OTHER NAME

One of the ways this shift is effected is by eschewing the term zombie. Notice the only character that calls the Infected ‘zombies’ is the UN soldier, Eric. It is an outside concept, and the film's UK characters keep it such.

Z BABY

Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead has a zombie baby that reinforces the dead end of infection. 28 Years has a living, healthy baby from a zombie mother. Could this portent a future where infected and uninfected might reunite? Dr Kelso's comments tend to hint at this.

JIMMY SAVILLE’S CABIN FEVER

I dug the ending, which many American commentators HATED. It could be a reference to the out of left field surprise ending of Canadian horror hit, Cabin Fever, where an autistic young boy kung fus the crap out of the survivor when he reaches civilization. Add to this the implication of UK celebrity pedophile Jimmy Saville, and we see a fresh UK take on the nature of power and leadership in crisis. This is especially powerful given the current state of the US as its power pedophile class empire crumbles.

CONCLUSION

Cultural blinders shape opinion on what constitutes a good movie. As a Canadian, I can appreciate both the US and UK views of how a film should be.

Movies are not insights into parallel realities, they are cinema. Trying to see them as reality simulations is a self-defeating task, I feel.

DB & AG reinvigorated the genre with 28 Days Later. Kudos for one upping themselves with 28 Years Later.

I have seen The Bone Temple and love it just as much as 28 Years. Expect a review when I come up for air.