28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
A sequel to 28 Years Later1 - last year’s return to the zombie franchise. This one follows a band of roving lunatics, hell-bent on wreaking havoc with people trying to survive the zombie apocalypse.
This marks the end of our cinema triple-header, and it’s probably not one I would have gone for ordinarily. However, the Bone Temple in the title refers to Ralph Fiennes’ home in the last film. This was the strongest part of the film so I was interested to see what they had in store.
Again, if you came for a zombie thriller you might be understandably let down. This is a contemplative, cerebral, mercilessly violent exploration into the breakdown of society, and even less of a zombie film than the last one.
It’s a typically thought provoking and well-rendered script from Alex Garland, and Nia DaCosta’s direction fits the screenplay perfectly. The film explores more of what captivated me about the narrative in the previous one, and drops what felt superfluous.
As part of a franchise it feels a like a gap-fill, but as a stand-alone thing I liked it (although it clearly assumes you’ve seen 28 Years Later). Ralph Fiennes gives an excellent performance that is nuanced and full of small surprises.
It’s needlessly bleak and violent in its opening third, but I suppose as a way to show how deranged the baddies are it is effective.
These two films have been far from perfect but they have shown that there is a story worth telling here. This one has a much clearer sense of purpose and focus on what it wants to say, and it might have been enough to sell me on a ticket to the final film when it comes out.