Tag Archives: Danny Boyle

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A review of “28 Years Later” (2025)

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Perhaps predictably, I truly enjoyed “28 Years Later” (2025).  It wasn’t a perfect film, but it was damned good; I’d rate it a 9 out of 10 on the Nolan scale.  Screenwriter Alex Garland and director Danny Boyle are still the dream team for stylish, breakneck-paced action-horror.  (It was their incendiary creative alchemy gave us the classic 2002 original film, “28 Days Later.”)

The movie has beautiful acting across the board, kinetic action sequences, decent makeup effects, convincing sets, a resonant theme and some gorgeous cinematography.  (I keep reading that the film was shot with … iPhones?  All of it?  Really?)

Jodie Comer and Ralph Fiennes absolutely shine; Aaron Taylor-Johnson is also quite good.  But I particularly enjoyed the performance of 14-year-old Alfie Williams, whose character’s coming-of-age comprises the human story of the film.

On the downside, “28 Years Later” has some problems with pacing and structure — although things like those are especially subjective, and other viewers will hardly notice.

Several characters make decisions that are … baffling.  (Yes, I do realize that Williams’ character is supposed to be 12 years old, and that this is a horror movie.  But … seriously, wtf, kiddo?)  And there are some larger plot questions that I can’t really expand upon for fear of spoilers.

Finally, an abrupt change of tone at the end of the film left me feeling a little nonplussed.  It might make sense in a larger context — the next “28” installment is due out in only six months, and the hard left turn we see in the final moments might be validated where the next movie picks up.  For now, though, I have mixed feelings about this ending.  (I want to know why a lengthy, somber meditation on mortality should end like a Saturday morning cartoon.)

I cheerfully recommend this!  It is obviously not for the faint of heart, but it is highly effective action-horror that still manages to catch the viewer off guard.  And Boyle delivers it with oddball, feverish finesse.

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What is that strange poem in the trailer for “28 Years Later” (2025)?

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If you’re a horror fan like I am, then you were delighted with the news that Danny Boyle, Alex Garland and even Cillian Murphy have reunited to present the world with “28 Years Later” (2025).  And the trailer to which I’ve linked below is the real one.  (I positively loathe the abundance of fake movie trailers to be found online — especially when their incorporation of AI makes them seem authentic.)

The creepy military cadence that you hear in the background, I have come to learn, is Rudyard Kipling’s 1903 poem, “Boots.”  I pasted it below for your perusal.

Postscript — am I an OCD psycho if it annoys me that we didn’t get a “28 Months Later” before a “28 Years Later,” just for consistency?  There were one or two fan films that appropriated the title.  Maybe we could collectively vote to simply decide that at least one is canon?

“Boots,” by Rudyard Kipling

We’re foot—slog—slog—slog—sloggin’ over Africa —
Foot—foot—foot—foot—sloggin’ over Africa —
(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again!)
There’s no discharge in the war!

Seven—six—eleven—five—nine-an’-twenty mile to-day —
Four—eleven—seventeen—thirty-two the day before —
(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again!)
There’s no discharge in the war!

Don’t—don’t—don’t—don’t—look at what’s in front of you.
(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again);
Men—men—men—men—men go mad with watchin’ em,
An’ there’s no discharge in the war!

Try—try—try—try—to think o’ something different —
Oh—my—God—keep—me from goin’ lunatic!
(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again!)
There’s no discharge in the war!

Count—count—count—count—the bullets in the bandoliers.
If—your—eyes—drop—they will get atop o’ you!
(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again) —
There’s no discharge in the war!

We—can—stick—out—’unger, thirst, an’ weariness,
But—not—not—not—not the chronic sight of ’em —
Boot—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again,
An’ there’s no discharge in the war!

‘Taint—so—bad—by—day because o’ company,
But night—brings—long—strings—o’ forty thousand million
Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again.
There’s no discharge in the war!

I—’ave—marched—six—weeks in ‘Ell an’ certify
It—is—not—fire—devils, dark, or anything,
But boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again,
An’ there’s no discharge in the war!

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Episode 1 of “Black Summer” (2019) looks quite promising.

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The hectic first episode of “Black Summer,” Netflix’ new zombie series, looks like ambitious stuff — it plays like a hybrid of “28 Days Later” (2002), “Pulp Fiction” (1994) and “24” (2001-2014).  While it seems unlikely that this show can emulate the greatness of those classics, “Black Summer” still gets off to a damned good start.  I’d rate the first episode an 8 out of 10 for being a pretty lean and mean start to a decent zombie series.

Part of the episode’s appeal is its frantic vibe and format — something that seems like a deliberate contrast to “The Walking Dead’s” slowly placed, methodical epic.  The viewer is plopped down into the middle of a heartland neighborhood evacuation effort, three weeks into a zombie epidemic.  With a series of lengthy, real-time tracking shots, we race beside a collection of unconnected characters who are desperately trying to reach United States Army pickup point.

The zombies are few in number.  But they are the “high-speed zombies” that most modern horror viewers associate with Danny Boyle’s film, so the arrival of even one imperils the fleeing families.  The makeup effects are good, the transformation process is effectively rendered, and the show is satisfyingly scary.  The show makes this even more interesting by filming each character’s dash individually, and then showing them as discrete vignettes that are out of chronological order.  

The story is weakest when it slows down enough to allow its characters to talk.  The dialogue is truly bad, even if the quick action sequences make up for it.  (Has there ever been a more generic bribery offer, for example, then the one we see here?)  But this weakness doesn’t much affect the overall quality of an episode that follows so much action.

I was even more surprised that the episode works when I googled “Black Summer.”  The Netflix series is produced The Asylum, the film company notorious for “mockbusters” like “Dead Men Walking” (2005), “Snakes on a Train” (2006) and … sigh … “Transmorphers” (2007).  What’s more, “Black Summer” is intended as a prequel series to  The Asylum’s “Z Nation,” the lamentable horror-comedy zombie series that ran for three seasons on SyFy.  (It was so bad I couldn’t get through a single episode.)

It’s a weird world.

 

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