28 Years Later, the highly anticipated sequel to 2003's 28 Days Later (which, hot tip, is available to stream on Pluto TV) arrives in theaters alongside Elio, the latest from Disney-Pixar in the kiddie sci-fi adventure genre. At home, recent hits like Final Destination: Bloodlines and A24's Friendship are now available to rent. On streaming, A Minecraft Movie comes to HBO Max, and a couple of indie flicks worth your time land on Shudder and Paramount+ with Showtime. Read on because there's something for everyone.
My recommendation: 28 Years Later
Why you should watch it: First things first: 28 Years Later is the start of a planned trilogy, a fact you’d never know unless you’re extremely plugged into reading about movies online. The sequel is already shot and has a January 2026 release date. The third film has not yet been produced. It's all a bit confusing considering the movie is both the end of a trilogy — sequel 28 Weeks Later came out around 5 years after the original — and the start of one.
The movie, disappointingly, is very much part one of three, feeling like an act one more than a cohesive and fully satisfying whole. An out-of-the-blue tonal shift button at the end is the only real indicator that there’s more on the way, as the story of this movie pretty much ends, and there’s an extra scene that teases something entirely different to come.
There’s plenty to praise here, though, despite that inherent disappointment in expecting a finished product and getting merely the start of one. The creative team behind the original film returns, with Danny Boyle in the director’s chair, Alex Garland penning the script and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle doing incredible work and keeping up with the digital aesthetic that became synonymous with 28 Days Later by shooting the movie on modified iPhone 15s.
The film takes place, well, 28 years after the rage virus began, and in that time the infected have evolved, but I won’t spoil the sheer fun and horror of discovering these new variants. Like all good zombie flicks, it reflects on the era in which it was made, and there are obvious parallels here to real-world events like Brexit. It’s hard to not think of the film as a response to the mass death we all experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s a more thoughtful and somber film than some may be expecting, lighter on zombie action than its predecessors and more focused on domestic drama and acceptance of circumstances. It’s surprisingly emotionally affecting by the third act, once Ralph Fiennes, the film’s MVP, enters. Protagonist Alfie Williams, a child actor making his debut, is terrific too. Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson both feel more like plot conveniences than characters.
It’s a shame that the movie is undercut by the “this is the start of a trilogy” of it all, because when it works, it’s damned good, and Boyle is really back in top form. It's a terrific showcase for his heightened, damn-near experimental style. In short, it’s still good but may not be the movie audiences are expecting.
What critics are saying: Critics are big fans of it. Jake Coyle wrote in the Associated Press, "Buried in here are some tender reflections on mortality and misguided exceptionalism, and even the hint of those ideas make 28 Years Later a more thoughtful movie than you’re likely to find at the multiplex this time of year." William Bibbiani at TheWrap agrees, writing that "the filmmakers haven’t redefined the zombie genre, but they’ve refocused their own culturally significant riff into a lush, fascinating epic that has way more to say about being human than it does about (re-)killing the dead."
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