Out All Day: New Orleans
  • Home
  • Out
    • Culture
    • Dining
    • Attractions
    • Hotels
    • Art and Exhibitions
    • Essential Guides
  • Diary
  • News
  • People
  • Travel
  • Video
  • Visitors' Guide
  • About

review: 28 years later

6/24/2025

 
28 years later movie review, New Orleans
Brainspotting: 28 Years Later
Review by Jeff DeRouen


Aren’t we tired of zombies by now? We’ve come a long way from George Romero’s slow-walking and moaning dead to the sprinting flesh eaters of today’s pics.

I know, I know, some folks absolutely LOVE this stuff and are seated for the four hundredth spinoff of The Walking Dead (now in its SEVENTY-THIRD SEASON), but it’s been quite a while since we’ve experienced anything new in the undead category. Leave it to the guys who reinvented the genre two decades ago to do it again by bringing us back to what made Romero’s films classics: they were about something bigger than eating brains.

Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) and writer Alex Garland (recent writer/director of Civil War), return to the land of “infected” with their follow-up to 2002’s 28 Days Later, 28 Years Later, 23 years later.

Look, time has passed, and we meet a cast of new characters: a small family who are part of a community living behind the walls of a fort protecting them from the “infected” - crazed rage monsters (zombies) living on the mainland. Apparently, there is a part of the world that’s progressed with things like Amazon package delivery separate from the diseased area – why everyone doesn’t just live there is never answered, but it doesn’t matter.

We follow young Spike (expertly played by gifted newcomer, Alfie Williams) who begins the film with his father, Jamie, making his right-of-passage trip to the mainland to kill infected for sport the way Sarah Palin kills moose. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is a man’s man here and plays the hunter and drinker out loud, but also gives Jamie a quiet nurturing quality that makes us root for him and his family; despite the issues, we know they care about each other. That care is what makes Spike set off with his severely ill mother to the mainland to find a notorious doctor (who apparently loves barbecuing dead people) without his father.

28 Years Later is unique, exciting, and technically thrilling to a nerd like me. They shot the movie with iPhones (with some truly innovative moves for the kill scenes), giving the whole thing an urgent and very real tone. It doesn’t look or feel like standard Hollywood fare, making this a welcome, punk-rock addition to the summer blockbuster season. We’re in good hands with storytellers like Boyle and Garland and I can’t wait to see where the next chapters take us to, especially after that ending.

So, thumbs up, go see it, it’s one of the best of the year so far, but I want to end this review spotlighting Jodie Comer. She plays Isla, Spike’s mother, and I’ve been a fan of hers for years from Killing Eve to the criminally underseen The Last Duel. There’s enough evidence now to say she is one of the greats – it’s undeniable. Her power on screen has few rivals, and I can’t take my eyes off her when she’s acting. Trust me when I say her towering performance is worth the ticket price alone (along with the arrows through heads, the ripping out of spinal cords, and giant zombie dongs).

Comments are closed.

    NEWS

    Previews, reviews, offers and news in New Orleans.

    ​SIGN UP FOR THE WEEKLY  NEWSLETTER

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Attractions
    Books
    Classes
    Competitions
    Events
    Festivals
    Food & Drink
    Fundraising
    Hotels
    Mardi Gras
    Movies
    Museums
    Music
    Offers
    Openings
    Out Right Now
    Previews
    Reader Reviews
    Reviews
    Spa
    Sports
    Theater
    Wildlife

    Archives

    July 2025
    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022

    RSS Feed

Copyright © 2022-2025 Shandy Pockets Publishing
​
New Orleans culture, new orleans restaurants, new orleans bars, new orleans attractions, new orleans theater. new orleans movies, new orleans music, new orleans hotels. New orleans festivals, new orleans plays, new orleans ​sports, New Orleans Magazine
  • Home
  • Out
    • Culture
    • Dining
    • Attractions
    • Hotels
    • Art and Exhibitions
    • Essential Guides
  • Diary
  • News
  • People
  • Travel
  • Video
  • Visitors' Guide
  • About