28 YEARS LATER : THE BONE TEMPLE

28 YEARS LATER : THE BONE TEMPLE

Review By

Tom Lavagnino

-Like the boiling down of a chemical reaction, the 28 DAYS LATER franchise has, over the course of a quarter-century, gone from wide-open Trafalgar Square to hyper-focused Hyde Park military encampment to austere Cumbria, England –- with “Rage Virus” infectees (and their hapless victims) the only constant.

The most recent entry in the series has been split (a la WICKED!) into two separate films.  Last year’s 28 YEARS LATER saw its coterie of human survivors finding refuge on an island outpost, only to have circumstances force Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his son Spike (Alfie Williams) to the mainland on a desperation-fueled mission; their eventual encounter with the inventive, eccentric Dr. Ian Kelson (Ray Fiennes) opened their eyes, as that chapter came to a close, to Kelson’s self-styled “Bone Temple” -– the stark collection of arm-bones-connected-to-the-hip-bones-connected-to-the-leg-bones (with a centerpiece of totemic human skulls to top it off, natch!) that serve as the visual bridge between these two most recent chapters of the series.

This new film (entitled 28 YEARS LATER : THE BONE TEMPLE) picks up with Kelson attempting to “tame” one of the Ragers (in an agenda (and poignance!) reminiscent of the “Bub” subplot in Romero’s DAY OF THE DEAD), cross-cut with Spike’s forced indoctrination into the ersatz Manson family of track-suit-wearing fright wiggers led by the charismatic Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), the clash between the two dynamics serving as the crux of this chapter’s climactic conclusion.

While last year’s “part one” was surprisingly sluggish, action-wise (considering it was shepherded by original 28 DAYS LATER director Danny Boyle) (the movie was notably lacking in character credibility and motivation, it must also be said) — “part two” works somewhat better (in fits and starts, anyway), presenting a narrative peppered with a couple of terrifically intense set pieces (one magnificently-staged torture sequence, occurring within the confines of a rural barn, sees human-on-human lethality presented with the same sort of depravity exhibited by the “ragers” — a searingly effective grace note of a scene that, thematically speaking, serves to elevate this chapter of the series beyond the simplistic “just survive” mindset of all the prior films).

This new movie is directed by Nia DaCosta (marking a return to her prior CANDYLAND form) (after the disastrous HEDDA from last year), and, despite occasional stumbles (the opening-sequence “indoctrination of Spike” sequence is poorly staged, and I counted more than one egregious continuity error), the film’s internal logic and motivational integrity reps a righting of the ship for this series, ultimately.

More significantly, the performance of Jack O’Connell (who made a brief appearance in the closing reel of the previous film) is stupendous.  This actor showcases a singular combination of confidence and malevolence, crafting a character who’s not only believably magnetic, but one who matches up, in intensity and thespian ability, to the great Ralph Fiennes; their penultimate tete-a-tete encounter, essentially a philosophical conversation amidst the skeleton city, doesn’t work without O’Connell bringing everything he has to the table.  But he brings it, and it’s dynamite.

(Speaking of great actors : It should be noted that the 28 DAYS world comes full circle when -– in an idyllic coda, here at the conclusion of 28 YEARS LATER : THE BONE TEMPLE –- the character of “Jim” (Cillian Murphy) from the original movie makes an appearance.  This character’s acknowledgement, at fade-out, of sudden “rager” presence in the Cumbria hills (not to mention Murphy’s credit as a producer on this film!) cements the fact that yet another 28 DAYS movie is indeed in the offing.