The Verdict
This is the direct sequel to 28 Years Later, the fourth installment in the 28 Days Later franchise, and the rare follow-up that's better than the thing it follows. Nia DaCosta directs from an Alex Garland script and earns universal-acclaim reviews, an 81 on Metacritic, with a chorus of critics calling it the best of the series. That's not franchise inflation, that's a creative team actually leveling up.
Spike gets adopted into 'Sir Lord' Jimmy Crystal's satanic cult while Dr. Ian Kelson bonds with an Alpha Infected named Samson, and that collision, human cruelty dressed up as ritual against a monster capable of connection, is the whole bleak-proof thesis of the movie. Ralph Fiennes, Jack O'Connell, and young Alfie Williams carry it, and the casting pays off.
The bright side is enormous: Sony released it in the UK as a double bill with 28 Years Later, which is a confident flex, and it earned it. This is myth-making with a pulse, proof that a 28 Days Later sequel can be more than a faster zombie and a shakier camera.
What it nails
- ▲Universal-acclaim reviews and an 81 Metacritic, with many critics naming it the best of the entire franchise, which is the exact opposite trajectory most fourth installments take.
- ▲The central contrast of Spike inside Jimmy Crystal's satanic cult versus Kelson bonding with the Alpha Infected Samson gives the horror a moral spine, the cult is the real monster.
- ▲Nia DaCosta directing an Alex Garland script is a pairing that respects both spectacle and theme, and the film shows it.
- ▲Ralph Fiennes, Jack O'Connell, and Alfie Williams anchor it with performances that sell a coming-of-age inside an apocalypse.
What it botches
- ▼It's the fourth film in the 28 Days Later franchise and a direct sequel, so newcomers wandering in without 28 Years Later fresh in mind are walking into the middle of a sentence.
- ▼Releasing it in the UK as a double bill with 28 Years Later is a big ask of an audience's bladder and afternoon, a confident move that assumes a lot of commitment.
- ▼A satanic cult led by a man literally styled 'Sir Lord' Jimmy Crystal flirts with camp, and that tightrope only stays taut because the cast refuses to wink.
- ▼Bonding a doctor with an Alpha Infected named Samson is a swing so big that if the emotional logic ever slipped, the whole premise would tip into silliness.
Who it's for
Fans of the franchise who wanted the mythology to deepen instead of just speed up, and anyone who likes their post-apocalyptic horror with real ideas about cruelty and connection underneath the running.
Who should skip
Newcomers who haven't seen 28 Years Later, and viewers who want pure zombie carnage without cult politics, theology, or a doctor adopting a monster.
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