Clara Koehn

Loved it- 28 Years Later feels like Danny Boyle’s love letter to his younger self, playing on ideas he may have had decades ago conceiving and filming the first movie. This film makes bolder, most interesting choices than the subpar 28 Weeks did, and while I enjoy 28 Weeks Later, it doesn’t *feel* like it had the heart of the original in it. 28 Years Later does. The main criticisms of the film that I see are “why wasn’t X/Y/Z explained??”… well, it’s called media literacy. Look deeper. The film is not centered around our immediate understanding of it, it’s a coming-of-age story in a world that’s very difficult to come of age in. It feels confusing and different because the point-of -view character is a child, still learning the rules of this world. Frankly, the film does a better job than most contemporary movies explaining the ground rules and “reasons” for much of the plot and character behaviors *without too much exposition*. Moreover, within 28 years, big changes will happen. Especially in a dystopian flick! As with any decent movie, it’s the audience’s responsibility to consider the setting and reality of the movie, rather than demanding a ready-to-eat plot, spoon-fed directly into our impatient little mouths. (Which is what we got with 28 Weeks Later. Talk about no subtext.) For example, the Saville idolatry from the Jimmy character- I completely understand the knee-jerk “yuck” reaction. However, this movie takes place in a version of the world where no one found out about what he did. That just hadn’t happened yet. He would’ve, at the time, still been considered a national treasure, so it would make sense to have traumatized British children grow to emulate a man who at the time was considered an inspiration, a go-getter- after all, Jim’ll Fix It. (Once again- yuck. Not a Saville apologist.) It’s disappointing seeing the vitriol towards the film. Maybe it’s because it wasn’t an outright horror. I don’t believe it needed to be; to replicate the no-brakes fear and gore of the first would be a misstep and a waste. To try and follow the second would be a throwaway too; while 28 Weeks is a fun watch, it doesn’t take any chances. Weeks relies on the immunity plot point and convenient US imperialism to carry the film. Weeks doesn’t expect anything of its audience other than attention. With 28 Years we got something new, unfamiliar, and folklorish. We get to think through *why* Britain would come to be the way it’s portrayed- how people change once they’re isolated, hungry, and afraid. Especially if that’s all they remember, or all they’ve ever known. How the infection, like any and *every* disease, would adapt to the carriers differently as the years go by. A dystopian thriller with heart is just as good as a straight horror movie any day. I really enjoyed it, and would genuinely consider it one of the best coming of age stories and thrillers of the last five years. Thanks, Danny- good watch! ❤️

That was exactly the type of crying I needed to do 💯