SPOILER-FREE PLOT SUMMARY
Picking up right where the 2025’s 28 YEARS LATER left off, the Jimmy’s have captured Spike (played by Alfie Williams) and he’s forced into a battle to the death with a member of the gang. Fearful, but realizing there’s no way out, he manages to cut his opponent’s femoral artery and he bleeds out, securing Spike’s place as a member of The Fingers. He reluctantly joins the group — probably for safety reasons since they’ve proven to handle themselves well against the infected — and they set out on sadistic adventures. After the Jimmy’s intrude on a family trying to live quietly and undetected, the gang tortures them “to satisfy” the father of Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), Satan. Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) has made a small but significant breakthrough in trying to reach Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry), the alpha of the infected. Samson starts to show signs of compassion and curiosity giving Dr. Kelson hope that, after all this time, he can start saving all those who are lost. But when The Jimmy’s discover the red-skinned Dr. Kelson communicating with Samson, they immediately believe that he’s Satan and are eager to arrange a meeting. The encounter starts out fantastically but, when Dr. Kelson notices Spike is among the group, he pulls an audible and things begin to unravel.
SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
It should be noted that Fiennes is incredible in this. He’s effortless in conveying wonder, compassion, heart and emotion into a movie that, without his performance, would be a complete miss.
If you enjoy the horror genre, you’ll find a good deal of value in it. The torture scenes go beyond what’s necessary — which is a good thing — but I just didn’t see any reason to make this film. The audience feels Spike’s desperation and isolation, no doubt, but what was the point?
Dr. Kelson manages to put together a medication cocktail in order to start chipping away at the infected but, before he’s able to start building a study on the lasting effects, he’s no longer able to do so. Furthermore, Samson seems to be on his way to being saved but it’s suggested, not factual. And finally, if Samson is saved, how can he help the others without more of the medication cocktail that Dr. Kelson is no longer able to provide?
In fairness, horror is not my favorite genre. Because of that, perhaps there’s an element that I’m missing. But, at the end of the day, I’ve seen plenty of horror movies that I enjoy. I loved THE SHINING (of course) but I also really enjoyed THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, WEAPONS and even THE CELL. Put another way, I fully believe that, regardless of genre, if a movie is good, it’s good. I just didn’t find that the case here. I left the theater thinking “Okay, and the point was what…?”
Fiennes is outstanding, Williams is solid once again and the makeup department crushed it. But this is a gruesome, rather pointless sequel that didn’t hit for me. If you want to see a better zombie movie, go see WE BURY THE DEAD. It was far more compelling and engaging than either of the 28 YEARS LATER films that have come out in the past 12 months.
JKG SCORE: 5.5
Untitled Film Project 