28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

I'm really getting into the 28UoTLCU (28 'Unit of Time' Later Cinematic Universe). This edition is directed by Nia DaCosta, and she picks up the reins from Danny Boyle and slots right into the landscape. The biggest takeaway from The Bone Temple is that Father Figure transference is rife, throughout both of these '28 Years' films, actually. If we choose the obvious link, Spike (Alfie Williams) is passed from parents, Isla (Jodie Comer) and Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) in the first film, onto two polar opposites, Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) and Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell) in this one, and presumably to a certain returnee in the third installment. 

But there are also other relationships in the film(s) that explore the nature of dependency, and we have to assume writer Alex Garland, DaCosta, and godfather Boyle, have other, real-world settings in mind, not purely in the zombie genre. This manifests in the rapprochement of Dr. Kelson towards the 'infected', specifically the gargantuan Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry), and is at odds with Jimmy's satanist cult, who are fully prepared to slice up all comers, infected or not. 

An interesting angle of psychosis is introduced, where Kelson wonders who the infected people see when they are killing - an early scene shows that Samson likely sees himself in the face of his victims. These films are pretty unique in that, sitting alongside the traditional analogies of the zombies as consumers (or capitalists) there's an attempt to re-humanise the monsters, driven by Kelson's altruistic NHS doctor.

This hits all the right buttons for horror, but surprisingly, also has quite a few laughs (don't know about you guys, but I couldn't hide the guffaws as Fiennes runs through his LP playlist, from Duran Duran to Iron Maiden). If the first film made a mini-star of Williams, this film belongs to Fiennes, and to a slightly lesser extent, O'Connell. They operate individually from one another for most of the film, slowly gravitating into a shared orbit in the third act. And what a cosmically destructive meeting it is! Fiennes has always been brilliant but he might even be getting better with age, and O'Connell adds this horrid fucker to his equally chilling Remmick from last year's Sinners to enhance his CV.

Sean Bobbitt's cinematography, Hildur Guðnadóttir's score, and Jake Roberts' editing are all perfectly suited to the grit, blood and grime of this world. In saying that, Kelson's bucolic ossuary, surrounded by golden fields scattered with red poppies, is certainly designed to jar us with beauty amongst the terror. Jimmy's patch (for example, an abandoned swimming pool where he conducts an early ritual), is notable for its desolation and decrepitude.

This is a great follow-up to 28 Years Later, and maybe even slightly improves upon the first one (no Taylor-Johnson helps). At this rate, the third film should be an absolute ball-tearer. Bring it on.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is showing at Palace cinemas in Perth (and elsewhere around the country).

See also:

Pop back to 2002 for the original, Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. And for more Fiennes, he had some kind of purple patch from around 1992 to 2002, Robert Redford's Quiz Show (1994), just one of the highlights.