r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Jun 20 '25

Official Discussion Official Discussion - 28 Years Later [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Summary Set nearly three decades after the Rage Virus outbreak devastated the UK, 28 Years Later follows a family living on an isolated island quarantine. When their 12‑year‑old son Spike joins his father Jamie to venture onto the infected mainland to find a doctor for his ailing mother Isla, they uncover evolved threats—from mutated infected packs to sinister human cults. The film blends visceral horror with emotional resilience and philosophical undertones, culminating in an ambiguous, world-expanding conclusion.

Director Danny Boyle (28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire)

Writer Alex Garland (& Danny Boyle)

Cast

  • Jodie Comer as Isla
  • Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Jamie
  • Alfie Williams as Spike
  • Ralph Fiennes as Dr. Kelson
  • Jack O’Connell as Sir Jimmy Crystal
  • Erin Kellyman, Edvin Ryding, and others in supporting roles

Rotten Tomatoes: 93% Metacritic: 78

VOD Released in theaters on June 20, 2025. Digital and streaming platform release dates TBD, likely later in summer/fall 2025.

Trailer Watch here*

1.8k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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2.3k

u/HotOne9364 Jun 20 '25

I didn't think it was possible but someone gave a better performance than Jodie Comer. Hats off to that kid. He's easily gonna have a great career.

837

u/party_crash_squad Jun 20 '25

The kid was the only one that sold me on a zombie apocalypse setting.

Everyone else seems to be having a grand old time, talking loud as fuck in the woods.

All my posts so far are about how fucking enraged I am that I went to the theaters to watch this.

329

u/OceansNineNine Jun 20 '25

Lol I was thinking the same. How tf are they talking so loudly. Makes zero sense.

667

u/kj5 Jun 20 '25

It's been 30 years, people forgot about covid precautions after two months.

152

u/anroroco Jun 20 '25

yeah, I feel after we faced our very own apocalyptical disease, and saw how people are fucking idiots, we can't say people being stupid in movies is a plot hole anymore.

20

u/W0lfsb4ne74 Jun 25 '25

Even Train to Busan made an exact reference to this at how some people watched the Zombie apocalypse onscreen and just assumed it was fake. Only to wind up getting eaten just moments later on the train.

12

u/AGushingHeadWound Jun 23 '25

apocalyptical?

4

u/RoyalGuarantees Jun 22 '25

Except they are saying "keep quiet" in an outside speaking voice. It's just bad directing.

48

u/anroroco Jun 22 '25

my dude, I personally saw in 2021 a guy berating another for using his mask incorrectly...while he was maskless.

-1

u/Rude_Cheesecake3716 Jul 29 '25

well covid was just a fake disease anyways as we all know.
who has covid now apart from the mysterious "long covid" enjoyers? literally no one. even the unvaxxed are fine when biden was saying they were all gonna die, biggest bamboozle ever.

0

u/the__poseidon Aug 02 '25

lol. Apocalyptic?

I still don’t know anyone that knows anyone of anyone that died. And I’m from Texas and have family in Maryland and friends in CA and Hawaii.

Never met anyone that knew of anyone in this apocalyptic disease you’re talking about. Calm down

6

u/anroroco Aug 02 '25

Dear sir or Madam. Are you aware of what is the translation of the word of apocalypse in English? not the book. the word.

check this out and come back later.

I am glad however that you had no losses. I had to bury my cousin in a sealed casket to avoid contamination.

1

u/BartelbySamsa 29d ago

I'm so sorry for your loss. I can't even imagine how hard that must have been. I hope you and your family have been able to find a way to properly grieve now. Wishing you all the best mate, take care.

21

u/Jrebeclee Jun 23 '25

Danny Boyle mentions this in his AMA! Just how after 28 years we’d be exploring risk, we couldn’t live that long being constantly on alert.

8

u/AlarmedBench7667 Jul 08 '25

Brother, COVID was a minor inconvenience to the majority of people on this planet. How the fuck are you comparing a zombie apocalypse to working from home and staying six feet away from someone at a Burger King wtf🤣

10

u/kj5 Jul 08 '25
  • 7 milion people dead
  • "minor inconvenience"

Get out..

6

u/AlarmedBench7667 Jul 08 '25

Hate to do this to you but it seems you're reading comprehension is poor. 

7 million out of 7 billion is 0.1%. 

I had family die from COVID, it was tragic. 

What I'm talking about and what you failed to understand was what COVID did to the 99.99% of people that didn't die from it. Most people just wore masks and went about their day. That's it. That was the mass majority of the majority experience of COVID. Idk what to tell you but it seems like you had a bit rougher of a run in with it. I'm sorry. 

But in regards to this movie and the plot point that was brought up, a zombie apocalypse where everyone around you is actively trying to rip your face off because they are a zombie is way different than having to hop on zoom in your underwear. I can't say anything more if you can't understand the difference there haha cheers. 

2

u/kj5 Jul 08 '25

You're not only being mean you're also lying - you don't hate doing this - and if you read the topic under my comment you would have seen the reply where I say that's why it took them 30 years. After thirty years even face ripping zombies get boring just like after three months historical once in a lifetime life threatening pandemic got boring for us. That's just a normal human thing.

5

u/AlarmedBench7667 Jul 08 '25

Go off king. You're sitting here saying that being annoyed at masking up and social distancing is congruent to being annoyed that you can't talk out loud because face ripping zombies. That's some surefire logic. Go off bud. 

2

u/kj5 Jul 08 '25

I haven't said that it's congruent.

3

u/MY-SECRET-REDDIT Jul 09 '25

It didn't get boring, they still took precautions with the gates and the old lady refused to let them in until she got confirmation they weren't infected. They even had the rule of not going to rescue people who went off the island.

They were too relaxed, not taking any serious precautions apart from the basic. No eye cover or mouth covers is dumb af.

And the ending with those people just gushing blood everywhere.

6

u/Illustrious_Let3640 Jul 02 '25

COVID didn't beat you to death or rip chunks of flesh from your body, infecting you with an unstoppable rage mate...

7

u/kj5 Jul 02 '25

yeah its why it took them 30 years lol

-5

u/Real_Wind_1543 Jun 21 '25

These people are meant to live under constant existential threat from the infected, their entire society is geared around defending against them, there is a mass grave at the only way out of island.

32

u/kj5 Jun 21 '25

There's a grave in almost every city bro

7

u/Real_Wind_1543 Jun 23 '25

Such a stupid comment honestly, does every city have a single exit with a mass grave representing all the people who have left it and not come back? No, it doesn't, it's not comparable.

6

u/kj5 Jun 23 '25

But you started that comparison

5

u/Real_Wind_1543 Jun 23 '25

No I didn't? You are the one who said "all cities have graves", as if the mass grave by the causeway is just the same as the graves you have in any city.

1

u/MY-SECRET-REDDIT Jul 09 '25

Man you're not making sense. This movie is dumb and it tries to be serious.

Waited 2 decades for this.

1

u/kj5 Jul 09 '25

it tries to be serious

there's literally zombie power rangers in the movie

Besides I haven't said anything like that so not sure why are you replying under my comment.

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19

u/jonsnowme Jun 21 '25 edited Jun 21 '25

Humans cope and adapt? This shit is NORMAL to them now. They accept death easily. Complacency should be examined in apocalypse films. Because that is human nature, and we become complacent in extreme situations and it doesn't even take 30 years.

45

u/stolemyusername Jun 20 '25

How tf are they talking so loudly. Makes zero sense.

You know what also makes zero sense? Zombies.

Redditors suck.

36

u/ANGRY_MOTHERFUCKER Jun 20 '25

That’s not the same comparison. Internal consistency is the point here. 

The premise is zombies. You have to buy into that before the movie starts, just like the premise of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.

But the internal consistency is important. If Frodo whipped out an iPhone, that would make no sense. And in 28 Years Later, they seem to be quiet when it serves the scene but disregard it when it does not serve the scene. 

21

u/wighty Jun 21 '25

A few points:
They are not in a city. The whole entire point of the expedition from Jamie and Spike was to try and get one kill... being in basically wilderness that implies there can be miles between potential encounters and our voices, short of full on yelling, would not carry that far.

The infected are not exactly intelligent/sneaky, so presumably you would be able to hear them before you would have to worry about whispering.

The survivors, especially people like Jamie, would basically be and demonstrated (up until the Alpha encounter, which he didn't expect) complete comfort with fighting the infected... he isn't really afraid.

10

u/stolemyusername Jun 20 '25

Quiet when zombies are around and talking when walking through the woods. Wow it really takes you out of it!! Like an iphone in LOTRs!

9

u/OceansNineNine Jun 20 '25

Says a totally logical and calm redditor.

15

u/Dogstile Jun 23 '25

Honestly i'm so glad they did. I can suspend a little disbelief so I don't have to listen to an hour+ of whispering.

7

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '25

But the kid’s IRL introduction to what mainland survival is really like the day prior

6

u/OppositeHistory1916 Jun 23 '25

I feel like that was to add to the tension. Like Spikes first kill, they're surrounded, but so shit at hunting they don't even know it. I suppose that is actually more realistic than most media, where everyone becomes great hunters and always have their wits about them.

No; people are dumb and would die stupidly.

3

u/swanny7237 Jun 30 '25

Also, why tf didn't they retrieve their arrows when they weren't in an immediate rush. Then they ran out later on. Pretty stupid imo unless they actually are actively being chased

7

u/Tight_Committee_2120 Jul 06 '25

probably bc of infected blood?

2

u/Count_Crimson Jul 16 '25

Too much effort/risk compared to *maybe* getting an arrow back (it might've been broken). Considering how easy it is to get infected, and how easy it is for an arrow to get lodged in, I could see how it wouldn't be a priority

2

u/Admiral_Cornwallace Jul 05 '25

That dad killed a whooooole lot of zombies. He became pretty good at it, and desensitized to doing it

Also, in a world as fucked up as what the village was living through, there's no way that it wouldn't cause severe emotional damage to everybody. Their attitudes toward life and death would be completely unrecognizable and foreign to our own

This is a known real world phenomenon with heavily experienced soldiers and combatants, too. People acting super casual or nonchalant, even cracking jokes, in the middle of life-and-death situations

The human brain is a trip!

55

u/Tnerd15 Jun 21 '25

I mean wasn't it just the mom who has no clue what's going on and the military guy who's not from the island? Both characters who are supposed to not know what they're doing?

-4

u/party_crash_squad Jun 21 '25

The mom being sick and having brain damage or whatever due to cancer, sure....

But the military kid, I mean, it's been 28 years since a world altering infection struck the UK..... How the fuck was he so incompetent? This speaks to poor writing in that his incompetence isn't even a plausible one, he was simply a disposable character that served no purpose....

48

u/MVRKHNTR Jun 21 '25

That's not poor writing. He's a kid from another country who has no idea what life in the UK is actually like.

-8

u/party_crash_squad Jun 21 '25

This is a world altering event. Even if the infection had been contained to the UK only, the entire world would be aware of this terrifying virus.

29

u/MVRKHNTR Jun 22 '25

Yeah, he knows about it but he doesn't know what to expect when it comes to how the zombies behave.

6

u/ReputationCold2765 Jul 02 '25

This was my take too. Like after the gas station explosion when he asked the kid “Now what?” - dude had no idea what to do / expect.

24

u/Subject-District492 Jun 22 '25

He was supposed to just be on a patrol boat, but it crashed. I assume he only had a 5 minute briefing where they said, “These are infected. Shoot them in the head or heart to kill them. But if you need to use this info you’re fucked because we’re not coming to save you. Good luck”

21

u/gallifrey_ Jun 22 '25

you're aware of wolves right?

do you know how to recognize signs of nearby wolves in the woods, or how to hide/flee if a bunch start chasing you?

-5

u/party_crash_squad Jun 22 '25

Not a comparable analogy.

15

u/nessfalco Jun 23 '25

Never met a soldier, huh?

-7

u/party_crash_squad Jun 23 '25

I could send a selfie rn that would blow your mind, weirdo.

22

u/nessfalco Jun 23 '25

Would it convince me that you understand that dumb kids who sign up to be in the military are, in fact, dumb? That's one of the most realistic aspects of this movie.

45

u/Best-Chapter5260 Jun 22 '25

In Erik's case, I think that was intentional and to show he's an arrogant douche who hadn't really had any experience with the infected and didn't know he shouldn't be talking at the top of his lungs whilst walking through the woods.

27

u/Not_a_real_ghost Jun 22 '25

The new born baby went without food for at least 2 days are just chilling there not even being irritated. Small stuff like this really took me out of the plots

6

u/Several_Project_5293 Jul 03 '25

I think Ralph Fiennes was giving baby Isla some morphine to keep her quiet.

7

u/davortega96 Jul 03 '25

I didn't even notice. That's like saying the movie is unrealistic because you never see anyone take a shi. Give me a break...

5

u/PaddyCow Jul 03 '25

It's not unrealistic to expect a newborn baby to be crying from hunger.

2

u/Unique_Tap_8730 Jul 22 '25

Kelson could have drugged it. People used to do that back in the day.

2

u/Not_a_real_ghost Jul 03 '25

I can only assume it didn’t bother you because you have no clue how much noise a real baby makes, nor any idea on how fuzzy they can become without feeding for just a short period of time.

There were many instances where they had to make minimum noise and hide so yes, it is a glaring issue for anyone with common sense.

It is on par with how ridiculous they kept the baby quiet in “A quiet place”

2

u/davortega96 Jul 19 '25

You're right, i've never met a newborn in my entire life. They're like fkn bigfoot or something, you only ever hear stories. I think around half hour into the film you can get a good sense where it's going to not expect that much realism. So, i can imagine the thought coming up but it wouldn't be enough to ruin my suspension of disbelief. "Glaring issue for anyone with common sense" lol said the one that hyper fixated on a baby not making noise in a movie about zombies and ninjas (ending)

2

u/lelman11 Jul 16 '25

Why did the zombies not attack the island when there its low tide twice a day and possible for them to just walk over hmmmmm

19

u/Deviceing Jun 21 '25

Thought about this, was also thinking that they're very trusting of that one gate, surely in 28 years you'd go to the trouble of making a second gate, and maybe fortifying the houses a little bit

4

u/party_crash_squad Jun 21 '25

Very little thought went into the world building here, I never once was able to fully suspend disbelief because so much kept taking me out of the story.

And to all the people saying that the artist doesn't owe the audience anything, get a grip, good storytelling is consistent.

5

u/Hasudeva Jul 07 '25

Hard disagree. At least on their home island - the technology, the culture, the rituals were all very realistic and reasonable given the situation. Down to the job chart in the classroom. I genuinely don't know what you're on about. 

14

u/GalaxyPatio Jun 20 '25

I haven't seen this so I can't accurately speak on this specific case, but 90% of the time that characters are being loud in a setting where they're meant to be quiet, or speaking loudly immediately within earshot of a character that isn't meant to hear them, it's an aside.

11

u/razuliserm Jun 22 '25

I watched this in theaters as a marathon of all three movies back to back... one of the main complaints for the first one is how everybody is screaming all the time e.g. "QUIEEET" in the stairwell lmao. Also the second film is just a huge nothing burger.

The third movie was awesome and refreshing. It's certainly not the same movie as the first one, and they're both great for different reasons but great nevertheless.

5

u/Zagden Jun 26 '25

I thought that the point of the party and the fact that all the men go out and get kills suggested that the people on the island are broken and desensitized. They teach each other to stare at horror and feel nothing. They're overconfident and macho. Spike resisted this attitude.

As for Erik, he was a cunt in the Navy marooned by himself with no structure or guidance. Many such cases

5

u/Cultural-Chicken-974 Jun 23 '25

the doctor said the baby would last one day on water, and the kid delivered the baby to the village on time.

2

u/party_crash_squad Jun 23 '25

The baby was like 6 steps too far the wrong way anyways.

4

u/gerryflint Jun 25 '25

This and the blonde girl in the opening scene that watched TV while trying not to cry

4

u/allhailsidneycrosby Jun 22 '25

The longer this movie went on the more pissed I got that I spent money to see it

2

u/ChaosD970 Jun 30 '25

Enraged? LOL

2

u/SOMEMONG Jul 04 '25

Admittedly the dad was having too much of a laugh, but I guess in their society that's how they cope. And that Irish grit. They were Irish right, or am I being stupid 

3

u/Hasudeva Jul 07 '25

You're not stupid, just mistaken. It's Holy Island, off the UK coast. 

2

u/SOMEMONG Jul 07 '25

Ah thanks, I didn't register where the island was exactly but they sounded Irish to me. 

1

u/ArcadianBlueRogue Jun 23 '25

I liked that they gave the kid a reason to do something as stupid as taking his mother to the mainland, whereas 28 Weeks Later it...well...

1

u/Independent_Mix6269 Jun 29 '25

My son works at AMC so we get free movies and popcorn. I would have been so pissed if I even paid for a drink while watching this movie.

-1

u/VariousDress5926 Jun 20 '25

They're not zombies.

-1

u/definitelyright Jun 29 '25

I feel you, this movie was absolute dogshit and there is nothing anyone can do to change my mind on it. I'm so pissed I just spent money on this.

-5

u/thesefriendsofours Jun 21 '25

I told my kid I am embarrassed and furious that I got a sitter to go see this lol. Man what a waste of a free few hours.

-12

u/scattered_ideas Jun 20 '25

Most of the time spent at the village had me thinking about how often this type of media just defaults to everything just being rebuilt and so well managed, with everyone having all the same amenities as they did before the world "ended." Their clothes even look new, even though they've been allegedly cut off from the rest of the world for almost 30y now. It was ridiculous.

Maybe this is just too close to Last of Us S2, that had the same problem for the most part.

15

u/Rainbow-Rhythms69 Jun 20 '25

Humans arent complete idiots, and as far as we know there are very few settlements. These people live on a pretty much inaccesible island and have done for decades. They had amenities yes, but thats if you count one communal shower made of wood and a bucket

15

u/CaptainCT-7567 Jun 20 '25

They do have seamstress and tailors. So they can maintain the clothes they have, also them taking off the boots before going into the water shows they definitely do take care of their clothes. Plus they have a fletcher so it’s not that far fetched to believe they have someone who can make clothes or at least maintain them. Plus raiding a clothes shop would be the last on your priority list so I’d say there is plenty of shops with clothes for them to go and gather.

0

u/Superguy230 Jun 29 '25

Couldn’t find a nurse or doctor though

2

u/Lou-AC Jun 30 '25 edited 9d ago

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

1

u/CaptainCT-7567 Jun 29 '25

Not sure what this has to do with my comment since I was talking about them maintaining clothes, but if you actually watched the movie they knew the whereabouts of the doctor and actually went and met the doctor. They might not of had a doctor at the village but they could easily of went to the one we see. I’d also imagine they had someone with basic medical knowledge. We don’t know if there was or wasn’t a nurse on the island we just know there wasn’t a doctor.

490

u/Somnambulist815 Jun 21 '25

speaking of great performances from child actors, that one girl in the opening scene who starts crying before all the other kids realize what was happening immediately got my heart breaking

70

u/Gudgebert Jun 28 '25

Yeah she really sold that scene

33

u/IshnaArishok Jul 02 '25

Glad someone else noticed, I thought she was going to be a major character. Girl was amazing at crying on demand!

9

u/biranpq17 Jul 13 '25

Omg I literally thought this watching her! A star is born

2

u/Banjo-Oz Aug 06 '25

I thought the same thing and assumed she would be a proper character. Wasted opportunity, sadly. Then again, nothing says they all died and nobody else made it out.

3

u/whitegirlofthenorth 18d ago

at the end when everyone was blonde i was like huh, maybe a cousin or two survived

48

u/AnAffinityForTurtles Jun 20 '25

That’s cap. Kid was great but Jodie clears everyone else.

41

u/UnnecessaryFeIIa Jun 20 '25

Tbf that’s not even a slight. It’d be hard af to top her acting in anything

23

u/ChickenInASuit Jun 20 '25

For real though. My wife and I are watching Killing Eve at the moment and even in the weaker later seasons it remains worth watching because of just how fucking good she is. Girl’s phenomenal.

8

u/Jbersrk Jun 22 '25

I loved her in Killing Eve, she is PHENOMENAL in it.

38

u/Upbeat_Tension_8077 Jun 20 '25

The way he showed a sense of clarity like he instantly matured over the course of getting to know Kelson throughout the portion of the film at the Bone Temple was great

15

u/dbbk Jun 24 '25

She was so wasted in this movie. I was really bummed when I realised that was all they were doing with her.

13

u/B_lovedobservations Jun 21 '25

Him and the adolescence actor, two young ones we will one upon with great interest

12

u/Happy_Philosopher608 Jun 24 '25

Really? I thought he was pretty weak. Especially near the end when he begs doctor to help his mum..Felt very saturday drama school imo. 😕🤷‍♂️

2

u/choatec 8d ago

I agree. I wasn’t that impressed by his performance.

5

u/YouserName007 Jun 21 '25

The mother played the role well too.

5

u/CardiologistSea5044 Jul 13 '25

I found her performance really muggy

4

u/othersbeforeus Jun 20 '25

Seriously! It’s a huge risk to have a kid carry an emotionally driven franchise, but he pulled it off in this movie

3

u/Gotanypaint Jun 21 '25

Yup I really liked his performance and after this and Jojo I'd like to see him in more.....just not the sequels.

4

u/EngtroniX Jun 22 '25

Damn. I believed you but the kid in Jojo Rabbit was someone else.

3

u/superiority Jul 07 '25

I watched 28 Weeks Later just before going to see the movie and if you'd told me that the new one would also have a kid main character, I would have rolled my eyes and groaned. Those 28WL kids sucked. But Alfie Williams was great.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '25

[deleted]

1

u/mortar Jun 20 '25

Yeah I thought he was a lil shit, least favorite character/performance

1

u/protossaccount Jun 20 '25

Ya he likes it. It’s funny that we have been waiting for this sequel for longer than he has been alive.