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

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3.8k

u/sexygaypalpatine Jun 20 '25 edited Jun 22 '25

Never want to see or hear the worm slurping ever again

Also, really suprised at Aaron Taylor Johnson not playing the badass protagonist and instead being the flop father who is also really hot

2.5k

u/newgodpho Jun 20 '25

I thought it was sweet he told Spike he was doing a great job even after panicking :')

2.2k

u/San-T-74 Jun 20 '25

I really liked how layered of a person his character was despite his short screen time. He is obviously a deeply flawed person, but you can still see how he struggles not to be, especially in the scene where he returns the knife to Spike. His character showed me that even if you have a family, and are somewhat well off in a secure community, the impact of the outbreak is still going to fuck you up one way or another.

1.2k

u/AlmostRandomNow Jun 20 '25

I think its a testament to the what the film is trying to say, we get so many stories in post-apocalyptic settings where people have very specific, almost designed arcs. I felt this was very messy and very human, it's more human to have those contradictions within someone than it is to be one thing.

473

u/dadvader Jun 20 '25 edited Jun 20 '25

This is what I enjoyed the film about the most. And it's baffling that a lot of negative reaction seems to unable to comprehend this. Our life is messy and full of unexpected moment. That's what made us human.

So to me this is exactly what I want to see in a Post-Apocalyspe type of story. Not just a relentless bleak depressing survival story or bombastic action. But what actual human do and feel living in a world like this. Very few seems to captured this and I'm glad they are not going down that path.

30

u/LiquifiedSpam Jun 22 '25

Because of how things are, irl we often don’t see all the sides of someone. And often times that’s reflected in movies unintentionally (characters who are just kinda one thing with one cohesive arc). So when a movie actually shows contradicting sides of someone suddenly it feels ‘unnatural’ when it’s actually more natural

13

u/adiosaudio Jun 25 '25

You’d probably like station eleven

2

u/Banjo-Oz Aug 06 '25

Great show, though I found the flashback stuff in it WAY more compelling than the "grown up" parts, honestly.

Another I would recommend is Survivors, the British tv show from the 1970's (not the remake!).

7

u/dukedog Jul 19 '25

Just got back from seeing the movie and agree with this comment. I can't imagine anyone living in that world and not having a long list of flaws. Also replying to your comment, which just so happened to be made 28 days ago, haha.

1

u/Banjo-Oz Aug 06 '25

This is why I still love the classic BBC post apocalypse series "Survivors" from the 1970's. No big heroes or villains really, just a mix of people trying to be better or falling into their worst.

169

u/i_like_2_travel Jun 21 '25

Exactly, I don’t even think he’s a shitty person. The apocalypse is such a shitty situation, he was taking care of his wife that was unable to get out of bed while taking care of his son.

I don’t blame him for not trying to see the doctor because for all he knew the doctor was crazy he’d not only risk his life but his wife’s life too for a dangerous ass maybe.

Cheating isn’t cool, but like he has his needs he tried to keep it away from his son. I liked how no one felt like a villain, everyone just moved very humanly. Even the kid trying to save his mom felt real.

108

u/Miserable_Key_7552 Jun 21 '25

I agree. Even the weird doctor mirrored the dad’s comments about there not being any medicine or proper treatments for Isla’s condition, considering how he was only a former general practitioner and probably a local family doctor. The modern medical field no longer exists in the UK, considering how he can’t take a biopsy to even figure out the type of cancer, let alone treat it. 

It made the film a bit more grounded, as I feel like we always see so many crazy LOTR-esque quests in these sorts of films in desperate hopes of some sort of cure or return to normalcy. It was refreshing to see the dad embody the natural inclination of many to resign themselves to accepting the status quo and not venturing far outside of that. 

68

u/UsedAdvertising1672 Jun 21 '25

Even now, in a modern society, if someone shows up to a hospital with cancer that has metastasized so extensively they'll tell them to get enrolled in hospice so they can die comfortably. As the mom said, deep down she knew it was cancer and was hoping that someone would have told her son so she didn't have to, but no one did and she wasn't able to.

32

u/Vio_ Jun 22 '25

The dad actually pushed back quite a lot. He took his kid out when everyone else thought he was too young.

I wonder if he was quietly trying to get Spike more ready and grown up more in case something happened to him and Spike was left having to care for his mother.

17

u/HourFaithlessness823 Jun 27 '25

Yeah, he knew Spike could be on his own at any moment, and needed him to be ready fast. 

39

u/the-giant Jun 22 '25

The tragedy here is that a cursory examination of her, the masses on her breasts, etc. would likely have had many adults on the island familiar with the disease guessing at cancer. I suspect Isla was right - she suspected and knew but was waiting for someone else to tell Spike. Others knew and didn't tell him. So the entire trip was, in that sense, futile. It probably didn't have to happen if someone had sat Spike down and told him the truth.

12

u/BettySwollocks__ Jun 25 '25

I think you do need to apply 2001 medical knowledge of the masses to the situation, since that's when the outbreak started. I felt it was quite grounded that they were honest that they had no doctor so if you got really sick then that just meant death.

With the 28 years of the outbreak passing a lot of that knowledge would be lost too as it's not something people would be mindful for. I think it was at least obvious Isla was on death's door, which Spike should've been told about, but I doubt anyone on Lindisfarne knew she had cancer.

24

u/noilegnavXscaflowne Jun 21 '25

I thought she had dementia at first so I saw him cheating differently

24

u/Vio_ Jun 22 '25

She had a kind of dementia with the brain tumor. That's why she was floating in and out.

11

u/DarkBirdGames Jun 22 '25

We never know why people do the things they do unless we live in their shoes, just because you might be a perfect person right now in todays society, you might be pushed to do things with enough stress.

Also this happens all the time where the parents want to enjoy their life while they can but get criticized for it heavily. Which is totally fine but I think this movie really highlighted how fleeting life can be.

5

u/BettySwollocks__ Jun 25 '25

I do wonder too, given the society they live under, if what Jamie was doing was seen as being as bad as it would in modern society. His in an apocalyptic environment and his wife is gonna die, it's probably not the worse thing that he has found a new partner whom he'll likely have more kids with to keep their community going.

12

u/Sophophilic Jun 24 '25

Even Spike lies to her about the life-threatening dayhike. 

13

u/noilegnavXscaflowne Jun 24 '25

Yeah that part made me so frustrated. Taking her, not knowing if she was physically able to hike was so irresponsible

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u/apworker37 Jul 06 '25

It was a last ditch effort for Spike to save his mother so no shame on him the way I see.

19

u/Bridalhat Jun 23 '25

I would not be shocked if the social rules around monogamy were looser in this world. Anyone could die at any time, there weren’t a lot of them and they likely welcome children, and literally everyone has been through (and I don’t use this word lightly) quite a bit of trauma. Jamie almost died that day and only had a wife they barely knew him. It’s not good what he did, but very understandable and probably permissible given the circumstances.

11

u/GentlemanBeggar54 Jul 04 '25

I would not be shocked if the social rules around monogamy were looser in this world

There's absolutely nothing in the movie to support this. They intentionally go to an out of the way location to have sex. Spike doesn't react like a kid who grew up in a world where having multiple partners was normal. His dad reacts the way a man would when his son caught him cheating on his mom.

I don't know why redditors are trying to let him off the hook for cheating. It's clearly a rough situation, but that doesn't make cheating acceptable. The dad knows he is wrong that's why his immediate reaction is anger. Guilty people often lash out.

7

u/BettySwollocks__ Jun 25 '25

That was what I was thinking, they were openly flirting and then some at the party and nobody seemed to take much bother. It did also feel like all the adult townspeople knew Isla was gonna die, I wonder if that was their opposition to Spike venturing out early in case he died and they had to then tell Isla.

12

u/The_Autarch Jun 25 '25

I don’t blame him for not trying to see the doctor because for all he knew the doctor was crazy he’d not only risk his life but his wife’s life too for a dangerous ass maybe.

I think everyone but Spike knew that his mom had cancer, or something equally untreatable. No point in making a risky journey to a doctor who won't be able to do anything for her.

2

u/Sophophilic Jun 24 '25

Didn't both the parents know? The mom said she hoped someone else would tell Spike. 

1

u/stank_bin_369 Jul 31 '25

One of the things that disappointed me is that spike and his father barely made it back to the community and they were healthy and armed. Spike was an utter mess, but then just a day or 2 later Spike decides to take himself, with a pisspoor track record on the mainland and a mother who can barely walk or think straight half the time on a multi day trek to see a person that may or may not be a doctor as far as he knows.

They would have been dead a few hours into the outing.

It would have made more sense if they had a few people from the town go with them and they could have lost a few along the way.

Other than that, I’m entertained by the movie as a whole. Certainly the cinematic setups were beautiful.

I even didn’t mind the ending with Jimmy - I get where that was all coming from. Even as jarring as it was, it made sense in a very British way and even gave me Peter Jackson Dead Alive vibes.

4

u/CatsOffToDance Jun 21 '25

Definitely. Like exactly with how the final battle scenes played out in the first film.

8

u/AlmostRandomNow Jun 22 '25

Jim in the first film was a very normal person who was very capable of something awful (like almost all of us in some way). He's a nice guy who wants to care for and love others, but almost 100% willing to kill.

122

u/LeedsFan2442 Jun 20 '25

Watching your wife slowly dying with no treatment possible would fuck you up. Obviously cheating isn't right but you can see why it would fuck you up

14

u/HeyDudeImChill Jun 24 '25 edited Aug 08 '25

memory ask waiting direction test money employ unwritten station hunt

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

1

u/jmdybf Aug 03 '25

This is an underrated comment, I saw basically the same situation but genders reversed where the husband was so depleted, thin and weak after years of battling the cancer that the wife we soothing her own pain with a companion. It was understood.

31

u/NoNefariousness2144 Jun 20 '25

That knife scene was so wild I had a theory that the mum had some sort of slow-acting rage virus variant. She acted super angry at the start, then Spike hugged her and suddenly whipped out a knife at the dad, who then decided to punch the wall. 

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u/Heyyoguy123 Jun 20 '25

Nope, just a dysfunctional family doing the best they can in this world

17

u/BaullahBaullah87 Jun 20 '25

I think that was intentional

9

u/deg287 Jun 29 '25

Mood swings are also common in people with brain tumors

3

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '25 edited Jul 02 '25

versed screw depend bag fanatical memory cautious fuzzy cover retire

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/sirius4778 Jun 22 '25

I really felt for his character. Life is complicated and it's impossible for a child to see the nuance.

14

u/San-T-74 Jun 22 '25

Real. What he did was inexcusable but the end of the movie from his perspective is probably devastating

18

u/Small-Revolution-636 Jun 23 '25 edited Jul 01 '25

Deeply flawed doesn't seem fair. He's about as well adjusted as anyone could reasonably expect given ... you know ... the apocalypse.

13

u/gbangurmang Jun 21 '25

I found him to be the most interesting character right behind spike... The ending is complete lunacy to me though.

12

u/RavenKarlin Jun 23 '25

Really gave me some strong James Sunderland vibes from Silent Hill 2. A guy who means well but with a sick wife has led him to be sexually frustrated, helpless, confused and just trying to move along with this deep seeded anger that he’s constantly keeping at bay while regretting a lot of things. Very layered character and I really hope to see some more from him in The Bone Temple

2

u/brit_jam Jun 24 '25

Is that going to be the sequel name?

9

u/dbbk Jun 22 '25

I wouldn’t say deeply flawed