28 Years Later: A Curious Start for a New Trilogy (Blu-ray)

The Film:

It's been 18 years since our last visit to the virus-plagued universe of the "28 Days Later" series, but after multiple delays caused by the question of film rights ownership, the series is finally progressing with "28 Years Later," which brings back Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Alex Garland, both of whom brought us the original film. This long-awaited sequel is yet another fascinating example of a rather discernible split between critics and audiences, with the former giving it generally decent reviews and the latter having a far more mixed reaction, on top of a somewhat mild reception at the box office, which inevitably raises the question of who's closer to the mark. Is this merely another instance of critics giving a horror film undue praise, or could it be that nearly 20 years is simply too long for the public to start caring about this series again?

The film begins with a brief flashback to the initial outbreak of the "Rage Virus," where we witness a young boy named Jimmy Crystal flee his house as it's invaded by the infected. He tries to take shelter with his minister father in a church, but he merely finds him praying and declaring it Judgment Day, though he does give his son a cross necklace and help him to safety before being taken by the infected.

28 years later, the virus is gone from continental Europe, but the British Isles remain under indefinite quarantine. A community has formed on one of these islands, which is naturally defended by a causeway that comes and goes with the tide. It's here we meet Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), his wife Isla (Jodie Comer), who's suffering from an unknown illness, and their 12-year-old son Spike (Alfie Williams). Jamie takes Spike on his first hunt, where he's able to get his first infected kills, but while they're on the mainland, Spike also notices a nearby fire, which he eventually learns is coming from a Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes). Having been told by his father that there are no more doctors around to help treat his mother, Spike decides to sneak out of the community with her on a desperate mission to reach Dr. Kelson in the hope that he'll be able to cure her.

Just like "28 Weeks Later," this latest entry picks up with an entirely new story, one that's actually intended to be the first part of a trilogy. With that in mind, one would hope that screenwriter Alex Garland would take the time to lay some really intriguing & compelling groundwork so as to get the audience truly engaged, as well as make them eager to see what's going to happen next. However, when it comes to "28 Years Later," it's a little difficult to say that he's been entirely successful in that regard.

He does a fine job of setting up the characters, but the main issue comes in giving them something interesting to do, something that would have the audience hanging on in the aforementioned anticipation. The main bulk of the plot here, as much as there is, revolves around young Spike trying to get his mother to Dr. Kelson, which obviously involves avoiding the multitude of infected roaming the mainland, and even has them randomly & temporarily running into a stranded Swedish soldier. Unfortunately this central storyline comes to a rather anticlimactic end, one that tries to bring a little emotion with it, but sadly doesn't do much to sate the viewer's need for a compelling narrative.

By the end, after not having gotten much in the way of substance, we're not left with a whole lot of eagerness for part two of this supposed trilogy. Perhaps Garland is simply planning to have the actual main part of this tale take place in the middle film, but if that was the plan, you would think he would've tried just a little harder in part one in order to make the audience want to come back for future installments, which, judging by the audience reactions, many of them likely won't be. Overall, "28 Years Later" isn't a particularly bad film, but it is a rather curious one in that there just isn't a lot here to grab the audience and make them care about what will happen in the next film, let alone the next two. With the second part ("The Bone Temple") due out next year, we can only hope that Garland has more up his sleeve than he showed us here.

Video/Audio:

"28 Years Later" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.76:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of outstanding quality. The picture is quite clear & sharp throughout the entire 115-minute duration, perfectly highlighting the design of its post-apocalyptic world. Likewise, the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is marvelous, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in excellent quality. Overall, Sony has done a fantastic job in both areas for the film's Blu-ray debut.

Special Features:

Days to Years (7 Minutes)

Capturing the Chaos (5 Minutes)

The Survivors (6 Minutes)

Becoming the Infected (6 Minutes)

Behind the Cameras (7 Minutes)

The Blu-ray comes with five featurettes, totaling about 30 minutes, focusing on topics such as planning & shooting the film, the characters, and the makeup. Each one is worth a look for those wanting to delve deeper into the film.

Conclusion:

Danny Boyle's "28 Years Later" is a rather curious start of a supposed trilogy in that it does a fine job of establishing its characters, but not so much in terms of giving the film enough substance in regards to its strangely weak narrative, ultimately making it questionable as to whether most viewers will bother to come back for future installments of this recently-resurrected horror series.

Score: 2.5/5

Available on Blu-ray starting tomorrow.

Follow me on Twitter @BeckFilmCritic.