28 Years Later: The Bone Temple: An Improvement Over the Previous Entry That Still Struggles to Engage (Blu-ray)

The Film:

Last year, screenwriter Alex Garland and director Danny Boyle made a bold attempt to resurrect a long-dormant franchise, giving us the next logical entry with "28 Years Later," an attempt to expand the story of where humanity stands after the mass breakout of the "Rage" virus. Critics thought the film was decent, but audiences were not nearly as impressed, giving it rather mixed ratings and a somewhat disappointing box office return that had the film barely breaking even, and indeed, this was one of those fascinating times where they ended up being a little closer to the mark than the professionals.

The first film of a planned trilogy, it started off with a somewhat intriguing bang, but quickly found itself struggling to latch onto a compelling storyline, ultimately concluding the first entry with a surprisingly anticlimactic finish. For the next entry, "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple," we once again have Alex Garland continuing writing duties, while Nia DaCosta takes over as director from Boyle. After the rather tepid reaction of audiences toward the lackluster beginning of this new trilogy, will they be able to see where things went wrong and make the necessary corrections to get this series back on track, or will we merely come to discover that this entire endeavor was one big mistake?

The film picks up right after the conclusion of the previous entry, with Spike (Alfie Williams) killing one of the members of and getting adopted into "The Fingers," a cult headed by Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell), a psychopath who believes he's the son of Satan. Spike witnesses the group torturing, mutilating, and murdering people in the name of "Old Nick," all the while trying to find his chance to get away. Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) has been experimenting with an Alpha infected called Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry), who is becoming more and more mellow as Ian continues to inject him with morphine from his blowgun. However, his experiment is soon interrupted when Jimmy & his gang notice his Bone Temple (his monument to the dead) and his iodine-covered skin, leading them to believe that Ian could be Satan. Jimmy quickly finds out that it's not true, a fact that Spike is obviously well-aware of, but will Ian be able to successfully play along as Jimmy demands in order to survive the encounter?

"28 Years Later" did indeed start things off with a bit of a problem, showing us that Garland was having some difficulty developing a narrative that audiences could get invested in, so for this next outing, he was obviously going to have to raise his game to win back the audience he had lost with the first entry. When it comes to the follow-up, he does put forth a little more effort in terms of actually having the story develop so that the audience has a little more to care about this time around, that being wondering whether Spike is going to be able to escape from the gang of psychopaths he finds himself entangled with. As for Dr. Kelson's side of things, it's a mildly intriguing scenario that has him trying to rehabilitate one of the infected, a set-up that may remind some horror fans of Romero's "Day of the Dead," in which Dr. Logan tries to rehabilitate a zombie named Bub.

However, while it is definitely a step up from the flawed opening entry, it still struggles to truly pull the audience in. Jimmy and his "Fingers" are rather flat villains that do nothing more than roam around and kill people as part of a satanic cult, with Spike basically tagging along as he waits for his chance to escape, while Dr. Kelson goes about his little experiment that yields some interesting results. Taken all together, it's a somewhat ho-hum sequel, one that presents a little more effort put into the narrative, but which continues to have problems giving us a story that actually feels as though it's headed somewhere, and that's on top of its difficulty in justifying the continuation of this franchise in the first place.

Overall, it would appear that audiences generally agreed that this middle entry was an improvement, but that's in regards to those who actually bothered to see it, as the sting of the first film sadly lead to most of the audience not bothering to come back. Because of this, the fate of the third film is left in doubt, despite news from months ago saying that it was in development. After the slight upgrade from film one to film two, it's quite possible that Garland could finally get it right with a third outing, especially given the re-introduction of a certain someone at the end of this entry, but again, it's looking less and less likely that he's going to get the chance.

However, if we're being frank, after having two chances already to show us where this story could go after such a long hiatus, and not delivering anything particularly worth the effort, it might simply be best that they cut their losses and end it here. It was indeed a bold attempt to pick up after the thrilling "28 Weeks Later," but sometimes these things just don't work out the way the filmmakers want them to.

Video/Audio:

"28 Years Later: The Bone Temple" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.39:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of excellent quality, presenting a picture that is remarkably sharp & clear throughout the entire 109-minute duration. Likewise, the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in outstanding quality. Overall, Sony has done a marvelous job in both departments for the film's physical debut.

Special Features:

Commentary with Director Nia DaCosta

The Doctor and the Devil (6 Minutes): A featurette that explores the two main characters.

New Blood (6 Minutes): A featurette that takes a look at director Nia DaCosta.

Beneath the Rage (5 Minutes): A featurette that focuses on the relationship between Dr. Kelson and Samson.

Infected Takes: Bloopers (3 Minutes)

Deleted Scene (1 Minute)

Conclusion:

"28 Years Later: The Bone Temple" presents a slight improvement over the previous entry in that screenwriter Alex Garland puts more effort into trying to deliver a compelling storyline, but sadly it still struggles quite a bit to engage the audience, giving them rather flat antagonists and only small intriguing pieces of plot to get pulled in by. It's certainly a step up from the curiously forgettable opening of the supposed trilogy, but it still can't help becoming a rather ho-hum affair.

Score: 3/5

Now available on Blu-ray.

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