’28 Years Later’ rips out literal and metaphorical hearts

The only moment that could be considered “light” in “28 Years Later,” the third fittingly titled entry in the famed zombie franchise after “28 Days Later” and “28 Weeks Later,” is the logo treatment for Columbia Pictures. Even the opening image features the Teletubbies, those little devils that simultaneously entertain and steal people’s souls. After that, it’s a non-stop train down to hell.

But there’s still a melody to the morbidity, much of it coming through the strong performances and delicate tonal balancing from returning director Danny Boyle. That shouldn’t be a surprise for the revered British auteur, considering he’s already performed this trick with the electrifying provocativeness of the original “Trainspotting,” which turned into the wiser, sadder “T2 Trainspotting.” Time was a valuable asset for that series, and so is it here.

No longer is agonizingly immediate dismemberment the top-of-mind threat, but the slow, trodden wait for time to outpace mortality. The ending of “28 Weeks Later,” with the zombies now spreading through mainland Europe, has been retconned back to the British Isles. The world’s governments aren’t going to make the same mistake twice, so the United Kingdom has been permanently sealed off, leaving any and all human survivors to fend for themselves.

Even for the people of Holy Island, who have formed a quiet, secluded community away from the infected, there’s a lingering feeling that everyone else on the planet is just waiting for them to die off and for all this to be done.

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As the title alludes, enough time has passed since the rage virus first emerged. Entire generations have grown up without knowing what the world was like before – iPhones, the internet, plastic surgery, and pizza delivery are all foreign concepts to 12-year-old Spike, played by brilliant newcomer Alfie Williams. His lifestyle has reverted several hundred years, with his dad (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and him acting as the community’s hunter-gatherers. There are now variations of the infected, some slower and others brawnier and more intelligent, known as “Alphas.”

A natural plot would create an antagonistic relationship between Spike and the Alpha, with his coming-of-age reaching its climax by slaying the beast. Screenwriter Alex Garland (recently helming the A24 military duo of “Civil War” and “Warfare”) and Boyle have different ideas. As opposed to his worn-down, traditional father, Spike’s concept of masculinity comes from his devotion to his sick mother (Jodie Comer), with the only hope for a cure being a supposedly insane doctor housed deep in the forbidden mainland. Like all promises of relief in this franchise, the answer is never what you want to hear.

But instead of being a blunt beating, Spike’s realization about the natural order of things comes with precise catharsis. A bald and red-painted Ralph Fiennes plays the mad doctor, offering sobering wisdom from someone who sees past the us-versus-them division of the living and the dead. His appearance is greatly welcomed, and his work with Williams and Comer tugs at the heart, a surprising occurrence from a franchise whose first instinct with organs is to violently rip them out.

This is also a franchise where every terrible happening is caused by unbelievable stupidity, so the higher-minded philosophy still has a pretty low ceiling. The thematically correct sloppiness of the previous entry’s cinematography is replicated here through wide-angle and anamorphic iPhone cameras. At times, there’s a jarring beauty to it, providing an unvarnished view of the world. In other moments, it’s an uncanny valley, my mind instinctively rejecting cell phone cameras from the silver screen. That unfiltered view also prevents the unsightly CGI from being masked.

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A highly questionable ending, certainly a teaser for the already-shot sequel, “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” dampens much of the goodwill built up to that moment. This is only supposed to be the start of a new trilogy, with original cast member Cillian Murphy expected to return. The brief sample has me questioning what the full course will be, but there are still enough unique ideas ready for us to sink our teeth into.

Sony Pictures will release “28 Years Later” in theaters nationwide on June 20.

Eden Prairie resident Hunter Friesen is a film critic who owns and operates The Cinema Dispatch, a website where he writes reviews, essays, and everything in between. He currently serves as the president of the Minnesota Film Critics Association and travels the globe covering film festivals both big and small. To view his entire body of work, you can visit his website and Instagram.