28 Years Later spoilers

[waters44]

I've slept on it

I think @johnnyboy has hit the nail on the head for me. I went in expecting a sequel to Days and Weeks and Years is not that film. Is Weeks non-canon? That makes Years a little easier to understand, but I still can't connect Days and Years, they are too different.

I didn't know the Boots poem, but that small section of the film is amazing. The editing is great. Actually I really enjoyed the first part of the film, up until the point Spike takes his Mum across the causeway. The film started to slip for me after that point, and by the time an infected gives birth I was completely checked out. I understand the connotations to that, but I struggle with the massive shifts in tone here. In the space of half hour we go from an infected giving birth, to our main cast being chased by her alpha's big swingin' dick to Spike's Mum being diagnosed with late stage cancer in a really emotional moment. Swings like that are too much for me

Maybe if I went in to the film with no expectations I could have got on board with the bone collector character, but again by that point I was hating the film. We have the upsetting cancer diagnosis scene, which is really well done, then it's ruined by him helping end Isla's pain with a blowdart? Why didn't he just stick the needle in her arm or something. Like I said though by this point I was picking at every little thing

I loved the stuff on the island and would like to have seen more of that. 

Then the ending - I guess your mileage may vary on this sort of thing. As a wrestling fan stuff like this makes me think of Benoit. I think I could watch one of his matches although I haven't actually tried since 2007. But Jimmy Savile - that is a relic that should be wiped from the history books. I understand that society ends in 2002 so they don't know how evil he was, but so what? I don't want to see anything to do with him on screen. It reminded me of the cunts that dress up like him at Halloween. Just a horrible moment in the film that completely floored me. It's also played for laughs, so I can see why @Chris B found it funny, but it just made me feel sick and depressed. However I have read a couple of reviews and it looks like I may be in the minority here. Apparently the next film is all about those characters so I won't be bothering with that

TL:DR I may have liked it if I went in thinking it was a new IP and if I left five minutes before the end 

 

[johnnyboy]

1 hour ago, waters44 said:

Is Weeks non-canon?

No, even though the ending does show infected running towards the Eiffel Tower there's a bit in the opening of Years that says that mainland Europe was able to beat it back.

Weeks was a different team though, so I guess Years is a direct sequel to Days in as much as they're both Danny Boyles' vision, whereas Weeks is a story in the same universe told by someone else.  You could jump from Days to Years and not miss too much except for the introduction of asymptomatic rage carriers.  I wonder if the baby will be an asymptomatic carrier like the mum was in Weeks!

A similar thing happened to me with the film "Downsizing." I was expecting it to be a comedy from the trailers about someone getting stitched up into shrinking and then it turned out to be an environmental film.  It wasn't that it was a bad film, just that it was so far away from what I was expecting and it didn't, or I didn't allow it, to take me with it.

Edited June 24, 2025 by johnnyboy

[mim731]

8 minutes ago, johnnyboy said:

You could jump from Days to Years and not miss too much except for the introduction of asymptomatic rage carriers.  I wonder if the baby will be an asymptomatic carrier like the mum was in Weeks!

I did wonder if there was a reason that wasn't mentioned, so I guess it just depends whether Weeks become non-cannon as to whether it is likely a possible plot point or not. 

[DavidB6937]

I feel like the Savile thing was too in your face. It does genuinely leave a bad taste in your mouth and felt like a shock for shock's sake. You can get to that ending and deal with that scenario without it being the main thing to stick out from it.

If they really wanted to get across the point of society not being aware of certain things, it really could've been done in a more enjoyable and subtle way. It just makes the whole thing feel a bit dirty. Surprised they didn't end with Two Little Boys over the credits or something.

[johnnyboy]

1 minute ago, mim731 said:

I did wonder if there was a reason that wasn't mentioned, so I guess it just depends whether Weeks become non-cannon as to whether it is likely a possible plot point or not. 

Or the placenta really was a filter.  No one on the island or Fiennes would know that asymptomatic infection/being a carrier was even a possibility though as no sooner did Rose Byrne discover it they got overrun.

I suppose it's there to use if they want, but can also be explained away if not.  Poor Spike comes back home to find that he'd condemned them all to infection would be a bleak sequel!

[mim731]

5 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

I feel like the Savile thing was too in your face. It does genuinely leave a bad taste in your mouth and felt like a shock for shock's sake. You can get to that ending and deal with that scenario without it being the main thing to stick out from it.

I was discussing this with my mate as we left the cinema, and despite the bit at the beginning with the kid in the church, we'd kind of forgotten that happened and I doubt we were the only ones. As such I wondered if there was a misdirect there, given Cillian Murphy's character in the original was named Jim, leading to the idea the audience would assume that "Jimmy" would be Murphy, and then deciding that they only way to pay that off given the expectation and Jim not actually featuring, was to do the most insane thing available, which in fairness they managed I think,

[waters44]

42 minutes ago, johnnyboy said:

No, even though the ending does show infected running towards the Eiffel Tower there's a bit in the opening of Years that says that mainland Europe was able to beat it back.

Thanks, I did see the blurb at the start but couldn't remember exactly what it said. Europe beating it is a massive leap based on what we already know but nevermind. Actually Years would have been better to just ignore all that. I know Danny Boyle wanted the Brexit allegory, but lose that and things are a bit neater for me. There was no need for that assault team to enter the island, and actually it makes Spike and his Dad's fight with the infected a bit more unbelievable. A couple of bow and arrows outperformed a highly trained team with automatic rifles. Eh, i'm nitpicking again!

@mim731 I was on the same lines as you with the Jimmy thing. I saw the graffiti on the wall and assumed it was to do with Jim from Days. I didn't clock "Jimmy" being carved into the hanging dead body, that's a cool touch. 

[LaGoosh]

I saw this yesterday and I didn't love it. The first half was decent and seemed to be setting up a far more interesting second half than the one they actually made.

Specifically the section from when the boy and his mum travelled across the mainland to get to Fiennes's character. Filled to the brim with half baked ideas, constant tonal whiplash, characters being stupid and contrived silliness. Horrendous. I thought the stuff was Dr Kelsey was good but let down by how ridiculous the stuff that preceded it was.

For me the worst thing in the film was the alphas. I get that it was an extremely on the nose metaphor for the dad's toxic masculinity and rage. But these 7 foot extremely ripped viking blokes running around everywhere with their gigantic mega knobs flopping around was just inherently very silly and dumb. And for some reason they are almost impervious to arrows and bullets. Killed any of the tension for me. 

And then the ending with the Jimmy Saville parkour ninjas pretty much killed off any interest in a sequel I had. The reaction in my screening from everyone seemed to be "what the fuck was that stupid shit" which I'm guessing isn't how you want people to react to the end of your movie.

A shame - I really enjoyed the first half of it. The visuals and aesthetics in particular were spot on. 

I think it's funny they are promoting the sequel with "Cillian Murphy is returning"....so what? Oh wow, I can't wait to see what the exciting memorable character of Jim has been up to since the original film.

Edited July 2, 2025 by LaGoosh

[TheScarlettChad]

Well to fans of the original, Jim is a big character.

[LaGoosh]

Is he? He's just a perfectly serviceable generic guy.

[TheScarlettChad]

11 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Is he? He's just a perfectly serviceable generic guy.

I agree with you, but yeah. People were  complaining that Jim wasn't there. I don't really know why, They treat him like he's Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield's Spidey level of Iconic.

[Jesse]

Feel like I'm pretty echoing the forum consensus here. I liked the village stuff at the start, and I found all the Ralph Fiennes stuff really affecting. But everything outside of that was a complete miss to me, and I walked away not feeling particularly interested in seeing it again or any more from it. Will probably skip the next one unless someone tells me it's amazing.

[Mr_Danger]

Outside of the Jimmy Savile ninjas I thought the most surprising thing is that everyone thinks the Alpha’s had big willies. I thought they were average size personally.

[Mowgli]

On 7/2/2025 at 11:18 AM, Jesse said:

Feel like I'm pretty echoing the forum consensus here. I liked the village stuff at the start, and I found all the Ralph Fiennes stuff really affecting. But everything outside of that was a complete miss to me, and I walked away not feeling particularly interested in seeing it again or any more from it. Will probably skip the next one unless someone tells me it's amazing.

Not sure whether it's amazing but it is a lot better, in my opinion, than the first one. 

Ralph Fiennes is amazing again. Jack O Connell is also very good in his role. Some of it was a bit choreographed as to what was going to happen however there are still some plotlines to finish off, hopefully there is going to be a third film.

[Lorne Malvo]

You lot are all mad, reading this back. The first half of 28 Years Later with Aaron Taylor-Johnson doing his shitty 'please cast me in a Ken Loach film!' audition is easily the worst half of the film! As soon as Spike and his mam leave the island business picks up.