Reception to 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is looking to prove director Nia DaCosta’s fears of “being a career ender” wrong
24 years ago, director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland teamed up to create the film that changed the zombie-horror genre forever through a heart pounding, anxiety-inducing new perspective.
2002’s classic 28 Days Later triumphed over some initial budget issues to terrify audiences with its never before seen fast, ferocious swarms of the infected in an abandoned London. The film stars Cillian Murphy (before he was scouted for Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins), Naomie Harris, Megan Burns, and Brendan Gleeson as a band of survivors fighting to stay alive as the world around them corrodes from the dreaded rage virus.
The film became an instant success and has spawned two sequels. 28 Months Later was released in 2007 with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo talking role as director working with Robert Carlyle, Rose Bryne and Jeremy Renner as a cast, followed by 2025’s 28 Years Later which saw Boyle return to the director’s chair.
28 Years Later was heavily anticipated due to 28 Days Later’s cult yet deeply committed fanbase. The film, which stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie , Alfie Williams and Ralph Fiennes, did not disappoint with widespread critical acclaim for its performances, tense yet emotional narrative and politically relevant themes, turning out a box office of $151.3 million from a $60 million budget. The film was soon announced to be the first of a trilogy set of sequels to the original film, with the next installment, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, being filmed back to back with the first and released to UK audiences this week.
This follow-up to the mind-bending conclusion from 28 Years Later is directed by the talented and committed Nia DaCosta, known for her work on two episodes of Top Boy, her feature debut Little Woods, the 2021 Candyman remake/reprise and being the first black woman to direct a Marvel film (The Marvels).
The director is no stranger to critical acclaim and accolades, such as her 2018 debut Little Woods earning her the Tribeca Film Festival’s Nora Ephron Prize and Candyman resulting in her making history as the first black female director to hit the number one spot at the American box office. However, DaCosta spoke with Yahoo News about her initial worries that the sequel would halt her budding film career due to scenes described as wild and tonally ambitious.
“That’s the thing [a scene where Fiennes’ character Dr. Ian Kelson performs to Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden] everyone read in the script and thought, ‘Well, that could be really bad. It could be cool. It could be really bad,'” the Candyman director shared. “And I read that, and I thought, ‘Oof, that’s going to be the end of my career!’”
DaCosta then gives credit to her powerhouse cast and crew for the final product, which is now growing critical acclaim following early screenings despite the director’s initial fears.
Over on Rotten Tomatoes, Boyle’s third time working on the 28 Days Later franchise (he directed the second film’s infamously intense opening) has garnered 94% of praising reviews out of a current total of 97 critics.
Meanwhile, 35 critics have taken to Metacritic to shower the sequel with positive responses and approval, boosting the film into a 79 out of 100 score.
Critics are focusing their favourable reviews on Fiennes’ reportedly “magnetic” and “going to the one place you never thought he would go” performance, as well as DaCosta’s “gripping” and “brave” direction.
There is a current census that 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple lives up to its predecessor and the first film, proving DaCosta’s earlier worries of the kiss of death to her time as a director as being far from reality.
In our own review of the film, penned by Freda Cooper, the director receives her flowers for her ambitious strive and the result:
“DaCosta to indulge her love of powerful visual images, from the Khmer Rouge-like memorial of bleached white skulls to murmurations of birds spread across the sky”, Cooper beams. “Bettering a sequel that is as least as good as the original is a daunting and intriguing prospect. We can’t wait.”
28 Weeks Later: The Bone Temple is in UK cinemas now as of 14th January.
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