Inside an abandoned train carriage, a woman discovers a female zombie struggling with a difficult labor.
The zombie, with her lower body naked, screams in agony.
Perhaps driven by maternal instincts, or out of pity and compassion, the woman makes a bold decision.
She is willing to risk infection and help this "zombie mother" give birth to a new life without any medical equipment.
Twenty-eight years ago, the "Rage Virus" destroyed Britain at an explosive speed.
Those infected turned into zombies, leaving the British Isles in a state of devastation and horror beyond description.
However, since zombies couldn't cross the sea, the infection was eventually contained within the UK mainland.
Other countries turned a blind eye, showing indifference. Britain was abandoned and blockaded by the rest of the world, leaving survivors to fend for themselves.
A group of survivors fled to an outer island, established the Holy Island community, and struggled to survive there.
Spike, a 12-year-old boy, ventures across the causeway to the mainland with his father to save his critically ill mother. Along the way, they encounter various mutated infected creatures and get involved in conflicts with mysterious doctors, cult organizations and other forces.
The main theme of the film is to deeply explore the changes in human nature under extreme circumstances.
The father, Jamie (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson), is a representative of "survival of the fittest" in the doomsday.
He has lost hope for the future, living a numb life, and even prematurely involves his son in dangerous outdoor search operations.
His infidelity further exposes his selfish and irresponsible nature, but he still retains some paternal warmth—he prepares breakfast for his child and teaches him survival skills.
Under the cruel conditions of the apocalypse, his love for his son can only be expressed in an extremely distorted way.
The son, Spike (played by Alfie Williams), is completely different. He is full of hope in his heart.
When his mother falls ill and there is no medicine available on the isolated island, he resolutely takes her away from the safe zone to find the "only doctor" in the past 28 years, which is also a search for "hope".
During the journey, even after witnessing the cruelty of the outside world, he is not deterred. Instead, he becomes more firm in his beliefs, showing his sense of responsibility and his persistence in and yearning for a better life.
There is another special group in the film—the infected.
They are no longer mindless zombies but have formed a certain social structure.
"Alphas" can command zombie groups to act, seize food, and organize hunts, showing an organizational model similar to that of primitive tribes.
After the collapse of civilization, where is the boundary between the so-called "normal humans" and zombies?
When the rules of human society are broken down, will the violence and barbarism in human nature turn us into another kind of "infected"?
This phenomenon is worthy of our consideration.
28 Years Later brings us a unique landscape through its 28-year worldview span.
Through the extremely shocking and philosophical "ruin aesthetics", it juxtaposes the decay of the environment with the fragility of human civilization, the relentlessness of time, and the resilience of nature, elevating it into a "meditation".
Danny Boyle's style, such as the visual vitality and humanistic care in 28 Days Later and Slumdog Millionaire, reaches a new height of integration with Alex Garland's philosophical science fiction in Ex Machina.
Unlike the immediate desolation in 28 Days Later, the ruins in 28 Years Later are "living" history.
Every collapsed structure and rusted object may carry untold stories of survivors or moments of the catastrophe, becoming a visual collective memory.
The camera lingers on these details, inviting the audience to imagine the past life.
The survivors' settlements themselves are a unique ruin landscape—dwellings pieced together with debris, urban blocks transformed into defensive works.
These are the marks of human struggle for survival and also the reflection of new power structures in physical space.
The visual style of the film is also worth mentioning.
In the application of color and light, the previous work 28 Days Later used green to show natural vitality and viral risks, and red to predict violence and danger, combined with digital photography to create a rough documentary texture.
The color tone of 28 Years Later is more complex.
The dark gray main tone symbolizes long-term depression and decay, while the sudden appearance of bright colors, such as resistance flags and natural wonders, represents hope or threat;
Artificial light sources, such as searchlights in safe zones and cold lights in ruling centers, create a sense of coldness and control.
Natural light, such as the beam of light penetrating the ruins and the sunrise that Spike and his mother watch together with their skulls at the end of the film, brings a sense of sacredness and illusion.
There is one thing that Xiaopai can't accept about this film—it overly beautifies death.
The mother, a patient with "terminal cancer" and "confused consciousness", is eventually "euthanized" by the doctor.
However, it is not difficult to see in the plot that she hardly "actively" participates in any decision, whether it is "seeing a doctor" or "being cremated".
What she really does actively is to block the zombies at night to protect her child, and with her weak body, help deliver a "new life".
If we really want to talk about the topic of "death", we should do it seriously. Even a conscious sentence like "I don't want to be a burden to you"
would be better than using soft light filters and growth talk to make people accept "death" in a light tone.
This year's reboot of 28 Years Later is undoubtedly the most polarizing film of the year. As of Xiaopai's deadline, the film has an 89% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 63% audience score.
The biggest gimmick of this film is that it was shot with "iPhone 15" and uses techniques such as bullet time slow motion, with visual effects that are no less than those of professional cameras.
However, the plot logic of the film fails to satisfy all audiences. Some viewers complain that the plot is "about taking my mom to see a doctor and ending up with her being cremated on the spot".
If you pursue the logic of the plot and the continuity of the story, or have a weak psychological endurance, this film, which is full of bloody violence and thrilling scenes, may cause you discomfort, so it is not recommended.
If you are a fan of the series, as well as a lover of thriller and zombie genres, this film will be very suitable for you.