28 Years Later: The Bone Temple Review

Director Nia DaCosta follows Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later with The Bone Temple, a leaner, smarter, nastier sequel, the best of the franchise since the original.

Both were potent on those terms, but 28 Years Later saw returning director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland try to do too much. It proved more effective at its musings on the inevitability of time and death than when grappling with the aftermaths of Covid-19 and Brexit.

Watching 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, it’s clear that director Nia DaCosta learned from the mistakes of the preceding film. Boyle’s return to the franchise replaced the lo-fi gritty handheld of 28 Days Later with glossy cinematography, extended worldbuilding and sometimes sarcastic filmmaking flourishes. DaCosta tempers most of Boyle’s excesses, keeping the filmmaking nimble and the commentary light. Of course, The Bone Temple has to continue the story started in 28 Years Later, but DaCosta delivers a film that feels leaner and meaner, forcing the characters to abandon hopes of security, and to find hope and/or escape by any means necessary.

The Bone Temple begins right after the bizarre epilogue of 28 Years Later, wherein young Spike (Alfie Williams) decided to go it alone on the British mainland, only to be confronted by the rotten-toothed Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) and his band of similarly-attired Jimmys. Despite the furore among viewers at the time, this group’s choice of TV personality-cum-sex fiend Jimmy Savile is the least of their issues. This marauding band of zealots have survived the Rage Virus long enough to be convinced of their religious righteousness, and Spike is invited to join them in their fervor.

The subverted faith they preach is the film’s most obvious point of commentary, with Jimmy Crystal whispering seductive words to a captive band of followers, and nobody to oppose him. The parallels with certain strains of fundamentalist Christianity can’t be missed, but the Jimmys are so repellent, and the world they inhabit is so broken, for the metaphor to feel too laboured. Garland’s script is as concerned with commentary as ever, but DaCosta’s deftness balances those instincts out.

Meanwhile, the saving grace of 28 Years Later, Ralph Fiennes’ Dr. Kelson, is conducting his own brand of research into the Rage Virus. His ‘friendship’ with infected mutant Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry) leads him to draw some conclusions on how the virus can be tempered. Cutting between the plot strands of The Bone Temple gives it an energy that 28 Years Later lacked. It suggests that even after all this time has passed, hope can still be found as long as the story hasn’t ended. Fiennes’ Kelson offers the film a healthy dose of humanity and compassion, a reminder not to lose such things when the world burns (After curing one patient, he says, “I’m NHS. No charge”, in the film’s most pointed commentary). DaCosta’s ability to balance theme and story has improved since 2021’s Candyman, a stylish movie whose thematic obviousness undermined the good work done by the superior original film.

The plotlines have to dovetail eventually, though the buildup is as tense and enthralling as anything in the franchise to date. Spike and his newfound ‘friends’ extol their vicious virtues on any poor soul they happen to meet. The Jimmys’ methods are nasty and their humour is sadistic, marking them as an even more horrifying threat than the few Infected that remain. Jack O’Connell caps an impressive horror one-two after Sinners with his despicable turn as Jimmy Crystal, giggling one moment and slicing through flesh the next. Spike forms a bond with Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman), but despite Williams’ breakout turn in 28 Years Later, its sequel is more invested in the bigger personalities of Jimmy Crystal and Dr. Kelson. This isn’t necessarily a complaint, though. DaCosta and editor Jake Roberts keep the tension building throughout, threatening violence for as long as possible, then unleashing it in surprisingly prolonged and gnarly bursts.

Fiennes’ unpredictability in his choices of roles has given his career a vitality other actors can only envy, and he’s absolutely superb once again as Kelson. With both physical commitment and reserves of energy below his stoic demeanour, he dominates these films with wisdom and sly humour. All of these traits serve him well in the third act, when the Jimmys finally meet the good Doctor, and their competing worldviews risk all their lives. A sequence of Fiennes exhibiting his physical dexterity while soundtracked by Iron Maiden is an absolute riot.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is a wild ride, leaning into wider influences such as Mad Max and The Warriors. Other films have tried this (See Neil Marshall’s derivative Doomsday as proof), but The Bone Temple borrows those movies’ sense of fun to balance out its gloom. It may not be as original or subversive as it wants, but it’s a heck of a lot of fun. Boyle can’t possibly top this with Part 3, but we’ll look forward to it a little more now.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will be released in UK & Irish cinemas on January 14, 2026 and in US theatres on January 16.