28 years later: Temple of Bones dares to go further than its predecessor – Review

28 years later: Temple of Bones – Yes, Bone Templenow a joke so we can move on – proof that artists shouldn’t get too territorial about their work. Danny Boyle revisits the world 28 days later – his 2002 zombie movie classic – in last year’s 28 years laterhas handed over control to Nia DaCosta (candy man; Miracle) as its sequel. New voices, new perspectives helped drive Bone Temple A step further than its predecessor Ever dared to go.

and Alex Garland The pair continued as screenwriters, providing the necessary connective tissue to create a horror film that drags viewers right into the heart of the apocalypse (which, admittedly, isn’t that hard to do these days). It’s crazy, wild, brooding, sad, claustrophobic, fiery, terrifying and humanistic. 28 years later A boy named Spike (Alfie Williams) leaves the safety of his community in Lindisfarne and risks everything to find the precious commodity of a mother’s love. It is rooted in basic mythology. Simple, but effective.

Garland’s script gets a Mary Shelley twist here, raising questions about the Infected that haven’t really been asked before. What is it that makes a man a man and a zombie a zombie? Also questioning them is Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), a very crazy and very wise doctor who is responsible for the “Bone Temple”, an ossuary built with human remains to preserve the memories of the dead. Kelson became increasingly obsessed with the infected “Alpha,” whom he nicknamed Samson (Chi Lewis Parry). He kept coming back to the temple, the look on his face… was it curiosity? Or just more chaos in between all the rants and brain snacks?

DaCosta’s cinematography is more subtle than Boyle’s, working alongside regular cinematographer Sean Bobbitt. Some may lament her choice not to shoot with an iPhone or include an infrared lens, as Boyle did. But da Costa’s playfulness is the same as her predecessor’s, only more pronounced in tone: it shows up in her handling of silences, or in the unexpectedly funny montages of Kelson and Samson’s rom-com-like interactions in Duran Duran’s “The Ordinary World.” It also pairs perfectly with Fiennes’ ferocious performance. Kelsen looks like Colonel Kurtz, but he acts like Yoda, singing, giggling, and quoting Latin. You wonder if losing your mind is really the best way to escape the apocalypse.

However, there is another major player Bone Templehe was shocked at the end 28 years later Dressed like Jimmy Savile and sporting Jack O’Connell’s killer smile, he follows up last year’s performance with a deft villain performance.sinner. He understands what it takes to create a character as profoundly complex and inherently evil as this one: an inherent sense of logic and command, even amidst all the excesses of brutality. (Regardless, da Costa isn’t afraid to depict stomach-churning violence when necessary.) It’s clear how he was able to wield such corrupting power over his “Jimmy” cult, and poor Spike now finds himself in trouble, with his underlings dressing like him, thinking like him, and torturing like him. Williams also grounds his performance firmly, finding an anxious middle ground between the kid he still is and the man the world forces him to become.

What Kelsen and O’Connell’s Sir Jimmy Crystal have in common is the role that language plays in how we build or deprive ourselves of a sense of humanity. Lord Jimmy describes himself as the son of Satan, a puppet who completely perverts all words and symbols, and who calls his acts of violence “charity.” It adds to the film’s bold, layered invocation of Savile, a man who hid his heinous crimes under the guise of charity. In his own way, O’Connell’s character Lord Jimmy belies his brutal truth with a brilliant performance. Meanwhile, Kelsen is distressed by the infected’s inability to communicate or consent. This is rich thematic territory for the series, and slowly builds up the audience’s anticipation for the moment these two finally meet. When they do, it’s spectacular and bold.

DaCosta will hand over plans to Boyle for the third installment of the trilogy, with Cillian Murphy reprising his role as Jim. I’m curious if Bone Temple Influence Boyle’s films in any way. Sometimes we need to see our world through the eyes of others to understand it better.

Director: Nia da Costa. Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Zee Lewis-Parry. Certificate 18,109 minutes.