Brutal, bloodthirsty and bewitching: '28 Years Later: The Bone Temple' review

Following on from 28 Years Later, Nia DaCosta has shown a new angle to the franchise, an emotionally rich story of survival and death. While the previous film delineated the importance of family, growing up, and connections with others in times of suffering, the sequel attacks the individual nature of evil, and where it really blooms from in person to person. 

The film fluctuates between Dr Kelson and Samson's storyline of wonder, friendship, and discovery through trust, and young Spike's journey of terror, torture, and trepidation as he must become a part of ‘The Jimmy's’ in his desperate attempts to survive.

Ralph Fiennes and Chi Lewis-Parry provide breathtaking performances, creating a tender story of mutual understanding, despite the drastic differences of their living circumstances. Their storyline is accompanied by the records that Dr Kelson has kept all these years since the apocalypse. These songs act as a background to the blossoming friendship between Dr Kelson and Samson as the audience begins to understand that Samson's humanity was never truly lost. They also provide some of the best needle-drops that film has seen in a long time. Their story is a gentle reminder that amongst the fear of their post-apocalyptic society, humanity prevails, and is a perfect illustration of why we leave our houses and pay to sit in the cinema for two hours. 

Contrasting their storyline is ‘The Jimmys’, an illustration of the naivety of mankind in times of peril, and how this can be manipulated to fabricate evil using the right words. Jack O’Connell gives a terrifying performance of Jimmy Crystal, who has convinced the young people born into the apocalypse who follow him, that there is a higher power that guides Jimmy Crystal to enforce terror on civilians. Although having a smaller role in the sequel, Alfie Williams remains spectacular in expanding the trilogy, with Spike’s innocence portraying his everlasting good heart, despite the evil he has been exposed to time and time again.  

The sheer horror of Jimmy Crystal and his gang make it an increasingly uncomfortable watch, and there were many times where my face was hidden into the shoulder of my friend who came to the cinema with me. However, it feels poignant that I did not have this reaction to the tense early scenes between Samson and Dr Kelson, or to scenes with infected chasing the non-infected. I was not scared of the mindless rage-driven infected killing without cause; I was scared of The Jimmys and what they would do next. The film attacks how, in times of corruption and terror of the unknown, the thing that is truly dangerous is humanity, and how it can derail in the name of survival.

However, hope also permeates the film. The small moments between Jimmy Ink and Spike, portray how despite the manipulation, Jimmy Ink has never truly lost who she is to Jimmy Crystal; as she carves a ‘K’ onto the tree, it is clear that she still believes herself to be Kelly, and not Jimmy Ink. In conversation with the storyline of Dr Kelson, these characters pervade the film with an assurance that evil cannot win, no matter how far it can go.  

Brutal, bloodthirsty, and bewitching, The Bone Temple is a tour de force interrogating the complexities of humanity.