Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for 28 Years Later.Over two decades after the release of28 Days Later,Danny BoyleandAlex Garlandhave reunited to create one of the hottestly anticipated legacy sequels of the 2020s,28 Years Later. Although a second movie was made,it serves as a standalone sequeland doesn’t feature substantial contributions from either Boyle or Garland. Therefore,28 Years Laterserves as the first true direct link to the 2002 zombie classic.
As the title suggests, the movietakes place nearly 30 years after the initial outbreakand shows how the survivors have rebuilt their lives. The infected have changed, with some now slower and feeding on worms, while others remain just as fast and terrifying as those we first saw in the original film, now led by the Alpha. The central focus is on Spike (Alfie Williams) and his first journey to the mainland from the isolated island where he lives. Throughout, he grows in character and confidence, learning to deal with much more than just the infected. However, with the knowledge that this movie is merely the first of three,Garland and Boyle took the opportunity tocrack the ending wide open, leaving more questions than answers.
‘28 Years Later’ Takes the Perspective of a Child
After venturing to the mainland with his father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Spike learns of a doctor who may be able to help his sick mother, Isla (Jodie Comer). After Spike sees Jamie cheating on his mother,he accuses his father of not wanting to find help for Isla, so that he can be rid of the responsibility and hardship of her delirious fits of memory loss.Despite advice from those in the isolated community they call home, Spike decides to travel to find help with his mother, in hopes that she can be cured. Throughout, there is thisunderlying theme of Spike’s lack of knowledge of the world pre-apocalypse, since he is only 12. At first, these are mundane items such as a frisbee or delivery men, but it becomes crucial when the pair eventually reaches Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes).
On their journey, they intercept a Swedish soldier named Erik (Edvin Ryding), who offers an external perspective on the outbreak and shows how technology has still developed outside of the British Isles. However, his head is viciously ripped off by the Alpha. It is Dr. Kelson who saves Spike and Isla, who are now also in the company of a baby girl, birthed by one of the infected, yet the human newborn does not have the virus. Kelson takes them to a vast open space, wherehe has built trees from the bones of those who have died.He teaches Spike the Latin phrase, “Memento Mori,” translating to “remember you must die.” It is through these teachings thatSpike is able to accept his mother’s mortality when Dr. Kelson confirms she has cancer.Due to his lack of experience in a society outside of the infected, at first Spike doesn’t understand the severity of the illness and the consequential lack of a cure. However, after being tranquilized, his mother is willingly euthanized by Kelson, andSpike places her skull at the top of a monument of heads to commemorate her life.
How Does ‘28 Years Later’ End?
After all he has witnessed, andthe realization that the real world is vastly differentfrom what he has been taught, Spike cannot return home. He leaves a note at the community gates, nested inside a shopping basket with the baby, named Isla, after his mother. He explains to his father that he plans to walk as far as he can until he cannot see the sea. However, his journey is interrupted when the infected begin to run towards him. Although he manages to shoot the first few, he is soon outnumbered, and a wall of rocks blocks his path. Luckily, a mysterious man (Jack O’Connell) with long blonde hair appears above him, with a cross around his neck, and asks if he can help him. On his order, a group with the same hairstyle, all dressed in colorful tracksuits à la Ali G, jump down and viciously dispose of all the infected in their path.The stranger then introduces himself as Jimmy to Spike.
Danny Boyle’s ‘28 Years Later’ Lands Rotten Tomatoes Score That’ll Have You Running to Theaters
“There’s no discharge in the war!”
Who is ‘Jimmy’ in ‘28 Years Later’?
Jimmy is one of the earliest characters seen on screen in28 Years Later, during a scene taken from the earliest days of the outbreak. The opening takes place in the Scottish Highlands and shows a group of young children watching theTeletubbieson television, one of whom is Jimmy. As Jimmy’s mum pleads for the children to stay in the room,there is nothing she can do as the infected break down the door and begin savaging the children, although all that can be seen is a splatter of blood over the TV screen.
Jimmy is at the center of all the brutality, watching other adults and children be attacked by the infected. However, following his mother’s cries to run, Jimmy manages to escape the house and run towards a church. It is revealed that his father is a priest and hands Jimmy his cross necklace before accepting his fate. He tells his son that the virus is humanity being saved, and sees the infection as a form of salvation from sin, which is why heplaces his arms wide as the infected scurry towards him,hysterically celebrating his fate.These words are the last thing Jimmy hears from his father before hearing him be brutally killed and infected.
Jimmy is able to hide beneath the church floor and escape infection before the movie shifts focus to Spike’s story. The conclusion of the movie showsJimmy has survived and still wears his father’s necklace, setting up some form of cultin which they all dress like him and have similar names. The fact that Jimmy kept his father’s cross suggests his beliefs were passed down to his son, and that the salvation narrative may feed into his cult’s views. Although the details are yet to be explored in full detail, Jimmy can still be heard using the “1,2,3,4” count from theTeletubbiesbroadcast. With Spike now in Jimmy’s company,it is likely the sequel will explore his character even more.
28 Years Lateris in theaters now.
28 Years Later
