{"id":32790,"date":"2026-01-16T02:29:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T10:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=32790"},"modified":"2026-01-16T02:29:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T10:29:31","slug":"28-years-later-the-bone-temple-is-exceedingly-nasty-but-eventually-offers-a-few-interesting-plot-twists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=32790","title":{"rendered":"28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE is Exceedingly Nasty, But Eventually Offers A Few Interesting Plot Twists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 109 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film from Sony Pictures opens exclusively at\ntheaters on January 16th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year saw the release of a surprise 28 Days Later<\/em> sequel 28 Years Later<\/em>, arriving some 18 years after the previous entry in the series. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple<\/em> has been announced as the second chapter in a new trilogy, continuing the recent storyline about a quarantined Britain filled with Rage-virus infected maniacs and a few communities of survivors. Since this feature serves as the middle of the overarching story and doesn\u2019t offer an emphatic finale, in several respects it is quite difficult to determine its overall effectiveness. But based on what I witnessed, this follow-up had a rough first half, before presenting a few fresh ideas and compelling elements in its later sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At the end of the first picture, young Spike (Alfie\nWilliams) is separated from his community and family. He is discovered by Sir\nLord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O\u2019Connell) and his crew, but this is far from a\nwelcome rescue. Lord Jimmy is immediately revealed to be a violent psychopath.\nHe and his unquestioning minions (also referred to as Jimmys) raid the\nfortified homes of survivors and slowly torture them. Spike is horrified by\nwhat he witnesses, but knows he will be slaughtered if he protests. While he endures\nthis company, Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) continues his work at the Bone\nTemple, an ossuary paying homage to those who have died from the virus. The\nphysician encounters Samson (Chi Lewis-Perry), the Alpha among the infected,\nand attempts to learn more about the condition from the dangerous\nfigure.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truth be told, there are few new characters to root for in\nthis effort. Of course, Spike is the protagonist in this extended story, but he\nreally is relegated to the background after being forced into Lord Jimmy\u2019s\ngang. While one can see the firm hold this leader has on his disciples and he\noffers a grimly amusing comment or two, the antagonist and his cohorts are\ninhuman killers from the moment they appear onscreen. The movie is incredibly\ngraphic when they attack victims. Of course, this is a horror picture and one\nshould expect nastiness, but it is pushed to the point where extended scenes of\ntorture feel like a slog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The second major storyline occurring at the same time\ninvolves Kelson at the temple. We see and learn much more about the character\n(including his intense enjoyment of the music from an 80s new wave band), and\nwitness the physician\u2019s attempts to learn more about the infected, including\nthe threatening Samson. Despite possessing more moments of dark humor, many\nscenes involving the powerful, infected figure are just as brutal to endure as\nin the other storyline.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truth be told, the first hour of the picture borders on\nbeing too unpleasant. And besides the use of a camera situated on Samson and\npointing up at his face as he darts around, this movie doesn\u2019t deliver many\nvisual innovations. The first couple of films featured clever, handheld camera\neffects that added scope and authenticity to the events, and the previous\nchapter employed high frame rates and upgraded bullet time effects through the\nuse of iPhone technology. This effort simply doesn\u2019t have the same visual\npanache as previous chapters. It can only hover on the violence, which may be\nwhy it feels exceedingly gloomy early on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But despite the oncamera nastiness and issue of Spike fading\ninto the scenery, things do improve as the two plot threads intersect. Kelson\nforms an unlikely connection with Samson and this tangent goes into a new and\ninteresting direction we rarely see in genre films involving zombies or the\ninfected. When Lord Jimmy and the crew discover Kelson, their interactions are\nunpredictable and the final act plays out in a thrilling manner. And, of\ncourse, there are some intriguing themes being addressed throughout the story.\nSeveral human characters are as bad as the infected. While this is not a new\nidea, the presentation and use of Samson is unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And anyone who enjoys these pictures will be thrilled by the final scene, which offers plenty of promise should the story continue in a third and final film. Honestly, it took me some time to come around to 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple<\/em>. It feels like the brutal, early sections of the film are an endurance test, but the final half did include dynamic elements that began to win me over. If all of the continuing elements can be brought together for a satisfying finale, I might have to raise my rating. But for now, I\u2019ll have to wait and see what the future holds.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 109 minutes This film from Sony Pictures opens exclusively at theaters on January 16th. Last year saw the release of a surprise 28 Days Later sequel 28 Years Later, arriving some 18 years after the previous entry in the series. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple has been announced as the second chapter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[217,240,243,244,245,246,1013,9319,10110,16597,16623,18035,18709,23850,24791],"class_list":["post-32790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-217","tag-28-years-later","tag-28-years-later-the-bone-temple","tag-28-years-later-the-bone-temple-film-review","tag-28-years-later-the-bone-temple-movie-review","tag-28-years-later-the-bone-temple-review","tag-alfie-williams","tag-horror","tag-jack-oconnell-2","tag-rage-virus","tag-ralph-fiennes","tag-sequel","tag-sony-pictures","tag-virus","tag-zombie"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}