28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) Spoiler Review
When Danny Boyle and Alex Garland returned to the apocalyptic Britain they created in 28 Years Later, I was surprised with the experimental directing and sentimental storytelling. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple had the unfortunate duty of following up one of the freshest genre films in recent memory. Furthermore, this would be helmed by Nia DaCosta and Alex Garland instead. DaCosta entirely avoiding replicating Boyle’s style was the right choice. The visual language is distinct enough to separate Years Later from The Bone Temple while maintaining the unique tone of Years Later’s third act. Releasing only 28 weeks later, The Bone Temple continues to upend our expectations of the zombie genre by showing the psychological side of the infected and raiders.
Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) guided Spike (Alfie Williams) through a very dark time in his life with the loss of his mother, Isla (Jodie Comer). Now Kelson takes center stage in pulling two major narrative threads together with his titular bone temple. In 28 Years Later, the temple is conceived as a memorial. In a world mired in endless, pointless death, a monument to the dead is cathartic. We can honor the faceless dead while reminding ourselves what death really is. When our world hasn’t even come to terms with the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s cathartic to witness someone dedicating themselves to respecting the dead.
Now the memorial has grown beyond this in The Bone Temple as it offers itself as a place of healing through Dr. Kelson. The alpha zombie Samson (Chi Lewis-Perry) has become the center of Dr. Kelson’s attention. Kelson’s sedation of Samson with morphine leads to an eventual revelation that someone still lies underneath this brooding exterior. After Kelson is confronted by Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), he concludes that the infection must be treated as a form of psychosis.
Samson is one narrative thread, Sir Jimmy Crystal is the other. Years Later opens with a core memory formed in a young Sir Jimmy. Jimmy witnesses infected massacre his family before hiding in a church where he watches his zombified father lead a pack of the infected out of the church doors to spread their unholy word. When he’s reintroduced as an adult, Jimmy is leading a group of tracksuit wearing zombie killers. As Jimmy offers a hand of friendship to Spike, Years Later concludes. The Bone Temple starts with Jimmy throwing Spike into a literal and metaphorical deep end with an initiation ritual involving fighting another member of the gang to death.
Spike has joined the stereotypical raider gang traditionally found in these settings. Although they don’t share the survival of the fittest type of philosophy often associated with raiders in an apocalypse. Jimmy is a unique figure as his outfit is clearly designed as an allusion to Jimmy Savile and has a deeply disturbed personality reminiscent of Charles Manson. In fact, Jimmy Crystal’s entire world view being exposited through sermons is extremely similar to Manson’s childish preaching as they can both be examined as being mentally childish. Rather than acknowledging their power over the youth may be impactful to how they further confront the world, these leaders use their power to control the vulnerable for their own gains. Later it is suggested that Sir Jimmy may be experiencing a form of psychosis as well; it is never implied to be a reason to let him off the hook.
The Bone Temple culminates with Kelson desecrating the sacred grounds by putting on a performance as the devil for Jimmy under the threat of death. Kelson offers this comforting escapism to Jimmy so he can justify his continued actions. Only when Kelson realizes Spike is among the members of the gang does the illusion shatter. Realizing that turning something sacred into escapist entertainment for the wrong people makes Kelson realize he needs to do the right thing. Jimmy’s crucifixion is like the final act necessary for the children to be healed. Instead of them knowing not what they do, they know now exactly what they do.
ChapHazard 