The second entry in writer Alex Garland and original director Danny Boyle‘s trilogy, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, picks up from the previous film’s divisive conclusion that saw young Spike (Alfie Williams) fleeing from the Infected straight into the open arms of a psychopathic cult leader trapped in the past. Director Nia DaCosta takes the reins with fearless gusto, making this entry wholly her own while pushing the overarching story and its richly layered themes into darker, grislier, funnier, and more poignant territory.
28 Years Later opened with the introduction of a young boy surviving the Rage virus-induced slaughter of his family, leaving him orphaned and alone. That boy, the film’s ending would reveal, grew up to become Sir Jimmy Crystal (Sinners‘ Jack O’Connell), a man forever stunted by the apocalyptic event that permanently cut off the British Isles from the mainland. Worse, his developing young brain processed the traumatic event in ways that, left unchecked, would help him blossom into a boisterous yet vicious cult leader of followers made in his image.
As protagonist Spike is forced to navigate Sir Jimmy and his Jimmies’ volatile clutches, exposing humankind’s darkest lows, hope for the future comes once more from Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), who continues his tender attempts to understand the imposing Alpha he dubbed Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry).
Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry) and Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) in Columbia Pictures’ 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE. Photo credit: Sony.
It’s through the characters and their morally grey journeys and conflicts that bring The Bone Temple closest to the original film 28 Days Later, particularly its harrowing third act reminder that humans tend to be both arbiters of their own doom or salvation. Garland’s script and DaCosta’s visually arresting direction capture the engrossing dichotomy through two starkly opposed bids for the future, with the impressionable Spike caught in the middle. It’s DaCosta’s handling of both extremes that impresses most.
Jack O’Connell sells Sir Jimmy’s villainy well, subjecting many to the series’ most brutal violence yet, sometimes even his own flock. One sequence of acute, visceral torment serves as a shocking encapsulation of faith’s potential for corrosion, in contrast to Dr. Kelson’s unwavering patience and empathy in his search to find any sign at all of intelligence beneath the virus’s all-consuming rage. O’Connell brings range to Sir Jimmy’s destructive nature; he’s both terrifying and frequently funny in his childlike approach to chaos. Helping to flesh him out are the Jimmies, and right-hand Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman), who takes Spike under her wing and guides him through the cult’s more twisted rituals. Kellyman imbues the character with an elusive set of morals that fascinates, one that feels all but forecasted to play a crucial role in Spike’s journey beyond The Bone Temple. Chi Lewis-Parry also brings an affecting perspective into the infected.
Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) with the Jimmies in Columbia Pictures’ 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE.
The dual paths of light and dark collide in one epic conclusion, an inspired confrontation between good and evil on a stunning set piece of heavy metal insanity, one befitting of Sir Jimmy Crystal’s brand of Satanism and theatre. While this alone would be enough to send audiences out on a fist-pumping note, DaCosta tees up the third installment with the euphoric return of a familiar face. One that instantly raises obvious questions, including: when is part three arriving?
The Bone Temple is a strange continuation in that it nestles well into Boyle and Garland’s established world and seamlessly picks up Spike’s journey, yet it is self-contained and functions on its own. More noticeably, it lets DaCosta put her personal stamp on the material; whereas 28 Years Later looks and feels like a Danny Boyle movie, The Bone Temple is wholly DaCosta’s. The middle act of this three-part trilogy is far more straightforward than its predecessor, but also far more horrific in many regards. It really puts pressure on the final entry to bring this soaring saga to a conclusion worthy of two remarkable installments.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple releases in theaters on January 16, 2026.
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