THE JIMMYS: JACK O'CONNELL, CENTER, IN 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE

TRAILER

A finale of England's long-running post-apocalypse, but not the last

The director this time isn't Danny Boyle. He is replaced, quite successfully, by the African American woman helmer Nia DaCosta. Since her last film was a multicultural version of "Hedda Gabler" she might not seem the obvious choice, but she did direct also a Marvel film and her debut was Candyman, a new riff on a cult horror story. She has a broad skill set and we can scarcely guess where she'll go next.

We are in the same world as Danny Boyle's June 2025 28 Years Later and following the gang led by "Sir Jimmy Crystal" (Jack O'Connell) as in that film. They are running around behaving in a thoroughly evil fashion, terrorizing whole families and torturing and murdering people. You may want to look away. I did, but this remains an English post-apocalypse as it was in the beginning, with good English actors throughout, and the setting, not urban anymore, England's "green and pleasant land." Alfie Williams shines again as Spike, who struggles to survive by belonging to this gang whose behavior he abhors.

The depressing violence is leavened by the scruffy post-apocalyptic humor of the whole conception of youths going around in stringy blond wigs and all calling themselves "Jimmy" in emulation of their leader, Jimmy Shite, Jimmy Ink, Jimmy Jones, Jimmy Snake, Jimmy Fox, Jimmy Jimmy, and the girls Jimmima. Sir Jimmy sets off his own blond tresses with fistfulls of gold rings, long gold chains, and an upside-down cross to signal his allegiance to the antichrist. These are like a spinoff of Lord of the Flies with thoughts of Kubrick's Clockwork Orange based on the Anthony Burgess novel.

The most complex character is Dr. Kelson, a role that Ralph Fiennes appears to relish extremely. He goes bare chested, his face and body streaked with a lurid red from the iodine he applies all over to protect himself from infection from the Virus. Whether Dr. Kelson is taken to be evil or good, there is a kindness in Ralph Fiennes' face that shows through the red paint. Through much of the film the doctor will be working with the largest of the Alfas, all of whom he calls "Samson" (Chi Lewis-Parry), whom he seeks to tame, befriend, and eventually cure . He believes rage is ultimately due to pain which he seeks to relieve by giving Samson daily doses of morphine. This is a period of quiet idyll. The film alternates extreme violence with tranquility.

The most striking scene is a solo meeting of Sir Jimmy Crystal with Dr. Kelson, though the climax involves all the Jimmys with their leader. Since Sir Jimmy claims to his followers to be in direct touch with "Old Nick" (Satan, the Devil, the Evil One), they become restless for proof of this intimate connection and this is the facade in which the doctor is presented - which works perfectly well, in view of the Bone Temple, the doctor's growing structure built out of the remains of the dead. There are poles of individual bones. Most impressive there are stands mounted with hundreds and hundreds of skulls. The mise-en-scène of the Bone Temple is a thing-in-itself that is spectacular and elemental in equal measure. Lit by fire at night this terrifying network of memento mori structures is accompanied by vinyl playbacks by the doctor of Duran Duran's "Ordinary World," "Girls on Film," and "Rio," as well as Iron Maiden's "The Number of the Beast," and Radiohead's "Everything In Its Right Place." Earlier we've been partly prepared for this by glimpses of Fiennes gleefully twisting and dancing.

There have been criticisms that the scope of this film in the series narrows down the scope, but there is nothing narrow about this climactic scene, which is so glorious an auditorium full of critics burst into spontaneous applause when it first appeared. While all the "28 Days" and "28 Years" films have done well critically, this film is the best received of all, for obvious reasons. As post-apocalyptic horror goes, this is the classiest of acts, headlined by stunning visuals and leads by two of England's finest actors, Fiennes and O'Connell, with, as has always been true of English films, a depth of many excellent supporting players. Congratulations to the writer Alex Garland and his main partner in the enterprise, Danny Boyle - who there are hints will return soon in person to direct a sequel. One wonders what they can do to top this.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, 109 mins., premiered in London Jan. 16, 2026, also opening in the US that day and in many other countries. Metacritic rating: 80%.


RALPH FIENNES IN [i]28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.