'28 Years Later: The Bone Temple' Movie Review: Cillian Murphy and Danny Boyle's post-apocalyptic horror film is brutal but no great shakes

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Cillian Murphy

Director: Nia DaCosta

Language: English

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is a 2026 post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Alex Garland. And it was shot in quick succession with 28 Years Later. It’s the fourth film in the 28 Days Later franchise. The screen goes black the moment the film begins, a screech goes silent before director Nia DaCosta serves one brutality after another right in the opening stretch, with the scene-stealing Jack O’Connell as Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal unleashing his psychotic demeanour as it were his second skin.

The hellacious quintet embarks on a journey to find a Satan as the stakes get high and horrific. There are visceral scenes of zombies, attacks, pukes, screams, deaths, and fear. The background score reaches a crescendo only to go reticent in seconds. The intensity works in both the cases.

The new film in the franchise takes place after the events of the previous film, Spike is inducted into Sir Jimmy Crystal’s gang of acrobatic killers in a post-apocalyptic Britain ravaged by the Rage Virus. Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Kelson forms a new relationship with potentially world-changing consequences.

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The names associated with the product make it immediately enticing, with Danny Boyle as one of the producers, and Cillian Murphy as the executive producer who also makes a cameo in the climax, and the door is left ajar for another film in the series. But 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, despite the endless viciousness on display, is no great shakes. The jump scares are few and far between, and barring Jack O’Connell, who chews the scenery with his deliciously wicked performance, none of the actors get enough meat in their characters or performances.

The visuals are rich and spurts of humour save the film from being an absolutely snooze fest. There are chances of smirks but no smiles at all. Maybe the makers are not done with the series yet because their ambitions and ideas are yet to run out of fuel. Maybe the characters have some unfinished business and the brutality and bloodshed are far from over. If at all the franchise needs to be taken ahead, the makers would need to create more pulsating moments that can make us squirm with discomfort. Not restless! Even if the zombies fail to scare or seduce you into their world, how does it matter if we are 28 years ahead, or behind!

Rating: 2.5 (out of 5 stars)

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple releases in cinemas on January 16