Directed by: Nia DaCosta
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O'Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Chi Louis-Parry
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple continues the stories of last summer's 28 Years Later with the focus on the two more interesting characters, the humane Dr. Ian Kelson (Fiennes) and the evil, twisted Jimmy Crystal (O'Connell) who cross paths although in a way which doesn't exactly compel the viewer. The payoff isn't much to write home about, with occasional cameos by zombies who attack the living and wind up getting bludgeoned or if the zombie wins, detach the victim's head and spine from his body.
The zombies are more or less the video game portion of the movie. However, Dr. Kelson's arc involves Samson (Louis-Parry) and his quest to use him as a guinea pig for his cure. After injecting Samson, the two slowly gain trust in each other and Samson grows more human again. Samson is still walking around naked with his Dirk-Diggler-esque manhood on full display. The other story involves Crystal and his band of teenagers all of which are renamed Jimmy, one being Spike (Williams), the teen from the first film who was introduced to killing zombies by his father. Spike, of course, witnesses truly horrific actions by Crystal and his group, and is soon traumatized and intimidated enough into joining Crystal's group.
I admired the Fiennes and O'Connell performances and appreciated the irony that Jimmy Crystal saw Dr. Kelson as Satan, referring to him as "Old Nick" which the good doctor uses to his advantage at the movie's conclusion. But The Bone Temple is now the fourth installment in this series and they aren't getting any more intriguing. The movie and series are meant to be downers, which I can tolerate, but I've found them mostly boring. Even the reintroduction of a major character from the first two films doesn't move the needle much.
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