28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

 

I want to preface this by saying, I have not seen any of the other films in the franchise. I've seen a snippet of one of the original films, but that's it.

I don't know who of any of the characters are. That being said, I thought the film was entertaining. 

The Bone Temple explores something that I feel a lot of films and series have been exploring lately: humanity's evil. Humans suck and are inherently evil and Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell) is our example of this in The Bone Temple. The zombies are no longer the focus.

The film opens as Spike is made to become a Jimmy and join the cult. Jimmy Crystal believes he is the son of Satan and he and his Jimmies go around finding people to sacrifice. The infected do make an appearance, but they take a clear back seat to the cult and the evils they commit. This is just a reminder to me that I do not want to be alive if something like this ever happens.

 We also have the story of Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) who befriends Samson (Chi Parry-Lewis), the alpha of the infected.  Fiennes is absolutely fantastic as he embraces the wild and wacky fully. Kelson begins discovering that there is a way to calm the virus and the psychosis that comes with it. Samson isn't cured by any means, but he can manage the symptoms and be almost as he was before.

As an introduction to the franchise, The Bone Temple was actually quite fun as it leaned into the absurdity of the situations. Yes, we are shown the evils of humanity, but there are reminders that life will always be absurd and that can bring joy in the most unexpected times. The beginning was gory and I don't handle gore well, but beyond that I was pleasantly surprised at the laughs and celebrations that came in this film.