“28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” key art.
Sony Pictures Entertainment
The 28 Years Later sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, starring Ralph Fiennes, is already here. What are Rotten Tomatoes critics saying about the horror thriller?
Coming a mere seventh months after 28 Years Later, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple plays in Thursday previews before opening in theaters nationwide on Friday. The official summary for the film reads, “Expanding upon the world created by Danny Boyle and Alex Garland in 28 Years Later – but turning that world on its head – Nia DaCosta directs 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.
“In a continuation of the epic story, Dr. Kelson (Fiennes) makes a discovery that could change the world as they know it – and Spike’s (Alfie Williams) encounter with Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) becomes a nightmare he can’t escape. In the world of The Bone Temple, the infected are no longer the only threat to survival – the inhumanity of the survivors can be stranger and more terrifying.”
As of the publication of this article, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple has received a 93% “fresh” critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 123 reviews. The RT Critics Consensus for the film reads, “A direct continuation of 28 Years Later that ups the gore while deepening the dread, The Bone Temple is finely adorned by Nia DaCosta’s unnerving direction as well as Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell’s inspired performances.”
The RT Popcornmeter score based on verified user ratings and the audience summary for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple are still pending.
What Are Individual Critics Saying About ‘28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’?
Peter Debruge of Variety is among the top critics on RT who gives 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple a “fresh” review, writing, “For genre aficionados, it’s bold, mind-bending work which satisfies that so-often-frustrated craving for a zombie movie with brains.”
Mark Kennedy of The Associated Press is also high on 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, writing in his review summary, “The fourth entry in an ever-more engrossing franchise is absolutely bonkers – and a triumph. It mixes dark, queasy disembowelment and laugh-out-loud humor in a way that both subverts the genre and leads a way out of it, too.”
Phillip De Semlyen of Time Out also praises the 28 Years Later sequel, writing, “The Bone Temple is one of those rare sequels that doesn’t just improve on its predecessor, it improves it … This is simultaneously the nastiest and most soulful of the franchise to date — and the most probing.”
Stephanie Zacharek of TIME Magazine is among the top critics on RT who gives 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple a “rotten” rating despite the film’s promise. Zacharek writes in her RT review summary, “The Bone Temple is part satisfying triumph, part missed opportunity, and its pluses and minuses bump against one another in jangly discord.”
Odie Henderson of The Boston Globe also gives 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple a “rotten” review score on RT, writing, “DaCosta knows how to milk a scene for maximum impact, and she’s not afraid to get gruesome. The problem here is Garland’s script, which spends far too much time with the less interesting of its two stories.”
G. Allen Johnson of the San Francisco Chronicle also deems 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple “rotten” on RT, writing, “Although more Fiennes is always a good thing, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple simply doesn’t have the solid storytelling or enthralling characters that its predecessor has.”
Executive produced by Cillian Murphy and also starring Erin Kellyman and Chi Lewis-Parry, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple plays in Thursday previews before opening in theaters nationwide on Friday.