28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

Grade: A-

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (shown as just “The Bone Temple” in the opening credits) may be the fourth movie of a series, but it’s the second film of a planned trilogy. You could have started with last year’s 28 Years Later, without having previously seen 28 Days Later (2002) or 28 Weeks Later (2007), and been just fine. I was intrigued by the teaser the last film (out about 29 weeks ago) left us with at the end. I was looking forward to the next installment expounding on it, as well as happily anticipating more Ralph Fiennes. The Bone Temple delivers all of that.

Rather than go though another traditional zombie movie, with the infected people ferociously running around naked and attacking, The Bone Temple makes it more about storytelling – with two wonderful, simple plotlines that eventually coalesce. The end of the 2025 movie introduces us, campy Power Rangers style, to a gang of a handful of people who call themselves the Fingers (as together, they make up one hand). They all wear blonde wigs, and go by Jimmy. The women might choose to be called Jimmima or Jimmette. The first scene has Spike (the boy from 28 Years Later) winning a fight to the death, earning his status as a new Jimmy. He’s a good kid, and likes belonging to something, but doesn’t believe in their values and is reluctant to participate. Jack O’Connell (Sinners, Back to Black, Ferrari) is awesome as Sir Jimmy Crystal, the leader.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kelson (Fiennes) is still residing in the infected’s territory, unfazed and unscathed. He has ideas about how the infection can be treated, and maybe even cured. He is able to subdue and even befriend an infected man he sees regularly, who he has named Samson. It becomes like an “Androcles and the Lion” relationship. He studies Samson, and tries to see if there’s still any trace of the human being he once was before the infection. You won’t believe some of the things Fiennes gets to do, and he is obviously having a ball. When he’s not walking around singing songs from the 1980s, he plays records from that time in his underground bunker. He uses phrases like “let’s turn this up to 11.” The promise of more Fiennes has been fulfilled, and fans of the actor will get their fix.

The Fingers have overtaken a family’s home, and tortured/killed most of them, in a level of violence and gore on par with Texas Chainsaw or Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses/Devil’s Rejects/3 From Hell trilogy. Spike lets one of them go, and Sir Jimmy Crystal is none too pleased. He says the Fingers need to consult with Old Nick (who they pray to), to see if there should be forgiveness for Spike, or if some kind of punishment is in order. One of the female Jimmys saw Dr. Kelson out and about in the afternoon, and thinks he may be Old Nick personified, based on his appearance. This brings the Fingers to Kelson’s bone temple, where deals and negotiations go down.

I’m reminded of the recent viral hashtags/stories where women proclaimed that they’d rather have an encounter with a bear than a man. Watching The Bone Temple, it occurred to me that I’d much prefer to be a victim of an infected than The Fingers. I saw what they did to that family; I’d want to steer clear of them. On the other hand, if an infected overtakes you, the death will be quick if they kill you. However, if they turn you into one of them, even better. You’d be superhuman, and would no longer have to worry about money, jobs, and apparently clothes. It’s clear what group is the bigger threat here, and it ain’t the one that’s been demonized for the last three movies.

There’s a scene that I can best describe as a musical number. It’s as thrilling and exciting as the most rocking MTV music video that I’d see when I was under 10, and I can’t imagine many – or any – scenes topping it this year. It feels necessary for the plot, without coming across as gimmicky, forced, or shoehorned in. I’ll leave you to discover who is involved, and why, and how – but all of that is clearly laid out, and I came out of that moment invigorated, pumped up, and smiley. The two storylines merge together by the climax, and it ends on a vindicating note of symbolism and poetic justice.

The conclusion is bittersweet, and left me with mixed emotions. One chapter I enjoyed very much definitively gets closed, while another very welcome one (there’s a return involved) gets teased. I am optimistic about the direction it will be heading for the third (fifth) film, even though my favorite storyline – as we know it – won’t continue. Your mileage may vary with the second movie of a trilogy. Sometimes it plays like an obligatory bridge between the setup and the conclusion – where everyone’s just vamping, riffing, or killing time. I can understand how a viewer would feel that way with The Bone Temple, but I loved it. The middle of a sandwich tends to be the best part. I have a feeling that will be the case here.

Grade: A-