28 Days Later

28 Years Later Review: The best of the four-film franchise

Brighton Nelson

16 Feb 2026 — 7 min read

I'm known for having a multitude of ridiculously controversial movie opinions, especially when it pertains to franchises. And, wouldn't you know it, many fans say 28 Years Later is the worst film in its respective franchise, and here I am thinking it was my favorite from the very first time I watched it. I hadn't watched 28 Years Later until its sequel came out, so I watched them back-to-back as a double feature—the first on my phone while sitting in the theater parking lot, and then the other right after in theaters. And wouldn't you know it, even on the small screen, 28 Years Later was still my favorite. Why do I hold this considered-by-some ridiculous opinion? That's what I, Brighton Nelson, will be delving into in today's Reel Ranker review.

Per usual, I will take a jab at the film's negatives before moving on to why I enjoyed it. The main negative hailed at this film is its lack of tonal consistency. It's pretty jarring how tonally and structurally different each of the three acts was. While I say it's not a typically great way to approach a film, switching up the tone like that, it actually worked really well for me in this film specifically. I'm not disagreeing that it's a negative for others; I understand the perspective, but I didn't mind it. This is one of those occasional films where I can see a rather objective problem with the movie, yet it's just not a problem that really bothers me subjectively.

This film had some truly stunning shots.

The first act of 28 Years Later follows the main character, Jimmy, as he learns to deal with the Infected as a young boy in an isolated village. While I love the final acts of The Bone Temple and 28 Days Later, my favorite act of the franchise has to be this film's first. The journey he takes with his father is very interesting, and seeing how people are trained to deal with the Infected is great. The sequence in which the two of them are chased by an Alpha as high tide comes in is the most intense and entertaining action sequence of the series thus far. However, when they return home to celebrate his new training as a hunter, he finds his dad cheating on his bedridden mom with another woman. He decides to leave the town with his sick mother to find the legendary hermit Dr. Kelson in an attempt to save his mother. This act does a phenomenal job of reintroducing the audience to the fallen world of the franchise and pushing the franchise forward with new types of Infected, a new main character, great action, and sad yet interesting familial drama.

The second act is quite a bit weaker than the first, but it's still solid. If I had to pick a single greatest negative for this film, it'd just have to be that the creators could've thrown in a couple more interesting moments in this act. However, it was still great as-is. This is where some of those aforementioned tonal inconsistencies began to surface. This act is a point-A-to-point-B plot with wacky humor, action, and even a heartbreaking zombie-pregnancy sequence. This act plays out much more like a standard Hollywood horror-action film than the first's very small-town Scottish vibe, which intercuts military warfare with the rest of the film. There are quips from a soldier they meet, a whole lot of plot armor, some odd action sequences, and much more. While it doesn't feel as cohesive or inspired as the first act, it still did its job in bridging the first and third acts and moving the story along through the adventure they go on.

The bone temple itself is such a stunning, beautiful monument.

The third act details Jimmy and his mom's arrival at Dr. Kelson's. The climax here is not a slam-bang finale like the two films previous but, instead, deals with the grief, loss, and aftermath of the death of Jimmy's mom. This part was easily the third most emotional sequence in the franchise up until this point, only surpassed by the gnarly intro of 28 Weeks Later and the moon sequence with Samson in The Bone Temple.

Seeing that the bone temple, which was pretty prevalent in the poster and the marketing, was a beautiful monument to honor the dead, not a horror set piece, was unexpected. Still, one of my favorite "reveals" of the film. Dr. Kelson's character is easily the best we've ever seen in the franchise, crazy and funny while still having unexpected heart. After Jimmy returns the Infected's baby to the village, the film ends with the bizarre Jimmy sequence, which feels more in line with Power Rangers than a 28 Days Later movie. This is easily the most egregious tonal shift in the film, and it feels so out of place. This shouldn't have been such a goofy scene at all. Odd, yes. Odd is just fine. But it didn't need to feel like some final battle with Dai-Shi or something. Even if they didn't fix it, I feel that simply moving this to a post-credits scene would be far better, as it would leave the film with a question box to be opened in the next film, rather than concluding an otherwise conclusive story with a wack-job tease.

This is a beautiful poster, but why is Alfie Williams so tiny? I've seen some arguments say it's because he's humble, but, he's literally the main character...

The Reel Ranker Verdict

Reel or Unreel? - Reel
The Reel Ranker Score: 78%
Letter Score: A-
Star Ranking: 4 out of 5

While 28 Years Later has many tonal inconsistencies and may not be the franchise's most bombastic entry, it's currently my favorite film in the franchise. Blending a coming-of-age survival horror with an emotional adventure to save a loved one, the flaws of 28 Years Later aren't fatal, but are outweighed by the wonderful good the film wears on its sleeve.

Interested in checking out my reviews for some other horror projects? Check them out below!