28 Years Later 4K UHD (2025)

[Rusty100]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I just respectfully couldn't disagree with that more strongly. This movie is effectively a pilot episode. It sets up a bunch of conflicts, but doesn't give them any resolution. Only one major plot strand is resolved:

-

[Show spoiler]the boy and his mother

- resolved

-

[Show spoiler]the boy and his father

- clearly unresolved
-

[Show spoiler]the uninfected baby of the infected mother

- unresolved
-

[Show spoiler]the villain from the cold open, who reappears at the end

- barely started
-

[Show spoiler]Ralph Fiennes's character

- unresolved, and

[Show spoiler]based on the title of film 2, he'll be a huge part of it

-

[Show spoiler]the conflict with Alpha

- unresolved, and

[Show spoiler]since the baby was brought back to the island, it's clearly going to just get bigger

I wish I had known going in that this is just 1/3 of a 6-hour movie, like the first episode of Kevin Costner's Horizon. It would have helped me process the movie as I was watching it.

I was expecting a standalone feature film, and I don't think that's what this is, in any way. Not a bad thing, just a very surprising thing.

Agree to disagree on some of these. I don't think you need to resolve every single idea and thought in a film. But that said, I think there's plenty of resolutions in the film to most of these ideas.

[Show spoiler]the boy and his father -
there's a heavy theme of lies and exaggeration in the film. the kid expresses how much he hates his fathers warping of the truth and outright lies. he lies about what they did on the mainland, he lies about the doctor, and later on we find out he's likely lying to his son about his mothers' sickness. it's pretty evident to anyone from a pre-zombie world that the mum likely has brain cancer. nosebleeds, headaches, memory loss, mood swings, lethargy. even the mum suspected it.

so the story here is about the discovery of truth and the harm and impact of lies and silence. it's his fathers lies that sends that send the kid into the mainland. as a result, a father loses his son to distrust. that feels enough like a resolution of that concept to me. it's not a happy resolution but it's clear cause and effect. as a result of discovering a kind truth teller on the mainland, the kid chooses to stay in the real world he finds True, rather than the false one lived at home.

the infected baby -
the kid leaves his island with a dying mother, and returns with a newborn baby, whom he gives her name. a clear and obvious example of the cycle of death and birth. you don't really need a resolution to this imo.

ralph fiennes character -
like i said, he served as a parallels to the kids father. a kind and caring truth teller. while his father is in denial and is likely lying about his mother, and sleeping around behind their backs, ralph offers them both the truth, and an end to their suffering. where there was uncertainty, fear, and hiding, he offers peace and resolution. to me that feels very resolved, we don't need his life story, he perfectly serves his place in the narrative.