Nia DaCosta’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is bombing really hard at the box office—and I cannot begin to tell you how upset that makes me. It’s entirely the marketing’s fault—most people don’t even seem to know that there is a new 28 Years Later (the last one only came out 7 months ago); and that combined with terrible winter weather has proven disastrous for its theatrical run—which is a real shame, because The Bone Temple is wonderful.
I’ll admit I didn’t love the previous film when I first saw it, but it’s really grown on me. I liked a lot of it, but its more methodical pacing and unconventional narrative weren’t exactly what I was expecting—and in those respects, The Bone Temple is no different; it takes a while to really get going and the plot is pretty bizarre (and that’s putting it lightly)—but I can’t say any of that really bothers me.
I honestly don’t know who to say is the real star of this show (everyone’s so good), but I was a little disappointed in the lack of Alfie Williams as Spike; he’s not absent, I was just a little surprised that the main character of the previous movie is kind of sidelined in favor of the other characters (especially considering how good of an actor the young lad is)—but I also can’t picture anyone else I’d rather have in the spotlight than Dr. Kelson, Samson, and Jimmy Crystal.
Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal is… I don’t even know where to begin. Jack O’Connell is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors—between this and Sinners, he’s proven he makes for one Hell of a villain (and I can’t wait to see what kind of character he’ll be playing in Godzilla X Kong: Supernova next year). But Jimmy Crystal is equal parts terrifying and hilarious; conceptually, a Satanic cult themed around the Teletubbies, Power Rangers, and disgraced children’s entertainer Jimmy Saville is one of the dumbest things imaginable (and the script is self-aware in that regard)—but then they balance that out with some very gory human sacrifices. But even after it’s established how dangerous Jimmy is, he goes right back to being hilarious when you realize he’s making up his entire religion as he goes along—and his fate at the end is perfect; I hope we get more of him in part 3 (if that’s even still happening).
But the real emotional core of The Bone Temple is (fittingly) the relationship between the Bone Temple’s main inhabitants—Dr. Ian Kelson and his zombie bestie (zombestie?) Samson. I’ve been a fan of Ralph Fiennes for years now, and I honestly think Kelson might be his best character; the marketing of both 28 Years movies would have you think he’s this intimidating madman (who’s also orange for some reason), but Fiennes adds such kindness, intelligence, and tenderness to Kelson; and his climactic dance number (which is an actual thing that happens) is one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen.
But Chi Lewis-Parry as Samson is probably the real breakout star of this. I was shocked to find out he’s primarily a stuntman, because his acting is genuinely incredible—and so much of it is entirely through his eyes (as a zombie, he doesn’t talk much). He wasn’t given an easy hand to work with, but Lewis-Parry handles it like it’s nothing; his scenes (especially in the second half) are probably my favorites, they are genuinely moving at times—and I really hope we get that third movie because I need to see what happens to Samson after this.
Now, Sony has stated that they’re already moving forward with the planned part 3—but they also said they were going to make an entire cinematic universe centered on Spider-Man without including Spider-Man (and look where that ended up). I’m just upset that this movie is doing so poorly when that shameless cash-grab Scream 7 is most likely going to do crazy numbers later this month (I advise you to steer clear of it entirely). But if The Bone Temple sounds fun to you, I suggest you give it a watch—it’s brilliant.
4.5/5
