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Ralph Fiennes: "28 Years Later"

 An early scene in Alex Garland's savvy script traces the journey of one piece of bacon. Aaron Taylor-Johnson has prepared it for his son.


"Dad, you should have some," says Little Son. But Taylor-Johnson claims he ate his own portion of bacon *while* preparing it. This is sort of sweet--but it's also clearly a lie. So we learn something about Taylor-Johnson. He lies.

Little Son then takes the bacon to his mother, who is sick and possibly dying. She is too addled to eat the bacon--so it rots. And we learn something about Jodie Comer. She cannot feed herself.

All of this information is evident to us--and it's *not* fully evident to Little Son. He will continue to worship his father, until various signs are too overwhelming to ignore. Little Son will continue to make attempts at "feeding" Mom, until Ralph Fiennes delivers an important speech at the eleventh hour.

Stripped of illusions, Little Son becomes an adult. He helps to send his mom on her journey to Hades. He defends himself against various predators. He acts as a surrogate father to an infant--during the perilous crossing of a land bridge. He rejects certain expectations--and walks off on his own path.

All this is gracefully narrated--and you also have a severed head, dripping blood, a mountain of skulls, an enormously pregnant zombie-corpse, and at least one brutal home invasion. Many images are strikingly beautiful. It's obvious that Danny Boyle is having a good time.

I'm giving two thumbs up.
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