Following my review, I thought I would expand upon what I felt went wrong with 28 Years Later. I actually have a much longer rough draft that goes into all the spoilers, but I figured for the general review it was better to keep things to the point.
So users on X have been reacting to my review, and I think one particular comment sums up 28 Years Later in a nutshell: “Oh damn… It’s Stealth Woke? Wow, that sucks.”
As I replied:
yeah I thought so. pic.twitter.com/5oAqVImbSk
— Cosmic Book News (@cosmicbooknews) June 20, 2025
Note: Spoilers follow
So Ethan Van Sciver tweeted out that he likes 28 Years Later a lot. I was left scratching my head, thinking maybe it was sarcasm. However, then I remembered Ethan was a big fan of Joker 2 (lol). Ethan also tweeted it’s given him a new idea for one of his comics, which may mean we might have to wait another five years for it to get released (yeah, I paid for it!).
All kidding aside, I did tweet back my thoughts on what I particularly didn’t like about 28 Years Later.
In short, the first hour builds up a great father-son bonding story with the son’s rite of passage to get his first kill. The dad teaches him, saves him, and he’s proud of his son.
However, it’s all downhill from there. The dad is revealed to be a drunk, a liar, a cheat, and even better, a coward.
There is even a scene that builds up to it all when the sick mother — bedridden and barely coherent — throws a fit about her son going to the mainland for his rite of passage (which she clearly has done herself). She becomes hysterical, calling her husband a “baby killer” and lashing out emotionally. You can sympathize to a degree as she’s clearly unwell, plagued by fevers and massive headaches, and she’s confused about what’s happening. Plus, she’s a mother trying to protect her son.
So you are hoping it doesn’t play out throughout the movie, but yep, it does.
The dad’s story is the mirror of the infected Alpha, as the Alpha, too, fails to save his family. They both lose their families, lose their wives, and lose their kids. The message is loud and clear: Alpha males are losers (or really, all males).
The leader of their people also happens to be some old woman who makes all the rule and decides who can come and go. The baby in the movie, which apparently is the first of its kind, is also a female.
Regarding the baby scene, so the mom – who’s still all messed up and can barely walk – hears a scream and somehow makes her way to an old train car, where she finds an infected pregnant woman we saw earlier. For some reason, the mom helps her deliver the baby (yeah, I don’t know either), as they hold hands (the infected dad is absentee).
Not to mention, the movie is a big proponent of assisted suicide, and the kid literally leads his mom to her death (WTF). The mom has cancer, she’s been fucked up the entire movie and can barely walk. So how can she make the decision to kill herself? Kelson is also Jack Kervorkian and worships death. They also drug the kid and he watches his mom die, then the kid takes her bone-white skull (which takes a LONG time to do, not an hour, and certainly not with just water) and places it on top of the bone temple, kisses it, and turns it facing to the sunrise. Title of the next movie? Bone Temple.
There’s also dicks everywhere, as the zombies are nude and schlongs are flapping everywhere like flags in the wind.
Let’s also remember what makes woke, woke: it’s when agenda comes ahead of story. So following the first hour, why not have the family go out and try to bring Kelson back to the island? Or, again, while it doesn’t make sense, have the kid and dad take the mom to Kelson. They could have explained that the fire piqued their curiosity, then they both chatted with grandpa who told them it’s Doctor Kelson but that he is insane. They decide to get mom help. Go from there.
Instead, it’s a plot that makes no sense, as the kid nearly got killed but decides to take his sick mom – who can’t walk – to the mainland plagued by fast-moving infected zombies. The kid now hates his dad, the dad that sits there and does nothing. Message sent. Message loud and clear.
To sum things up:
What Makes 28 Years Later “Stealth Woke”:
- Builds up a strong father-son story… then completely tears it down.
- The dad is revealed as a weak, lying coward who abandons his family.
- The infected “Alpha” mirrors the dad as both fail, both lose everything.
- Message? Traditional masculinity = failure.
- The female “clan” leader makes all the decisions. The men are idiots (the guards at the gates). The “next generation” baby? Also female.
- Pushes assisted suicide — the sick mom “chooses” death, but she’s barely coherent.
- Kelson acts like Dr. Kevorkian, drugs the kid, drugs everyone, and makes him watch it all.
- The kid places his mom’s skull on a pyramid like it’s some weird death cult (which apparently is what the sequel is about).
- Strong start, but the movie flips hard into a feminist death ritual with infected zombies as background noise.
