28 Years Later (2025)

Direction: Danny Boyle
Country: UK 

If you’re into post-apocalyptic chaos, then 28 Years Later may be a visceral treat for you. Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 1996; 28 Days Later, 2002; Slumdog Millionaire, 2008) and screenwriter Alex Garland (Ex-Machina, 2014; Civil War, 2024) reunite for the conclusion of a trilogy—and the launch of a new one. Several sequences were shot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, with Anthony Dod Mantle’s stunning cinematography playing a crucial role in the film’s visual magnetism.

A community of survivors has taken refuge on a small island, accessible to the mainland only via a treacherous road. Twelve-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) ventures to the mainland for the first time with his father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), to learn how to kill the infected and survive on his own. Along the way, he discovers the existence of Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), the only person who may be able to save his ailing mother (Jodie Comer).

Delivered with breathless pacing and indomitable energy, 28 Years Later veers from rage to reflection without ever slipping into monotony. The infected fade into the background, with the story focusing more intently on the emotional complexities of family and the fragile relationships among the uninfected. This made me want to go along unquestioningly. Vicious yet full of heart and humanity, the film ultimately becomes a celebration of life.

Boyle approaches the material with offbeat flair, making this installment tonally distinct from its predecessors. If you’re going to revisit a dusty premise, you’d better be inventive—and both Boyle and Garland rise to the challenge. The result is a bloody, wildly entertaining odyssey brimming with risks and perils. Nia DaCosta (Little Woods, 2018; Candyman, 2021) is set to direct 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, scheduled for release in January 2026.

T2 Trainspotting (2016)

T2-Trainspotting-2016

Directed by Danny Boyle
Country: UK

T2 Trainspotting” is a dreary sequel of “Trainspotting”, an underground comedy drama considered by many a cinematic milestone of the 90s, which painted Scotland’s Edinburgh drug scene in a memorable and stirring way. 
The present installment, considerably less interesting than the first, revives the same protagonists 20 years after their separation. It was equally written by John Hodge, who has been working intermittently with director Danny Boyle since their first collaboration in 1994 with “Shallow Grave”.

The characters are introduced with showiness and bustle, and the charismatic Ewan McGregor, who gained his acting reputation in the 90s thanks to Boyle’s films, re-embodies Mark Renton, a former junkie who arrives in Edinburgh from Amsterdam to find the same sordid friends he cheated and stole money from.

To start, he makes amends with Spud (Ewen Bremner), a forlorn and longtime heroin addict, who was caught on the verge of committing suicide. Even upset for having been saved at the last minute, he ultimately accepts Mark’s help in order to recover from drugs and possibly return to his wife and child.
Mark also convinces Simon (Jonny Lee Miller) to pardon him after a tense encounter. The latter became addicted to cocaine and employs a sex scheme to rip-off money from the clients of the pub he owns. He does it with the collaboration of his seductive Bulgarian girlfriend, Veronika (Anjela Nedyalkova).
The one who is totally unable to forgive and forget is the irascible Franco (Robert Carlyle is great), who escapes from prison and remains tough as nails regardless the age. He represents a dangerous threat for Mark and plays the villain in the story. 

Boyle retrieves the same directorial features of its source material, resorting to occasional image stillness to better reflect the emotions of the characters while in panic or experiencing violent situations. The film's moods are often drawn from hopelessness and anarchy, but a good part of the eccentricity, which worked wonders in its predecessor, feels whether fabricated or worn out. 
In truth, the inelastic plot takes an aimless direction and makes the story drag for a long period of time before landing on a pretty decent climax in its last third. This is what saves the film from further tedium, in addition to intermittent funny lines thrown in by the four aging bastards.

In a nutshell: the watchable yet somewhat sloppy “T2 Trainspotting” only sporadically entertains and we don’t feel sorry for letting it go when the ending comes.