Following up the unevenly produced “28 Years Later,” the sequel gets off to a slow start before wrapping up in an intriguing fashion. The directing is good but employs a few too many jump scares and doesn’t try to be experimental like the last movie did. The film struggles early, as it initially feels like two unrelated stories competing for attention and giving little indication that they’ll come together. Shockingly, the plot featuring Alfie Williams’ Spike is the weakest link, particularly since his character goes from being the lead in the previous film to almost a background character here. Instead, the focus is on Sir Jimmy and his Jimmies, which feels like watching the gang from “A Clockwork Orange,” except even more sadistic. While a franchise about infected people ripping apart the non-infected has had its share of gory violence, the human-on-human violence perpetrated by the Jimmies almost hits “torture porn” levels. Thankfully, the segments of the film featuring Ralph Fiennes’ Dr. Kelson are much more compelling. And, when the two groups of characters finally meet, there’s a fun and visually appealing sequence that pulls things together in a slightly rushed but overall strong fashion.
**1/2 out of *****