The Huckleberries Vol. 3 - No Other Choice & 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

    Obviously we want to have an area for reviewing new films here at The Film Encomium, but we want to send a message with our methodology. That message is a simple one: Don’t forget about the fun. 

     Yes, film can be transformative, prophetic, and groundbreaking. It can also be none of those things and still be a damn good time, and we want to validate both of those experiences. If your desire is to immerse yourself in an intricate visual style with a focus on modernism, we recommend the works of Michelangelo Antonioni—but if you want to become well-rounded, we still recommend occasionally finding your home with Quentin and Robert in the Grindhouse. 

     It is from the balance of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn that we draw inspiration for the title of this section. Tom is clever; Tom is great. If there were one of those boys we were going to try to get into Harvard, it would be young Mr. Sawyer…but he will always need his Huckleberry. 

     We all need our Huckleberries. Art needs its Huckleberries. Sometimes beauty is in the little things and reasoned reflection. Other times beauty is loud, bright, and bold. In the interest of providing our readers with a comprehensive experience, we are not willing to skip The Huckleberries. 

     So, with that in mind, here are two engrossing flicks that dropped in theaters recently. The first will jostle your consciousness and give you an outlet for well-reasoned yet inexcusable impulses. The second will assault you with aggrandizement. Enjoy!

No Other Choice -

     This film already claimed the number eight spot on The Film Encomium’s Top 144 Films of 2025, not to mention spots in the associated Best Lead Performance, Best Director, and Best Writing categories. Now, it is finally hitting the big screen in America. This film is essential viewing for the modern movie viewer. Calling it a masterpiece may be underselling it; something can be a masterpiece without being necessary. Watching this film will tell you more about who you fundamentally are as a person in 2026 than staring at the Mona Lisa for three hours would. 

     No Other Choice is actually an adaptation of Donald E. Westlake’s 1997 novel The Ax, and it was previously adapted in 2005 by French director Costa-Gavras into the film Le Couperet (The Axe). All three versions of this story are really worth checking out—and fantastic in their own ways—but the grasp Park Chan-wook has in this modern Korean take on the story really kicks in hints up a notch. It is fair to credit Westlake with thematic foresight on the matter at hand, but the world at large has a much firmer grasp on the concept of desperation in the face of late-stage capitalism than it did in either 1997 or even 2005. 

     One of the inevitabilities that comes with discussing great directors such as Park Chan-wook is comparing one potential magnum opus to another. Oldboy is one of the most highly regarded films of all time, and it is still debatable if Park will ever surpass that; although, even before this newest entry to his filmography, there were fair viewpoints that he already has. What is hard to deny is that No Other Choice has entered the conversation with the very best creations to ever come from one of the greatest filmmakers we’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing. 

     One of the aspects of this film that elevates it are the performances. It’s all anchored by the exemplary work from Lee Byung-hun in the central role, but Park asks for a lot out of all the roles cast in this production, and every single performer delivers. You could go on for days about the cinematography, the screenplay, the set design, and any number of other strong contributing factors. When push comes to shove (and it does), what transforms this a true cinematic experience is the fact that such a wide range of characters just pop to life right in front of your eyes. 

The Bone Temple - 

      The franchise that has spawned from 28 Days Later has grown into splendor. 28 Days Later: The Bone Temple is easily the film within this trilogy-in-four-parts that stands out as the grandest. Nia DaCosta simply sees this universe in a more overpowering manner than Juan Carlos Fresnadillo or Danny Boyle did, and that shines through in every aspect of this film. 

     One spot that has probably been the Achilles’ heel of this overarching storyline is the level of plausibility within the base of the plot. Danny Boyle is the type of filmmaker whose one consistency throughout his catalogue is that he creates works which are meant to evoke quite raw emotional responses—occasionally at the sacrifice of cohesiveness or an ironclad grounding in reality. This is certainly a quality that had its noticeable moments in the Days Later and Weeks Later installments of the franchise, with the first Years Later film representing a notable shift towards total coherence.

     The Bone Temple—in the hands of writer Alex Garland—drifts a bit back to the norm for this franchise, on a storytelling level. Its direct predecessor managed to be a zombie film that one could really sink their teeth into from a philosophical standpoint, not to mention a well-earned facelift for the physical presentation aspects of these films. Bone Temple may not be a thinkpiece, but it takes the visual experience to all new heights. 

     That is all before you get to talking about the characters, though. The viewer is driven towards adoration for the story through the fact that they find themselves rooting for the characters. Jack O’Connell has taken a step forward in the last year, with this being his second absolutely iconic villain release upon the world in that time. At the heart of it, this is just the villains from Harry Potter, Sinners, and Captain America and the Winter Soldier all going at each other while Alfie Williams tries not to die in the crossfire—and that formula absolutely works. 

     It is not a perfect conclusion (if it even is that). What it does give you is intensity, swagger, and bloodthirstiness you can taste. Fans of the gigantic and obscene will be thoroughly sated. Unless this specific type of film is not something you are ever interested in, this will bring you joy. 

~The Film Encomium~