Doomsday [DVD]

 

 

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As a British male swiftly approaching 30, I know I'm not alone in getting a bit nostalgic now and then. Particularly when it comes to the movies. In an age where more and more action and horror films are being dished up to us neutered and sanitised - PG-13 'Terminator' and 'Die Hard' films, for God's sake! - I find myself more and more taking comfort in the full-on blood and guts fuelled classics of yesteryear. Ranking high among those are the films of John Carpenter, and George Miller's 'Mad Max' trilogy (or the first two at least.) And I'm certain I'm not the only one who had long been wishing that someone would come along and create a new movie in that 80's B-movie style.

Well, wish no longer. Neil Marshall has answered those prayers with 'Doomsday!'

And by gum, he's had a lot of mud flung at him for it. And the mudflingers really need to chill. Yes, the premise basically is 'Escape From New York' in Scotland, right down to the brooding synth score and the Atari-style graphics used to illustrate the walled-in zone. Even the same John Carpenter font is used for the opening credits! But it's not as if Marshall expects us not to notice this. At heart, `Doomsday' is doing the exact same thing that `Grindhouse' intended to do: evoke the spirit of a past age in cinema. And I dare say Marshall has done so far more successfully than Rodgriguez and Tarantino managed to. For as loaded as `Doomsday' is with knowing film geek references, it never gets all `nudge-nudge wink-wink' about it. There's humour, for sure, but never does it lapse into parody, not even when the music of the Fine Young Cannibals and Frankie Goes To Hollywood make an appearance.

Marshall made a decent first impression with the lightweight but likeable `Dog Soldiers,' and cemented himself as director of real power and vision with the awesome, truly scary `The Descent.' Here, while continuing his fascination with titles beginning in `D' (?!), he shows that he's far from a one-trick pony, staging numerous massive action sequences that squeeze in an impressive amount of bang-for-buck (the budget being I believe in the region of $30 million; his biggest to date, but small change by modern Hollywood standards). The script may be a bit patchy, sporting some dodgy dialogue and poor plotting, and some of the performances are a little lacking - in particular, sad to say, those from old pros Bob Hoskins and Malcolm McDowell. It's left to leading lady Rhona Mitra to catch the ball, and to my surprise she does so admirably. Step aside Alice and Lara - Eden Sinclair is the best action heroine we've had in years, and it's all down to Ms Mitra (though Adrian Lester provides solid support, and Marshall mainstay Craig Conway makes for a great psychotic nemesis). Far from being another embarrassing case of pretty girl trying to act tough - Denise Richards, anyone? - there's no doubt from her first moment on screen that Eden is not someone to be messed with, and when she kicks ass, you believe it.

But ass doesn't just get kicked in `Doomsday.' Oh no. It gets bludgeoned. It gets perforated. After all, why just cleanly stab someone when you can instead bloodily dismember and decapitate them? There's a big part of why this movie so much fun, and so reminiscent of the glory days of 80's action and horror - there's not a dry death in sight. And thankfully, little if any of it is that lame CG blood we're all growing sick of the sight of these days. Add to that a spot of great old school car chase action, and even a soupcon of swordplay, and you've got yourself just over an hour and half of blistering entertainment. Yes, of course it's a bit silly, and very, very, very derivative. But it's so much fun. It might not change anyone's life, but I really struggle to see how anyone couldn't at least have a good time. Naysayers be damned. Neil Marshall is here to stay. Bravo.

OK, I'm gonna make this review as quick as possible ! This movie can be summed up as :

Escape from New York meets Mad Max meets Robin Hood with an advert for a new brand of car thrown in !!!

I doubt that anyone actually having see the movie will disagree. It was a movie that started out with promise, had some good ideas and visuals, but eventually went no-where. It was alomost like the makers either ran out of cash or edited a 3+ hour movie.

The rip-offs from other movies seemed to come thick and fast, and Mel Gibson and Kurt Russell should in my own view be sueing for scenes from the Road Warrior and Escape NY !

A couple of hours of entertainment, but more found to be critical able than memmorable !

HOWEVER - this movie still contains extreme gore and scenes of Cannibalism !

An outbreak of the reaper virus in 2008 causes a pandemic in Britain, in an attempt to quell the disease from rapidly spiralling out of control the government quarantine the hot zone located in Scotland leaving the infected to meet their fate. many years later the virus resurfaces in London desperate to find a cure the government send a special ops team into the site of original infection where signs of life have been uncovered, upon arrival the team become tangled up with two warring tribes. pursued the team attempt to locate a cure and get out without getting cooked.

Neil Marshall's follow up film while entertaining ends up falling short of the mark the Descent was a tense serious claustrophobic horror which was eerily effective an Dog soldiers struck a perfect balance between horror and dark humour, which doomsday fails to master as quite as well.
The film at time fails to find its own identity clear connections can be seen between such films as 28 days later, Mad max, Escape from new york etc. because of this the film jumps around going different directions and at times cant seem to decide what it wants to be.

Regardless of this what makes the film so entertaining is its ludicrously over the top actions set pieces which when they kick into gear they are a visceral gory treat for action fans, directed an edited well these scenes are adrenaline fuelled and plentiful in supply the movie boils down to disposable action flick this will satisfy the needs of any action junkie and is well worth a look but don't expect any more than throwaway entertainment.

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4.0 out of 5 stars A right mashup
A nice modern day B-movie, a strange, funny mix of different genres that some how works, at times scary, then funny, then surreal, and to top it all off has Bob Hoskins in it.

Published 3 months ago by G. BROWN

1.0 out of 5 stars Top 3 worst movies of all time
Basically there is nothing to write. Doomsday is without doubt one of the very worst movies I have ever seen. It starts out OK, bad but OK, then deteriorates rapidly. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Mr F

5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing change
Enjoyed this plenty of action and never lets up,yes it might have cliches but this doesnt spoil a thrilling film from start to finish in my book. Read more

Published 8 months ago by richy

4.0 out of 5 stars A guilty pleasure
This thing has it all. Can't think of a genre I like which isn't included. Neil Marshall knows his stuff and can pull off a decent action flick. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Mr. S. Storey

2.0 out of 5 stars Worth a watch
Worth a watch but poorly scripted and to many bad flaws. This film didnt know if it was trying to be funny or serious. Read more

Published 10 months ago by Steve

4.0 out of 5 stars In the land of the infected, the immune man is king.
Doomsday is written & directed by Neil Marshall and stars Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Malcolm McDowell, Alexander Siddig, David O'Hara, Craig Conway, Adrian Lester, Darren Morfitt &... Read more

Published 12 months ago by Spike Owen

1.0 out of 5 stars Ranks along with the worst
This film ranks alongside some of the worst films I've ever seen. It's ridiculous. Knights vs modern day military. Canabalism. Castles. Steam Trains. Read more

Published 13 months ago by Richie H

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome
There is no pretence with this movie. It's a straight forward action movie with plenty of bangs, blood and gore. Read more

Published 17 months ago by Doc Andy

5.0 out of 5 stars If not taken literally... really fun!
Trivia: The main actress is in fact the original Tomb Raider's Lara Croft. The character was modelled after her. Read more

Published 17 months ago by dm8110

1.0 out of 5 stars really lame
This film started well, looked solid and had a solid pace and then about 30 minutes in it turned to nothing, cliche after cliche was wheeled out and the script lost its focus and... Read more

Published 18 months ago by sean paul mccann

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