Doomsday

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Doomsday

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Doomsday

Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Malcolm McDowell, Alexander Siddig, Adrian Lester, David O'Hara

In the action-packed new thriller from writer/director Neil Marshall ("The Descent"), authorities brutally quarantine a country as it succumbs to fear and chaos when a virus strikes. The literal walli...( read more  read more... )ng-off works for three decades – until the dreaded Reaper virus violently resurfaces in a major city. An elite group of specialists, captained by Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), is urgently dispatched into the still-quarantined country to retrieve a cure by any means necessary. Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare.

Id: 10846451

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Doomsday Recent Reviews
  • garyX
    October 22, 2009
    garyX
    A plague epidemic breaks out in Scotland, which is promptly quarantined and abandoned to its own fate. Three decades later a military unit is sent in to investigate the possibility of a cure when the virus reappears in the ghettos of London. After the hugely enjoyable Dog Soldier...( read more)s, I held high hopes for Neil Marshall. Although it was clearly inspired by Predator, it was done with enough wit, homour and invention to make me think we may have found Britain's answer to Sam Raimi. Unfortunately after the tepid The Descent and now this dismal mess my hopes have been thoroughly crushed. The opening of the film is a pure rip off of Escape From New York, down to the retro computer graphics and synth soundtrack, and he even uses the same on screen type face for the subtitling. It then turns into a made for TV standard regurgitation of Aliens that steals plot devices, lines and even shots, returns to raping Escape before a climax that is EXACTLY the same as The Road Warrior. The dialogue is nothing more than glib soundbites and mockney swearing and although Rhona Mitra looks good in a catsuit, the cast are all rubbish. Not to mention cuts that are so fast (I'm talking FRACTIONS of seconds) that they become seizure inducing. This film is nothing more than an incoherent cover version of all Marshall's 80s favourites that transcends fanboy masturbation to become outright plagiarism and is enough to convince me that he is actually Britains answer to Paul W S Anderson. "Bollocks", as they say in 2035 Scotland.
  • AgentLexi2132
    October 7, 2009
    AgentLexi2132
    ''This is our city! Whoever they send here, we're gonna catch them, we're gonna cook them, and we're gonna eat them!''

    A futuristic action thriller where a team of people work to prevent a disaster threatening the future of the human race.

    Rhona Mitra: Maj. Eden...( read more) Sinclair

    After Dog Soldiers (2002) and The Descent (2005), director Neil Marshall seemed like the new maestro of British horror cinema. His latest, Doomsday, is a markedly different film from his earlier work, most clearly in it's inability to choose which genre it belongs to. Dog Soldiers clearly aimed in the direction of comedy while The Descent was a masterful lesson in claustrophobic horror, marred only slightly by a number of over the top action scenes in its final act. Doomsday has funny moments, horrible moments, thrilling moments and, more often, scenes filled with levels of absurdity which would not feel out of touch, in a full-blown spoof.

    The year is 2033. A quarter of a century has passed since the outbreak of a fatal disease in northern Britain. Scotland has been cut off - segregated behind a barrier closely following the lines of Hadrian's wall. But the disease has returned, the south is threatened and a crack military team (led by Rhona Mitra) is sent into the contaminated zone to find survivors, and a cure. Throw in Marshall's proved abilities to create tension and a little offbeat humour and it sounds like the making of a minor classic, right? Well yes and no. The films' greatest strength is also its biggest liability, namely nostalgia.

    Some films execute nostalgia extremely well. A random example being Superman Returns. The slow, majestic sweep of the title sequence served as a starter course, to reintroduce us to the universe of Superman (literally and figuratively). John Ottman's marginal reworking of John William's superb score was so evocative that it, in conjunction with the familiar (though now CG enhanced) starscapes created a near instant sense of comfort. Superman Returns is grateful homage, Doomsday is chaotic random hysteria.

    Doomsday is Neil Marshall doing whatever he wishes, having a crazy laugh and mixing genres together. After only 2 features, Neil Marshall's track record was simply not strong enough to be allowed this kind of free reign. The result is a mess; the bastard child of a dozen or so 70's and 80's films â?? from The Warriors to Mad Max via Escape from New York. It also moves schizophrenically from one genre to the next: near future vistas give way to post-apocalyptic deserted cities (a la 28 Days Later) before moving on to psychedelic dancing cannibals, mobs of bikers and an extended, somewhat unnecessary, car chase. Did I mention there's a medieval section as well that comes off as a nice mixture of Robin Hood and Gladiator? As a knowing and self-referential piece of cinematic shlock this would be perfectly enjoyable but the fact is that Doomsday takes itself far too seriously,then at times, it does not.
    This works, to a point, but it is missing that vital cue for the audience, how are we supposed to take this? In Dog Soldiers there was a healthy sense of the ridiculous, both on the part of the characters and the audience. Likewise in The Descent, we know from the outset that the film will not be lighthearted. Doomsday refuses to make that choice, veering from an overlong dance sequence which looks like the gag reel from a Prodigy music video to the genuinely shocking roasting of a live human being. The contrast of different styles can work within the structure of a film to make the relief of the comedy or the shock of the horror more powerful but when it vacillates this often and this wildly any such affect is lost.

    One major point to remember is that the movies which Doomsday references are themselves a mixed bag. That's the thing with nostalgia, its better felt than examined. The original Superman comes across, to me, as strangely elitist these days and Escape from New York is an extremely uneven, dated film. So, in trying to bring these kinds of films together, Marshall has doubly handicapped himself: Firstly, by being limited to sources of varying quality. Secondly, by trying to reference so many other films, the continuity of Doomsday suffers. So much so that each scene begins to resemble a discrete entity, rather than part of the whole.

    Doomsday is, however, a difficult film to truly dislike. There is a kind of manic energy to it, an undercurrent of gleeful nastiness that allows it to bulldoze through the cliches, plot holes and bloated editing. The action is generally well shot and presented and the whole film has a technical polish which we are not used to seeing in British cinema. The acting is generally good and Mitra makes an impressive leading lady, hopefully this will be a breakthrough role for her. As for Neil Marshall, this is without a doubt his craziest film to date, and alot of fun albeit lacking originality. Doomsday is a big mix of other inspirations.

    ''The hounds are hungry! It's feeding time at the fucking zoo!''
  • Deano78
    May 19, 2009
    Deano78
    A very good, violent, gory action film with an eclectic mix of ideas from 28 weeks later, Mad Max and the Escape from NY/L.A. films. The plot is a kinda mix of those three films as well. Not original by any means but it has plenty of action all right and some bloody battles along...( read more) the way. From the same director as the Descent and Dog Soldiers! If you like any of the films mentioned you'll enjoy this.
  • F1Ferrari
    April 17, 2009
    F1Ferrari
    Ok film, i guess belivable in some sences, but when all is said and done, its just a copy of multiple films with there own spin on it.
  • phubbs1
    April 7, 2009
    phubbs1
    Where to begin with this haha
    first of, you have a 28 Days/Weeks later clone with almost the same flippin story line. Killer virus, England is screwed, Scotland used as quaratine zone, survivors discovered, go in and get the cure. Very predictable and with alittle Escape from New...( read more) York throw into the bargain. Now so far its an eerie and quite decent horror/sci-fi flick, but things start to go wrong, first of, Scotland has all been left for dead and everyone has suppose to have been dead for along time (30yrs) from the killer virus, but then all of a sudden, people are found roaming around via sat shots....hmmmmm

    OK, send in the elite team lead by a sexy female (Kate Beckinsale wannabe) ala Aliens to get the cure from these people. Hence the now Aliens rip, a team go in being watched by a team on cam and end up in a admittedly very good shoot out with a never ending supply of nasty Scottish weirdos. The team is killed of one by one till the last few are captured, very exciting but very Aliens haha one question that does stand out though is how on earth all theses hundreds of people managed to live n survive in a community like the film shows without being detected for so long?????? and how come so many are immune to the virus??? it was suppose to be a KILLER.

    Anywho, from then we get a very odd Matrix style city of Zion setup with all the locals raving away to the Fine Young Cannibals (80's gold hehe) and eating the captured soldiers, all in a very Mad Max/Rocky Horror costume setup within a concert or arena. The leader of the Scottish cannibals is a direct Mad Max rip of right down to his hair style. He also seems to have a 28 Days Later or Resident Evil style tat on his back which is rather similar to the toxic logo they both use......AND he has his very own gimp in rubber, much like Mad Max 2's Vernon Wells character.

    NOW...from there lots happen (wont spoil) but we now end up in another part of Scotland where the locals are living back in Medival times with horses, knights and Malcolm Macdowell leading them. We now end up with Gladiator style fights and gun battles, oh and a Bentley turns up to.
    lol still with me?
    From there, in the escape form of the Bentley we end the film with a HUGE TOTAL MASSIVE rip of Mad Max 2, quite a gloriously bloody and spot on rip I must say. Its actually a very cool sequence with great cars and fighting but I just cant understand how they got away with it haha its such a copy its untrue. Also, you may wonder how all these crappy cars can keep up with a modern day super Bentley haha it should wipe the floor with the cannibal carriers. After all this the film tends to end on a rather unexplained note, the heroine stays in disease infested Scotland and returns to the cannibal camp to proclaim their leader dead..why?? no sense atall.

    Overall this film is really really good, very tense,exciting, bloody, gorey and has absolutely every element a film could need, they have packed in almost all sci-fi action genres into one film haha bizaare!!
    but it does work and its a good British film if you overlook the outrageous copying of many many classic movies.
    Worth a look for sure.
  • iLOVEmovies25
    November 28, 2009
    iLOVEmovies25
    gorey, action packed, and a woman kicks ass! not a bad movie :)
  • Hallez
    November 24, 2009
    Hallez
    A virus has been released in Scotland, so they seal it up and leave the inhabitants to rot! Then several years later same virus appears in London...hmmm what to do? Wait survivors live in Scotland along with a scientist who's suppossedly found a cure....oooooooo! So send in a cra...( read more)ck squad of scientist and military assetts. Unfortunately a large number of these people die by punk cannibles and so the mission is now under more threat than it ever was! Neil Marshall as usual has this amazing way of making blood and guts flying across the screen somehow engrossing does he not?
  • 21rclemente
    November 23, 2009
    21rclemente
    Non directional but has intenses fight sequences with a Mad Max feel?... cant beat it.
  • ythelastman89
    November 18, 2009
    ythelastman89
    Certainly not a bad movie, but it fails at breaking the cliches of the genre. The dialogue is not anything to brag about, but the story was simple. It's nice that they didn't try to make it more than it was with over complicated plot devices. You've got carnage, cannibals, car ch...( read more)ases and gladiator matches.
  • 1WeS1
    November 18, 2009
    1WeS1
    Not really sure where i stand with this film. Couldn't get into it to be honest, the film just didnt feel right. It began to feel as though it was trying too hard to be a film that its not. I dont know, as i said, im not sure where i stand with it.
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