Doomsday (Unrated Widescreen Edition)

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Stills from Doomsday (Click for larger image)

Description
From the director of The Descent comes an action-packed thrill-ride through the beating heart of hell! To save humanity from an epidemic, an elite fighting unit must battle to find a cure in a post-apocalyptic zone controlled by a society of murderous renegades. Loaded with ferocious fights and high-octane chases, Doomsday grabs you right from the start, and doesn't let go till its explosive end!

Customer Reviews: Read 78 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Great after-the-crash flick March 15, 2008
35 out of 41 found this review helpful

You've seen all the pieces before. The country has fallen into lawlessness, where warlords with bad haircuts rule their fiefdoms (as in Mad Max, to name just one of many). There are the government officials trying desperately to save his bu... I mean, career (My Fellow Americans). There's the insanely contagious and deadly virus (28 Days Later). And there's the way-cool babe with a gun and an attitude (Resident Evil) leading her small but brave band through it all. Oh, and a little comedic banter (any Bond film), but not enough to change the tone of the film. If you want novelty, or even plausibility, you probably ended up in the wrong theater by mistake.

So just take it for what it is: commodity entertainment, a bit bloodier than some but not off the charts, and where people keep their clothes on. Some days, I just want an adventure flick with nothing much to think about, except maybe how good Maj. Sinclair looks in that tight outfit. If that's what you're after, then "mission accomplished."

--wiredweird

4 out of 5 stars

Neil Marshall has done it again March 14, 2008
18 out of 25 found this review helpful

A great debut with Dog Soldiers, then the even better second film The Descent, and now the cherry on top called Doomsday. I just got back from seeing this film and it was a wild and crazy ride from start to finish. Sure it borrows quite a bit from Escape from New York and Road Warrior, but it is still unique enough to seperate itself from those movies. Rhona Mitra makes one sexy, tough and believable action chick. I didn't know if she could pull this kind of role off, but it worked for me.

Doomsday isn't going to win any awards and it's not better than The Descent or Dog Soldiers, but if you like your movies with plenty of action and gore, check it out and prepare to have a blast.

3 and 1/2 out of 5 stars

Tribute to other science fiction films is little more than karoke-wait for the DVD March 24, 2008
9 out of 20 found this review helpful

Just a note--as with all reviews this is designed to help those who haven't seen the film decide if they want to see it, if you disagree write a review (that's also what the comments section is about the voting isn't about whether or not you agree or disagree but if it helped you decide to see the film...)

In "Doomsday" a viral outbreak threatens the residents of the UK. Isolated to Scotland, the area is quarantined and sealed off with a giant metal wall. One survivor who made it through was Eden Sinclair (Rhonda Mitra). Eden is sent back by her boss (Bob Hoskins) with a team to find out if the survivors there led by Kane (Malcolm McDowell)have a cure when there is a viral outbreak in London. They find that Scotland has reverted to savagery and that they'll be lucky to get out alive much less back with a cure.

A homage (or tribute if you don't want the fancy term)does many things--1)It reinvents the genre it is a tribute to 2)borrows from those films in a knowing way winking its eye in many cases 3)gives new life to what have become cliches. "Doomsday" is homage as karoke--it looks and sounds like the films it is a tribute to but often hits the wrong notes.

The film begs, steals and borrows from other fims without breaking any new ground or being innovative in any way (or refreshing the genre). A good example of a "homage" that works is "28 Days Later" or even the "Resident Evil" films that borrow a number of ideas and make them their own. It's not a bad film just one that lacks invention outside of the production design (which itself borrows from the "Mad Max" trilogy, "Escape from New York and its sequel "L.A.", "Damnation Alley" and other flicks.

The cast is top notch with Bob Hoskins, Malcolm McDowell, Rhona Mitra, Alexander Siddig ("Kingdom of Heaven", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"), David O'Hara ("The Departed"),Sean Pertwee ("The Tudors", "Event Horizon")doing the best they can with the material.

The one thing here that director/writer Neil Marshall has working in his favor is his inventive staging of action sequences. Marshall who made "The Descent" and "Dog Soldiers" has an ability to turn a genre inside out reinventing it in the process in most cases. With "Doomsday" it doesn't quite work but it is an enjoyable ride even if we've seen all the sights before. I'd wait for the DVD.

5 out of 5 stars

Already one of the top ten guy movies of all time May 20, 2008
9 out of 11 found this review helpful

Pick your favorite post-apocalyptic movie like Road Warrior; add your favorite medieval movie with horses and armor; think about the best car chase in any movie; add a great virus outbreak like 28 Days Later; throw in a little Spartacus or Gladiator action; shut off an entire city/country like I Am Legend; blend in a few scenes that could just as easily have been in Hostel or Saw; and mix in anarchy, blood, explosions, axe-wielding maniacs, and a few beheadings for good measure and you'll touch the surface of Doomsday. I'm already declaring it one of the top ten guy movies of all time.

There is a terrible viral outbreak in Scotland, and the best way to deal with it is isolation. The entire country is condemned and sealed off with a massive wall full of firearms to keep out the undesirables. Allow decades to go by and all is well. Right?

Evidently not. People survive, evolve, and turn into a raping, murdering, cannibalistic horde hell-bent on survival. Unfortunately for those outside of the quarantine zone the virus has returned, and it's up to the government to go back into the original land of infected and find the cure amongst the survivors who want nothing more than to destroy and consume all who dare to invade their turf.

Rhona Mitra is a hardened, lethal, and incredibly hot leader of the group sent in for the nearly hopeless mission. From beginning to end she is on a race for survival - blasting, kicking, stabbing, and decapitating her way to a possible cure and eventual freedom.

Doomsday is action packed throughout, and it's surprisingly beautifully filmed, with great shots of the countryside as well as the dirty, urban environment left to fend for itself. It's a great action movie, great post-apocalyptic movie, has tons of worthwhile battles and gore, and is an all-out blast. If you love to watch a movie for pure entertainment, this should be on the top of the list.

3 out of 5 stars

Is this what happens when you give Neil Marshall a big budget.... October 1, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Yes, this writer/director has been responsible for two of the best low budget horror movies of recent years. In Dog Soldiers, he melded the combat film with the werewolf movie and came out with something startlingly good. In The Descent, he crafted what was quite simply one of the scariest films of all time. So what then are we to make of Doomsday? This futuristic shocker features an amalgam of scenes lifted wholesale from other (frankly better) films -to be specific, 28 Days Later, Aliens, Escape From New York, Army of Darkness and Mad Max 2;The Road Warrior. They're all here and all of them are instantly recognizable, so much so that you cannot pass it off as coincidence. Some viewers will utter the word 'homage,' but the less charitable among us will prefer to say 'rip-off.'

As you watch Doomsday unfold, you can't stop asking yourself what Marshall hoped to accomplish here. The film must have had a decent budget and it looks great. Furthermore, he has an undeniable flair for action sequences. But though the film can never be accused of being dull, neither does it feature anything that is remotely surprising, largely because you've seen it all before. In the case of the climactic car chase, it is quite simply, Mad Max 2, down to the last detail. It's as though Marshall decided to recreate key scenes from all his favorite movies and while you grudgingly admit, he's done a fair job of copying them, you can't help yearning for a bit of originality, something that his last two films had in abundance.

The star of the movie Rhona Mitra plays it straight as tough as nails warrior who leads the charge from segment to segment. I have never seen a woman take so much pain and only have few scratches. A few more positive reviews and big American star (like Will Smith) could have push the movie over the top. Unfortunately we won't see a sequel and this is one that could have spawned one if it could have topped $40 million mark. After all they have made four SAW movies.

This feels like a serious hiccup in his career - and some murmurings about a planned sequel to The Descent don't bode well for his next offering either. The suspicion is that he's mirroring John Carpenter's career, a director who was brilliant when he had no money, but whose output became increasingly dismal as his budgets grew in size. It's a shame because few British directors get the autonomy to make films on this scale. My fingers are crossed for his future career, but on the strength of Doomsday, my expectations are not high right now.

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