Doomsday (Unrated Widescreen Edition) Reviews

• Great after-the-crash flick

  
  By AUTBHG6070SL4 on 2008-03-15
  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
  
  

• Neil Marshall has done it again

  
  By A1TW9ZGRDQQZ2Y on 2008-03-14
  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

  
  By AQP1VPK16SVWM on 2008-03-24
  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.
  
  
  

• Already one of the top ten guy movies of all time

  
  By A2YM3KILJ1G0YJ on 2008-05-20
  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.
  
  

• Leave your brain at the door and ENJOY

  
  By A177QJVUZYHE6O on 2008-05-19
  What a gloriously stupidly great film. Yes it stitches up bits from Escape From New York, The Mad Max trilogy, a number of Zombie flicks and throws in a bit of medieval nonsense, but it's entertaining, silly, bloody, ridiculous FUN. It's one of those movies that if you `'get it'' and are willing to forgive it a multitude of sins, not least some woeful acting from Bob Hoskins and Darren Morfitt you'll have a whole lot of old fashioned exploitation fun.
  
  I mean in what other movie do you have a gleaming black Bently Coupe being chased by a rag tag band of evil punks in the cars from The Road Warrior all set to Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Two Tribes. Great.
  
  Americans have not taken to Doomsday for some reason, maybe the audiences where expecting something serious and in the vein of Marshall's last film, The Descent, but Europeans who appreciate that Neil Marshall's tongue is firmly planted in his cheek are lapping it up. Enjoy
  
  
• THIS IS OUR CITY!!
  By A3QX5KG6FKGCCE on 2008-05-14
  Doomsday is a post-apocalyptic action horror where in Scotland a deadly virus called the Reaper Virus breaks out. the government seals off all of the northern half of the United Kingdom. 25 years later the virus has broken out, and survivors are found in the Quarantined area. so a team lead by Major Eden Sinclair (Rhonda Mitra) is sent into the devastated area to find a cure. they find out the survivors have split into two groups: medieval religious nut jobs living in a castle. the others are cannabalistic neo punk rockers. now they are in a race against not only the crazed survivors, but the virus as well. filled tons of gorey sights, black humor, amazing action, and an awesome car chase obviously inspired by The Road Warrior. this is the third film directed by Neil Marshall, following Dog Soldiers and The Descent. don't miss it.
  
  
• Neil Marshall + Rhona Mitra = my favorite movie this yr
  By A1NDOQNA06X8N8 on 2008-05-23
  I have seen this movie about 26 times. Am I crazy, maybe I also saw Juno about 20 times.
  
  Anyway,
  I love female fronted action and science fiction movies. I love Sigourney Weaver's Ripley and watch all the Alien movies all the time.
  
  Anyway I like Mila Jovovich ok and the other female heroines like Pitch Black's Radha Mitchel.
  
  However, when I saw this movie Doomsday. Rhona Mitra totally blew me away. I mean she was tough, but also had such acting range. Like when fighting when she had the upper hand or had an idea for an offensive attack she would have a little glimpse in her eyes. Basically I could just watch her portrayal of Maj Eden Sinclair and just think she is the best action heroine suited for that movie and rivals Sigourney Weaver. While I feel Sigourney Weaver had great range in the Alien movies especially Aliens, Aliens 3, and Alien Resurrection. Maybe Rhona Mitra doesn't have quite that range but for me she made this movie awesome.
  
  I mean I saw Rhona Mitra on the show the practice and didn't think much of her other than she was very pretty. But, this movie makes me really excited about seeing her in the new Underworld movie even though I am not into those. I feel she would be better than Kate Beckinsale for me I feel Kate is to stuck up.
  
  Anyway the the movie Doomsday.
  
  It is basically to me a good against evil movie. Not this grey the bad guys sometimes do good and the good guys sometimes do evil, but in this respect and old fashoined black and white drawn lines movie.
  
  Now it is very violent. I mean cooking a person and eating them. In battle cutting of an arm and the head of an enemy. A rabbit is shot and explodes by a sentinal gun. A axe goes into the head of an enemy. An ultraviolent but cool car chase. A person being shot in the face with a shot gun at point blank range. A persons hand being cut off because it is attached to a brief case, they were already dead though. Cutting a guys throut. You get the point. But, I still feel it is good against evil so other than the rabbit there is a point to the violence.
  
  The special effects, costumes, cinematography, and music were very good for I think 15mil dollars but may have been pounds they spent for the movie. Anyway the music is really good I did a review for the soundtrack. It is the only soundtrack I own.
  
  Anyway I loved the movie as well as Neil Marshall's other movies like Dog Soldiers and another really voilent but good one the Descent.
  
  I feel if you like action, scifi, good versus evil, and kind of like wierd indie alternative movies you may like this one I did.
  
  K
  
  
• Is this what happens when you give Neil Marshall a big budget....
  By A3C6CZC2JP67VK on 2008-10-01
  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.
  
  
  
• The Reaper Virus Is Upon Us.
  By A3TYC8T6W81DDB on 2008-05-08
  The Reaper Virus has broken out in Great Britain. A wall is built and as many people as possible who aren't infected are evacuated. A wall is built to try and quarantine the virus. It works...until now. Thirty years later, the virus has broken out again. Survivors are discovered on the other side of the wall which brings hope for a cure. A team of special forces, including Eden Sinclair, are sent to the other side of the wall to try and find the cure. The survivors aren't exactly normal though, as they've become cannibalistic savages and will basically kill and/or eat anyone that stands in their way. Will a cure be found and will Sinclair and her team be able to get back in one piece?
  
  The best part of this movie, in my opinion, is the fact that it uses elements from a lot of my favorite movies to its advantage and the end result is spectacular. Not only is it incredibly gory, but the film also reminded me of films like Aliens, Gladiator, and even 28 Days Later. There's also the obvious comparison to Mad Max and I've even heard it has similarities to The Warriors, but since I haven't seen enough of either film to compare them...I can't really say.
  
  Sol, played by Craig Conway who was also the main crawler in The Descent, has to be one of the most extreme, violent, and hardcore characters to come along in a long time. He's the type of character that is just angry all the time. With that kind of passion and energy, he tends to steal just about every scene he's in. As tough as he is, he tends to fail in comparison to Sinclair, played by Rhona Mitra. She doesn't seem to care about anything and always manages to find a way to get out of whatever situation she's in. She has to be one of the most fierce and dominant female characters I've ever seen grace the screen. Watching the savages, the way they live, and what they do to survive is a bit strange...but you won't be able to look away. Malcom Macdowell does a good job as Kane. You hear him more than you actually see him. I was a bit disappointed with Bob Hoskins' role in the film. I thought he was really impressive in Unleashed, but he didn't really bring the charisma he had in that film to Doomsday. I guess his role didn't really require as much this time around, but still. I was a bit letdown.
  
  The scenes where all hell breaks loose are the most fun. Watching the battle sequences, the deaths, and especially the car chase at the end all make this film worth seeing alone. I don't really want to spoil anything, but let's just say you're in for a few surprises. I can honestly say I didn't really lose interest in the film from beginning to end either. Some films have slow parts or parts that drag way too long, but I felt like there was enough going on in this that I was interested the entire time.
  
  I think Doomsday is a wild, fun, bloody ride for anyone willing to give it a chance. If you like sci-fi films with a touch of horror to them, then this is definitely a film for you. Also, if you're a fan of Neil Marshall's past work, like Dog Soldiers and The Descent, then I think this is a must see for you.
  
  Rating: 8/10
  
  
• RHONA MITRA.... no longer a "WHO"? actress
  By A14Z0Q1DU6CBJJ on 2008-08-03
  I didn't know what to expect when I put in DOOMSDAY and I quickly found myself engulfed in a post-plague adrenaline ride of a movie that seemed to remind me of the way action movies used to be. Sure, there are elements of many movies entertwined here: Escape from NY, Resident Evil, Gladiator, Aliens and Mad Max most prominently, but what movies aren't these days.
  
  Despite that, there's one thing that can surely be said about DOOMSDAY. They sure knew how to put on a show. Amidst the squealing tires, exploding heads, bloody swords, fireballs, arrows, barbecues and splintering cars, you won't be able to take your eyes from the screen.
  
  The best part about DOOMSDAY is that on top of the fact that the movie rolls across the screen like an active warzone, it has a great story and great characters. Rhona Mitra proves that she has the capability to be a tremendous action star, and nearly guarantees herself another job in DOOMSDAY 2.
  
  I don't care what anybody says, DOOMSDAY is flat out proof that we've been robbed over the last few years with so-called action movies. This movie is a model of how to grab the viewers attention and keep it. Crazy action scenes, but all of them pheasible. DOOMSDAY has action scenes that suck you into the movie, instead of the junk we've seen in movies that are so over-the-top you just want to get your money back.
  
  
• I don't care if it's original or not it's ENTERTAINING AS HELL!
  By AQ1BCXXM2X8JU on 2008-08-05
  Yea yea yea this movie rips off other movies so what?? It's FUN and obviously some people can't have fun with movies with nitpicking little crap, must suck to be uptight huh? Anyways this is well worth purchasing as the movie is a thrill ride from beginning to end that doesn't let up much anywhere in the movie. Tons of blood, violence and amazing action!
  
  
• Best Movie Of The Year
  By A1SC2IEP6RQUL1 on 2008-05-12
  Its a must see movie. Loved the actions, storylines, and I love Rhonda Mitra.
  The movie is phenomenal.
  
  
• Over-the-top action
  By AU6J2QRP39LKQ on 2008-06-28
  I'd highly recomond this movie to someone who enjoys crazy out of control action. Yes this movie dosnt have the greatest quality but if your all about weird wild and crazy stuff this is the stuff right here so ignore all those in depth reviews and just enjoy the this wild movie!!!!!! (:
  
  
• Unoriginal rip-off, low budget garbage
  By A3LGT6UZL99IW1 on 2008-08-03
  Totally unoriginal, many of the scenes and most ideas are rip-offs from any zombie flick, Mad Max movie, medieval chop-fest, Bruce Campbell b-movie - you name it. Can you say 28-Days later clone? Even the music was cheesy - third rate talent just repeating the same lyrics over and over and over. Imagine being tortured with the words "When two tribes go to war..." - yes, just those five words - so repetitiously (not to mention poorly and off-key) that you have to mute the volume. Apparently they think screaming the lyrics louder and pounding the guitar make up for the lack of talent. The heroine? Clone of Resident Evil.
  
  Explosions: I swear, rocks explode. Billboards explode. Anything that is involved in a crash explodes. I'm honestly surprised that the horses did not explode as well.
  
  Nothing about this movie makes any sense. Zero. Zilch. Nada. The writer (If anyone would claim this drek as their own) was probably on Meth while watching parts of Camelot, Dawn of the Dead, Army of Darkness, Resident Evil and 28 days later. When he regained consciousness he probably thought he dreamed an original gore-fest. Not even close. I can't think of a single scene in this flick that was not ripped off from other movies.
  
  You'll notice ideas also stolen from: Escape from NY, Coneheads (yes, Coneheads), Beyond Thunder Dome, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Demolition Man - too many to list. They all did it much better.
  
  I watched it once. That was MORE than enough for me.
  
  
  
• Escape From Doomsday!.
  By APCHVFMSQZVY4 on 2008-10-08
  I'll make this short, Doomsday takes place in the post apocalyptic future where a reaper virus is sweeping across Great Brittain killing thousands of people. The authorities decide to set up a quarantine zone where the infected can die off at their time. Years later the virus resurfaces to lay waste to the population again, this time the government does the responsible thing and sends Snake Plisken.... oh wait wrong movie, I mean Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) to go behind the wall with an elite team to find this cure amidst the apocalyptic wasteland within 48 hours into the hot zone. She will have to be a Road Warrior while she Escapes from New York, I mean the hot zone but she can't wait 28 Days Later to run away. She needs to leave these Streets of Fire before the Warriors get her. As you can see this film was so derivative and unoriginal that it becomes obvious which films were being stolen from, but it was definitely an homage. Director Niel Marshall took all of the 80's movies that inspired him and threw them in the blender resulting in a wild and kicka** action film with plenty of violence and gore which is typical especially if you've seen the director's previous films. The car chase sequences were straight out of Mad Max with the over the top villains with Mohawks and piercings and there was a medieval castle scene that happens halfway through the film which I thought was absolutely ridiculous. Anyway the film was great fun but don't take it to seriously and don't expect it to be like The Descent it was just a mindless action/sci fi film and it was a different type of film than the ones that hes done before. The Blu-ray dvd was great and had some nice features and the picture quality was absolutely stunning which makes this film worth it, all the action scenes were terrifically shot with great clarity.
  
  
• I Was Practically Cheering Towards The End!
  By A3DGVB3T5QJNRE on 2008-03-16
  I usually avoid blood and guts type films like the plague, but Doomsday is a movie that makes the effort not to take its self too seriously! There are so many hysterically campy moments in this film I was practically jumping up and down in my seat at one point! And you really want the bad guys to lose in a very big way!
  
  This is obviously a Mad Max remake. I think it's much better with a woman playing the role as hero. Doomsday also has more complexity. There's three sets of different types of bad guys. And a lot more is at stake this time, its not just the main characters' lives!
  
  Sure, I could do without some of the gruesome violence, the reason for 4 stars instead of 5. But I have quick reflexes, and I don't hesitate to close my eyes when the need arises. A good habit to have these days when going to the movies! But unlike so many, many movies, the violence does not ruin this story! You really end-up caring about the good guys! You don't have any mixed feelings. This is a black and white world! Stupid, cruel and narrow minded villains - get the heck out of the way!
  
  
• A mixed bag...but a fun mixed bag!
  By A1HJZ1SBR0ROHH on 2008-03-19
  Neil Marshall's follow-up to 2006's The Descent truly, honestly is one mixed-up bag. Doomsday is pure cinematic anarchy, but it's chaos that's under control and in the right hands. The film starts off as a deadly virus sweeps over Scotland leaving people and families in disarray. The government is able to contain the outbreak by putting up an impenetrable wall; sealing off the country from the rest of the world. Years later, the government has reason to believe that some may have actually survived the infection and begin wondering if there's a possible cure so they send in a top security force to investigate.
  
  Leading the mission is the one-eyed Eden Sinclair, played with sexy machismo by Rhona Mitra, who is basically playing the female version of Snake Plisskin from John Carpenter's Escape from New York (one of the characters is even named "Carpenter"). In fact the almost the first 20 minutes of Doomsday feels like a straight cover version of Escape from New York; using the same opening title font and 80's synthesizer score provided by Tyler Bates. Once inside the infected zone their team is ambushed by a gang of psychotic cannibal punks, and one of Sinclair's squad is cooked up and served to the gang. Mmm... toasty!
  
  Some seem to be having a difficult time pinning down exactly what Neil Marshall's film is suppose to be. Is this a rip-off of past B-movies, or a loving homage, or is it something else entirely. Honestly, I'm not even sure what Doomsday is exactly. It feels has if Marshall has gone through a dozen 80's B-movies and taken his favorite elements and mixed them together in one explosively, combustible movie. I think there were a few clever ideas that if you look closely you might find funny (i.e. an emergency exit sign inside a castle?). Marshall stays so true to the essence of the genre that I'm positive he even included some of its flaws; like occasional continuity errors (yes, it's suppose to be funny that that Bentley is practically spotless at the end, after flying through that bus).
  
  The film is like the equivalent to a greatest hits album; every 20 minutes the movie morphs into something different; from Escape from New York to The Warriors to Mad Max to Braveheart to Gladiator and ending with a car chase that seems ripped out of The Road Warrior. The film never stops moving and never stops evolving. Sounds incredibly uneven, right? Well it is, and yet strangely it almost doesn't seem to be a major flaw when I think about it. The strangeness of the film's structure is almost an interesting blessing in disguise. I don't think I could very easily defend this film in the traditional sense of "good/bad" cinema, but I'll be damned if I wasn't fully entertained for it's entire 105 minute running time, which felt like a quick 20 minutes. I was never bored, or even close to being bored. That's entertainment, and this film could have easily been another 30 or 40 minutes longer and I wouldn't have cared.
  
  Doomsday is a film that is cut from the same table cloth as last year's Grindhouse. It may not be refined great cinema, but sometimes a nice sloppy joe can be just as satisfying as prime rib. Doomsday is about having fun, not about making much sense, or all the other things that tend to get in the way of entertainment value. Neil Marshall splatters virtually everything on screen; from cute, little bunnies to a leather-clad gimp, and does so by smashing the pedal to the metal and blazing across genres and cinematic styles and does it with such panache it makes it nearly impossible to not say that I enjoyed the ride, even if it was a familiar, bumpy one. It was a true experience; an exercise in visceral anarchy, both physically and narratively. This isn't the kind of movie you go see because of it's originality, but rather because of it's familiarity. If you love the movies that Marshall loves, then I'm sure you'll have a blast.
  
  At a time when studios crank out pointless remakes and disappointing, over budgeted sequels, it's nice to see a movie where a director (with a much smaller budget) can throw just about anything and everything into a single movie and create one crazy-fun ride out of it. Logic put aside, originality temporarily shelved; Doomsday packs as much bang for your buck as anyone has any right to ask for. Shut up. Sit back. And relax. Take a load off and enjoy the ride. It's all that matters in the end--just have fun. Doomsday is pure formula, but it's a proven and tested formula that works. The movie is comprised of the best parts of genre films and compacted into one flick. I'd rather sit through a film like this than have to suffer through a serious-minded attempt by some hack film director to actually remake Escape from New York or The Road Warrior. If you went in expecting a horror movie or a science fiction movie or a movie that was to be taken seriously, then you went to the wrong movie.
  
  
• Unbelievably Bad!!
  By A1J1163Q56YIVZ on 2008-06-24
  Neil Marshall's third feature film which he wrote as well as directed is a major failure. His first two films, 2002's cynical werewolf movie "Dog Soldiers" and 2005's atmospheric subterranean monster movie "The Descent" were excellent examples of inspired low budget filmmaking. These films were brimming over with enthusiasm, wit and a quietly self-deprecating tone, such that a number of critics justifiably saw Marshall as the potential new leader of a resurgence in British horror. Both films had a slightly derivative quality, but then that has been a convention of the horror genre for decades. But there is a fine line between being creatively derivative and a plagiarist.
  
  In "Doomsday" Marshall quotes from such a number of sources, in such an unimaginative and uncreative way that this film feels like a feature length exercise in plagiarism. Marshall fills his film with grotesques and grotesque performances and shamelessly enters the debased territory more commonly associated with the torture trash films of Eli Roth. The plot itself, which sees Scotland, placed in quarantine due to a highly infectious disease, is a bungled mixture of John Carpenters "Escape from New York" and "28 Days Later" lacking either films energy or style. It is filled with very grim faced and serious performances, and characters with stupid biblical names like Eden and Kane. The symbolism is ponderous and juvenile. Marshall's efforts at gravitas through a lazy and sloppy Malcolm McDowell voice over is a device quickly forgotten as Marshall sets about putting his Lara Croft clone (the horribly po-faced Rhona Mitra) into a series of ridiculous action sequences. The future as forecasted by Marshall is the 1980's, which is perhaps the only scary thing about the film. It is the same dystopian 1980's influenced vision of the future seen in the Mad Max trilogy, but at least those films were actually made in the 1980's. The use of 80's fashions, images and music makes very little sense. I'm not sure as to what Marshall intended with this.
  
  It's not a total dead loss though. Marshall has a particular flair for exciting action sequences, and the chase scene towards the end of the film is superbly edited and very exciting. Marshall also manages through accident or design to address anxieties about Anglo-Scottish relations - a prescient topic at a time in which the question of Scottish independence is an important one. The total rejection and isolation of Scotland by the English parliament in a time of crisis offers an interesting distillation of current cultural anxieties. Marshall pitches the cynicism in central government quite well, but this is undermined by Bob Hoskins' (what in god's name is he doing in such drivel) chewing of the scenery. No doubt the allegorical leanings of the film will rescue it from the total obscurity it deserves, but for the British horror film this is a major regression. I was looking forward to whatever Marshall's third film turned out to be. He had got over the usually very difficult second film, but this will be a severe stain on his filmography.
  
  
  
  
• Fun, mindless...just what I wanted
  By A268EEWUXYCA8Q on 2008-07-25
  Alright, so Neil Marshall quickly became one of my favorite new horror directors after his pitch perfect thriller, The Descent. And of course, there's Dog Soldier which practically all Neil Marshall fans adore. So, what does he do for his third movie?
  
  He mixes together a ton of different movies and creates a B-grade flick; as we all know about B-grade flicks, unless your name is "Tarantino" or "Rodriguez" (both directors, I enjoy, by the way), your movie automatically begins with a disadvantage. I don't really need to go into the plot (Scotland is a wasteland, there's cannibals and a tough-as-nails cliche...things die...people die...there's a couple car chases...credits roll), but what I will say is that I was absolutely and thoroughly entertained from the beginning to the end.
  
  The picture and sound quality far exceeded my expectations. The picture (1080p, of course) is presented flawlessly. Crisp details and terrific coloring melded together to show off the complete carnage that happens. Meanwhile, the audio is also pretty decent, but completely bombards you with sound. Overall a terrific package and one that will showcase your HDTV well.
  
  If you'll permit me, before I close this review, I wanted to share a little personal background. When I saw this movie, I was in an unfamiliar town with absolutely nothing to do and no one to hang out with because I was there for training. So, I did what any moviephile would and watched a lot of films in the theatre. Of all the films I saw during that two month period, this was probably the best and made me forget, for a little bit, that I missed home and my friends.
  
  So, it's probably understandable why I enjoyed this film so much. But, even without that little added information, when you look at it, Doomsday is action-packed, expertly filmed and crammed full of awesome set pieces and battles. And the finale was such an amalgam of everything that came before that you won't even think about how ridiculous the movie is until the credits are rolling. Is it perfect? No. Is it as worthy as The Descent or other similarly categorized horror films? Hell, no. It's not even completely original. But it was fun.
  
  And sometimes, that's just what you need.
  
  
• Doom, Gloom, and Zoom!
  By A3ROE64EVHDTTV on 2008-08-04
  The Good Things
  *Quite a few fun action scenes (I loved the ending car chase).
  *Some good special effects.
  *Loads of gnarly violence for those who like blood and guts.
  *Good filming style. Lots of good camera angles. Interesting colors, textures, and lighting.
  *Characters are not bad; pretty fun to watch.
  *Music score was great. Soundtrack is not bad.
  
  The Bad Things
  *Not for the sqeamish.
  *Not very original. The whole storyline is almost exactly like "Escape from New York," what with the wall surrounding Scotland, the one-eyed main character, and her quest to venture into an uncivilized place to get something out. The beginning reminded me a little bit of "Resident Evil Apocalypse." Parts in the middle and the end resembled the "Mad Max" movies a lot.
  
  The Questionable Things
  *Fast-cut filming for the action scenes can be seen as either intense or annoying.
  *It started off pretty good and serious, but became quite absurd as it went on (what with cars exploding for no real good reason, among other things).
  *Some weird ending.
  
  As I said above, this is what you get if you take "Escape from New York" and mash it up with "Mad Max," "Resident Evil," and perhaps the "28 Days Later" saga. Even though "Doomsday" is not very original, it is still a great deal of fun to watch, for it does have some great excitement, fun characters, and interesting photography. You can either sit back and enjoy, or become disgusted by the unoriginality, absurdity, and the gross violence. Personally, I would almost prefer this over "Escape from NY."
  
  The DVD has good video and sound quality, and includes both the rated and unrated versions of the film. I forget what special features are included, but there ought to be a few good tidbits.
  
  If this review has not been helpful, feel free to leave a comment and tell me how I can improve.
  
  
• Originality Under Quarantine
  By A18G7GG53G2X8A on 2008-03-15
  "Doomsday" is intriguing, I guess, but it doesn't really give us anything new as far as plot and genre are concerned. Everything from "Resident Evil" to "28 Days Later" to "I Am Legend" to "Escape from New York" to the "Mad Max" films are sampled to some degree, and this is annoying because "Doomsday" isn't a spoof or even a tribute. It's really just a rip off, and what's worse, it's a rip off that focuses more violence than on story. There's pretty much nothing to get out of it, save for a few fun moments of blood and gore. I'm not going to say that this is a bad film, because the idea it's founded on has been successfully done before. But I will say that it's unflatteringly unoriginal, meaning there's no need for you to pay for a ticket to see it. Trust me, you've seen it before.
  
  Here's the foundation of the plot: in the year 2008, a deadly infection called the Reaper Virus forced the British government to seal off Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom. (Other than the fact that the Reaper Virus leads to an outbreak of open sores on a person's face, I'm not exactly sure how it works. It's never explained.) By 2035, England is in social and political ruin, and what's worse, the Reaper Virus was not as contained as everyone thought; people in London are showing signs of infection after nearly thirty years of being disease free. Satellite photos reveal that not everyone in quarantined Scotland has died--if anything, that area is swarming with survivors, and according to a voiceover narration, they've been reduced to the behaviors of primal beasts. The most important among the survivors is Dr. Marcus Kane, a scientist who, if found, may be able to finish finding a cure for the Reaper Virus.
  
  This leads us to the film's actual plot: military officer Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) is assigned by Prime Minister John Hatcher (Alexander Siddig) to lead a task force into Scotland and find Kane. Everything seems straightforward enough, but as you know, something has to go wrong in order for the story to get interesting. While searching through a dilapidated hospital, Sinclair and her squad are attacked and taken prisoner by a band of crazed, murderous, punk-like cannibals. I know we've seen this before: characters whose years of isolation led to a new and completely warped sense of community. Anyway, the apparent leader of this band is Sol (Craig Conway), a loud, violent man who has no qualms about using Sinclair as a punching bag. He also doesn't seem to have a problem with roasting a living man over an open flame. Neither do the spectators, who cheer as they swarm up to the charred body and tear off slabs of flesh to eat.
  
  Using all her military training, Sinclair breaks free from her holding cell along with Cally (MyAnna Buring), a young woman claiming to be Kane's daughter. After a long-winded and bloody escape from Sol's compound, Cally explains that, although she can point the way to her father, she can't actually take Sinclair there. This is because, apparently, Kane is not the man he used to be. The audience discovers this soon enough; in a remote wooded area, an armored executioner rides in on a white horse, after which he takes everyone prisoner. We then finally meet the mysterious Marcus Kane (Malcom McDowell), now the cold-hearted leader of yet another band of Rage Virus survivors. Behind the walls of a remote, ancient castle, Kane is no longer interested in helping anyone--he's perfectly content staying where he is while keeping everyone else out. The fact that Sinclair crossed into Scotland is bad enough; now the British government actually wants him to save lives. This begs the question: Have Sinclair's actions all been for naught?
  
  This question may not be necessary, especially with scene after scene of bloodshed to keep the audience entertained. "Doomsday" relies so heavily on such scenes that pretty much everything else is secondary. Even a spur-of-the-moment car chase near the end of the film isn't as visually assaulting. It does come close, though; Sol and his posse have caught up with Sinclair at that point, meaning that more than a few people will lose their lives in the most violent of ways. But despite these unnecessary moments, the real problems of this film stem from a lack of originality. Everything I've described has been done before with varying degrees of success, so I'm at a loss to explain why it all had to be done again.
  
  And then there's Sinclair, whose back-story is painfully underdeveloped. The film begins in 2008 when she was only a toddler, no older than three: in an act of selflessness, her mother saw her off in a military helicopter along with an address written on an envelope. Not much is explained afterwards, which is bad since we suspect her behavior towards her friend, Bill Nelson (Bob Hoskins), is somehow related. I'm not entirely sure why they made an attempt at human drama in the first place. If a post-apocalyptic gore fest is what they wanted to make--and I suspect that they did--then they should have pushed the drama aside, opting instead for even more shots of decapitations and spurting blood. Then again, that probably wouldn't have made "Doomsday" any better. It certainly wouldn't have made it original, which is what I wanted from this film above all else. I also would have appreciated an ending that didn't go for the obvious sting of social commentary; it's been done far too many times, and by now, it's just plain ridiculous.
  
  
• Excellent Post-Apocalyptic Film
  By A3E68QNSCABRVW on 2008-03-24
  Say what you want about movies being unoriginal today, when it comes to "Doomsday" I don't particularly care. This type of movie has been rehashed many times, but I really thought this was a great movie and very well done! Regardless of the fact that I'm probably partially biased towards the Post Apocalyptic theme (one of my favorite story lines), I can't help but advocate this film. I think it was well done and had a pretty smart story-line. It drew from all the greatest elements it could to combine into one killer movie! However, in retrospect, and after conversing with another person, most moviegoers might see this as a three star film rather than four. Like I said above, I'm probably biased towards the story line and good action is good action.
  
  What we have here is an amalgamation of great films rolled into one. Picture if you will a Mad Max type of character put into Scotland, but Mad Max isn't played by a male character, he is played by the Jill Valentine character type found in "Resident Evil." Let's not also forget the obvious character influence from Snake Plisken found in the "Escape from New York" movie. Furthermore there is a major viral outbreak that borders on themes drawn from "28 Days Later" and "Resident Evil", but in this scenario it is more of a plague concept and people actually stay dead from this! I would say the primary influence came from the Mad Max series. The main character Eden Sinclair is a cop of sorts and she suffered a familial loss. It's definitely a Mad Max archetype if I ever saw one! But certain nuances like the eye patch come from Snake; however this element isn't in the movie enough to be overly distracting in its obvious nature. However, I loved the thought of a Jill Valentine playing in that role. Though, I would venture to say that Rhona Mitra drew more influence in actually acting like Alice (Mila Jovavich) from "Resident Evil" because she was pretty cold and uncaring in feel, though the character base feels more like Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) from the same film. Further, there are a huge amount of car chase scenes that are very "Road Warrior" in nature. The people that seem to live in some sort of run down tribal society were very reminiscent of "Beyond Thunderdome." Though, now that I think of it the gang seemed more like the crew Marek led in "No Escape." Thankfully Tina Turner did not show up as a cameo in this film, nor did Master Blaster show up to challenge our main character to a "two men enter, one man leaves" battle to the death scenario. No, this movie kept its premise to heart and loaded in the action sequences for us to really get behind the characters.
  
  Here's the general synopsis of the film, now that I've gone over the major influences. There was a major outbreak on the island where England and Scotland reside. There was no cure so the government had to adopt extreme measures. What they did was block off all of Scotland off from England and moved as many of the unaffected into England as possible. Like in "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" there was a situation at the gate where people started to attack and they closed the gate before everyone could leave. This is where it also takes on the "Escape from New York" concept. However, it's different than "Escape from New York" because the gating off of the land is not because of economic strife and general degeneration of society, but because of the virus. However, some of the adverse affects of gating are similar since it resulted in warring factions and gangs. Like "28 Days Later" the viral concept is very similar and rather than being called "Rage" it's called the "Reaper Virus." It's different than both "28 Days Later" and "Resident Evil" in the sense that it wasn't developed conspiratorially by the government and they lost control. Rather the background of this viral infection isn't touched upon, just that a plague appeared and it got out of control, this all happened in 2007. The year is now 2033 and it would appear their plan worked. Everyone assumes the population of Scotland has been wiped out, but Satellite coverage of the area shows people clearly are still alive there (this is a top secret satellite mind you). To make matters worse the Reaper Virus is back and in that time the population in England has exploded, society has degenerated due to that, and created an environment ripe for plague. Now the clock is ticking and the government needs to do something. The fact there are people living in Scotland indicates there is probably a cure. Eden Sinclaire is called in to lead a special team to extract that cure. The eminent virologist Kane was left behind the gate, it's up to her to try and find him!
  
  As you can see they went with the female action star concept of Alice from "Resident Evil", but as you've seen, I've drawn her character design more akin to Jill Valentine. She's kind of a combination of the two characters, now that I think about it. The world that was left behind the gate has become a shadow of itself and degenerated into a far more barbaric society. The first living people Eden and her team come across are the vagrants/punk rockers who have developed some sort of tribal styled society. There is the alpha male and his, naturally hot (in an, "I have tattoos on my face" kind of way), alpha female. I will say that I wasn't expecting the movie to be this brutal in scenes. It does get kind of gory, but not so much that you want to stop watching the film (for those who aren't into the gore thing). Rather they are quicker scenes that flash across the screen, but there isn't a large amount of gore in the film overall, definitely less than one percent. Probably on par with what you saw in "Silent Hill" (for those who've seen it). Anyway, I was expecting a better fight between our lead actress and the girl with her face tattooed, unfortunately we didn't get that. However, the final fight scene was highly original in my opinion and did make up for the lack of that major battle I was expecting between the two girls.
  
  The second group of people encountered are lead by Kane (Malcom McDowell), the man she was sent in to look for. Malcom McDowell did a superb in this role I thought and really added an intelligent, yet insane, feel to his character. Kane did an interesting thing and developed an entirely different society built on medieval concepts. This is actually foreshadowed in a final transmission from him when England and Scotland were still in contact all those years ago during the final stages of the plague. Kane and his people even held up in an old Scottish castle and wore period clothing and armor. They also used medieval weapons as their primary armament. I thought this was great and there is nothing funnier than seeing serious medieval people walking into a room that says "gift shop" on the outside. Not sure why they left those signs up from the old world, probably for humor value for the film makers and viewers. At this point I couldn't help but think this movie was influenced by the book "World War Z" by Max Brookes because of the use of the castle. Or perhaps we're seeing a sort of "Reign of Fire" influence in this film here as well. However, the way it was used was more akin to "World War Z", I think.
  
  There were very few areas that I had a major problem with in this film. One scene that kind of stood out was when the team first located the lab the viral research was originally being done in. When they got there they were attacked by the gang and to film the people running in the door and being shot, it seems it was filmed only once and then replayed when they wanted to have another round of people shot. I'm not entirely sure why they did this, because I couldn't help but think by the time they replayed that scene a bunch the attackers would have been stumbling over the dead bodies. It's cleverly spliced between scenes of the team being flanked and the team covering the front of their position. So it's not overly noticeable. The other area that was sort of out there was when Eden managed to find a high performance vehicle. No, finding it wasn't an issue for me, it was that when she was being chased by these other run down vehicles they somehow kept up quite well. Eden's care should've been easily outperforming these other basic vehicles that were chasing her. My girlfriend and I agreed that just about all car commercials should be filmed in this manner now. The gang from a dead society chasing the driver around the roads of a dead country... perfect car commercial!
  
  At any rate, it's been a lengthy analysis, but surely enjoyable. I think any fan of action would enjoy this movie, and surely if you've seen the other movies I've referenced in this review. People that love the Post Apocalyptic scenarios would find great merit in seeing this movie. I actually thought the acting was pretty well done overall. The only character that felt slightly out of place was Bob Hoskins as Bill Nelson. I found it hard to believe his character would be rubbing elbows with parliament, but I did enjoy his presence in the film for sure. Did anyone else recognize the Prime Minister? Alexander Siddig played Hamri Al-Assasd in season six of 24 most recently. Clearly he's had a bit of an elevation from being ex-terrorist to being prime minister and we can't forget him as the kindly Saracen from "Kingdom of Heaven." It was an interesting sequence of roles for him. The main character played by Rhona Mitra, I must say, was not really on my radar. I looked up her profile on imdb and I haven't really seen anything she was in, but this seems to be one of her first roles as an action star. I thought she did an excellent job in portraying her character that is based on so many others.
  
  I'm not going to give away anymore of the plot. It certainly met my expectations and kept me in my seat wanting more. The only thing I'm hoping for now is that it doesn't get ruined with a sequel. I seriously loved the ending of the movie, it was so different from many of the others, but typical for a Mad Max archetype (sort of). Part of me wants them to leave the movie as is and let it stand on it's own as a great film, but another part of me wants to see more to find out what else happens in that world. I'm only going to give this four stars mainly because it's not a hundred percent original, but I think it is definitely worth checking out.
  
  
• Very Cool
  By A1DDX850PMZS3X on 2008-07-27
  If you like movies along the llnes of Planet Terror, Dusk til Dawn, and other action packed gory flicks. Then this is for you, if you dont then stick to your Disney collection. The action is superb very well choreographed. I highly recommend of course if gore is your cup of tea.
  
  
• One of my Faves of the year
  By A1MSCKUE88L3CS on 2008-07-30
  A lot of people don't seem to get Doomsday. It delivers on everything it promises and is a great homage to 80's post apocalyptic movies, I had fun trying to work out the more obscure ones. If you like Mad Max 2, Planet of the Apes, Omega Man, Escape from New York, Dawn of the Dead or even I am Legend (to which this movie is infinately superior to) this movie is a trip. A non-stop action fest that had me gripped and laughing through out. So for those who fondly remember The New Barbarians of Salut of the Jugger get this movie now!
  
  
• You Must Be This Tall To Ride Doomsday!
  By A3L8FVRU874GD on 2008-07-31
  This really is an excellent rollecoaster ride. Take out your brain and set it aside for a couple hours. Sometimes its nice to be simply entertained and not have to think. This is one of those times. Great Sexy action flick with beautiful sound and picture quality. A nice reference disk to show your friends who are still watching Full Screen Star Wars on VHS Tapes. I give the movie four stars. Five stars if you include the impressive PQ and SQ. Shades of Escape from New York and The Road Worrior are impossible not to notice. Not the best movie you will ever see, but far from the worst and a lot of fun along the way.
  
  
• As dumb as they come: a total waste of time.
  By A1PL8JA0TEHBVN on 2008-08-06
  The first 10 minutes of this film are the best.
  
  Then it becomes a HUGE, loud, moronic and overblown ripoff of several other movies.
  
  Synopsis: ok, there is this hot bimbo who's also a top soldier who's sent into Scotland to rescue someone you don't care to know in order for the corrupt government to find the cure for the plague-like disease that wiped the UK as we know it. But upon arrival in Scotland the bimbo's team finds an army of "elite" street punks (looking like it they were in 1979) who manage to wipe them out using just improvised axes, knives and etc.
  
  THEN... after some usual torture, the bimbo-soldier and her friends manage to escape while the punks from 1978 party the night away at the sound of Fine Young Cannibals (the band) and some vaudeville acts. Oh, did I mention that the punks are also cannibals? How symbolically subtle!!
  
  THEN... after running though the woods, our binbo-soldier and her friends are captured by some sort of horse-riding post-apocalyptic-medieval knights wearing plate armour and swords, who live in a big castle whose stained glass windows show Biohazard symbols. In order to escape, our bimbo-soldier has to fight the biggest, meanest man. She wins and the group escapes.
  
  THEN... while being pursued, SURPRISE!!!! ...they bump into a underground facility where they find a BEAUTIFUL, new, shiny Bentley Continental GT begging to be used. What happens next is the obvious: the film transforms itself into a Bentley TV commercial and a The Road Warrior ripoff as the post-apocalyptic-punks from 1978 go after the binbo, her friends and her Bentley. But there's something very strange I could not understand: a Bentley Continental GT has a top speed of 195mph... but here it can barely go over 65mph and escape from the old 1970's Vauxhalls and Bedfords the punks drive.
  
  But it's ok... the bimbo saves the day and her beautiful Bentley when they fly in the air among flames after a head-collision with a bus. The bus gets blown as the Bentley rides away in the sunset. Beautiful!
  
  And then it ends: the cure is found, the corrupt government is exposed by some means we see on the first scene of the film... and the bimbo soldier goes to the punks and gets hailed as the new queen.
  
  So... if this is not ridiculous, then it must be a great comedy because I laughed the entire film. Thank God I did not have to pay to see this.
  
  
• "Whoever they send here - we're gonna catch 'em, we're gonna cook 'em, and we're gonna eat 'em!"
  By A2HVL790PBWYTU on 2008-08-11
  Do we really need one more resolute and ballsy action heroine? I guess we do. Rhona Mitra plays Major Eden Sinclair, a lethal, no-nonsense soldier who leads a tiny task force into the teeth of hell. And she's pretty, too. For a one-eyed girl. DOOMSDAY is yet another post-apocalyptic adventure thriller, and it was good enough that I couldn't help but wallow in its grit and cheese and many tributes to cult cinema.
  
  The plot: When a devastating epidemic sweeps thru the city of Glasgow, the sole recourse is to seal off Scotland's boundaries from the rest of the world, with Scotland's infected populace thus isolated and left to die. Years pass, and the blighted place comes to be known as No Man's Land.
  
  Cut now to the year 2035, and, in the struggling city of London, the frightening Reaper virus shockingly resurfaces. There is one hope. It seems that, for the past thirty years, remote reconnaisance has been maintained on Glasgow. Recent photos reveal there to be scattered survivors in the decimated No Man's Land, so giving hope that a cure may exist. A small military squad is tasked with infiltrating Glasgow and bringing back this cure, and they have to do this in forty-eight hours.
  
  The photos didn't lie. There are survivors in the quarantined zone. They're friggin' cannibals...
  
  There are moments in this film when you're reminded of Mad Max or Escape to New York or Aliens or 28 Days Later. And it's fairly clear that the eyepatch-wearing Eden Sinclair is a wink at Snake Plissken. Me, I enjoyed the shlock elements. If you've seen any of the above-mentioned films, then you'll get that twinge of deja-vu as you lay eyes on the visuals depicting a city in decay, the urban-punk flesh-eating marauders sporting makeshift Road Warrior-type regalia, and APCs trundling thru a ravaged environment. So, no, DOOMSDAY doesn't pretend to be an original work. It does, however, strive to be entertaining, and achieves this goal with some good success.
  
  I've said this before, there's nothing like a robust British cast to lend weight to even the silliest of plots. Malcolm McDowell, Bob Hoskins, Alexander Siddig, and gravel-voiced David O'Hara all help to make the campy and predictable storyline easier to swallow. And writer/director Neil Marshall isn't stingy with the action bits. Rhona Mitra, not only a stunning beauty but in fantastic shape, dispenses plenty of crunching beat downs on depraved rogues what tried to mess with this lady. Mitra's Major Sinclair definitely leaves an impression. Plus, I kinda dig her nifty fake eyeball, which comes with bonus features.
  
  Hang on, though. In a story mishmashed with bizarre elements, what falls flat is the lowrent medieval arc. Still, in that sequence, Sinclair manages to take on a giant armored gladiator, so that's something. Earlier, we find that these folks in the castle were at war with the urban cannibals, and yet we never get to see this aspect play out. So, no combat staged between these two factions. To me, this is a small bone to pick, but I would've liked to have seen something so odd and culture clashy.
  
  There should be enough gristle and bloody mess and decapitations here to sate the common gorehound. And as long as you realize that you're not supposed to take this film all that seriously, you'll enjoy this. There's a decided tongue-in-cheek flair to DOOMSDAY, what with all the blatant homages to John Carpenter and George Miller, what with the casualties numbering a collided-with cow and an exploded bunny, as well as the mohawked head cannibal entering the stage to Fine Young Cannibals' "Good Thing." Yeah, I dig it.
  
  
• A Bad Eighties Movie...
  By A1TX584E5MJVMR on 2008-09-06
  ...Today! Although this is close to having potential...it sucks.
  It has the special effects from the eighties, the idiosyncrasies of old genre movies like THE ROAD WARRIOR, and a pretty good cast. But, it sucks. I wanted to like this movie, but...it sucks.
  
  
• We are doomed....
  By A1E11HKN4IRY09 on 2008-09-08
  ...as an entertainment seeking populace. Ugh. I apologize if I offend the viewers that found the cliches in this film to remind them of the heyday of the post apocalyptic action pic, but I have to digress regarding the vapid, silly proceedings other wise known as DOOMSDAY. Okay, when I speak of the 'heyday', I do include all of the obvious as mentioned before classics (ROAD WARRIOR, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, etc.), but also some other low budget greats as DAMNATION ALLEY, A BOY AND HIS DOG, or even LOGAN"S RUN. Now, borrowing from all these ideas is not all bad. Somehow though, NEIL MARSHALL re-tooled all of these ideas into one big ball of nonsense. The flick just careens into the next cliche without a bit of panache. When the knights on horseback show up I was just about to throw in the towel after many groan inducing scenes of uninspired carnage (I did write 'uninspired', carnage is great if done with verve ala MARSHALL's fantastic DOG SOLDIERS), but lo, if I had given up I would have missed the next bit - a souped up Bently driving over said knights. Wow, it is as bad as it sounds. I for one am also tired of peeking into a future where many of the denizens are sporting mowhawks. The star I give the movie is for an interesting plot point pertaining to RHONA MITRA's fake robotic eye. A cool gadget that alas is given up on in the third act. My expectations were none too high about DOOMSDAY, and as I watched, I needed to keep reminding myself that the end is (hopefully) nigh.
  
  
• Can't Believe the Man Who Made "The Descent" Also Made This
  By ARMVAHWQQ9S8A on 2008-10-06
  What is it with good directors making really bad post-apocalyptic movies? The brilliant Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly let fans down with his 2007 stinker Southland Tales, and now the genius behind The Descent, Neil Marshall, delivers an even worse film than the aforementioned "Southland Tales." Honestly, I can't think of any way the movie could have been worse. Let's break it down.
  
  In short, this movie is the opposite of everything I praised him for in "The Descent." That movie subverted the horror genre, using gore only to further the psychological, claustrophobic angle of the movie. It had strong, fully fleshed out female characters that weren't stereotypes or simple femme-fatales. It had a solid, dark, emotional, and character driven story that so many horror films lack. Well, sadly enough, his next film--"Doomsday"--is one of those lacking movies. It's simply a violent, mindless testosterone fest of blood, brains, and chicks. It thrives on gore. Rabbits explode, cows get ran over, people get cooked and ripped apart, and die in pretty much every way you can imagine. Little of it was essential to the plot, and absolutely none of the gory details needed to be shown on screen. Neil Marshall went from knowing what to show and what not to show to establish the horror, but he seemed to take a lesson from Eli Roth and throw all sensible film making out the window for a blood 'n' guts party.
  
  If you were impressed by the intelligently written and truly scary "The Descent" and want to check out the rest of Neil Marshall films, just know that you won't get more of the same in "Doomsday." This is not a smart film. It's your stereotypical action flick with a liberal amount of torture porn thrown in. And even with all of the mindless, artless gore? It still manages to be mind-numbingly boring. And that is truly a feat.
  
  0/10
  
  

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