Doomsday: El día del juicio

If you enjoyed 28 Days Later, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and Gladiator, this might be the film for you. Writer and Director Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent) an obvious student of genre movies, has managed to smoothly craft together a cinematic Frankenstein's monster of sci-fi action clichés. Gratuitous blood geysers? Check. Insane, post-apocalyptic punks? Check. Buff, beautiful, uber-bad-ass heroine that can kill without a moment's hesitation but still possesses superior morals to those that command her? Check. Ego-maniacal bad guy played by Malcolm McDowell? Check. Ticking clock to doomsday? Check. Marshall has skillfully engineered what is truly an homage to the genre movie and an action buffet for moviegoers with appropriate kitsch and over-the-topness without lowering himself to the realm of spoof. If you're looking for high cinema don't look here, but if you're looking for excitement, humor and an overall really good time, Doomsday will certainly fit the bill.

I recently rewatched the UK 🇬🇧 picture Doomsday (2008) on Tubi. The storyline unfolds in Scotland, quarantined due to a deadly virus outbreak, resulting in a world of violence and cannibalism. As a similar virus emerges in London 30 years later, evidence suggests the cure lies in Scotland, leading to a team sent to retrieve it at any cost.

Written and directed by Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers), the film stars Rhona Mitra (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans), Bob Hoskins (Danny the Dog), Vernon Willemse (Mad Max: Fury Road), and Alexander Siddig (21 Bridges).

While always a fun watch, the movie falls short in terms of overall execution. The plot combines elements of Mad Max, Death Race 2000, and Medieval Times, with a puzzling castle 🏰 and renaissance ending. However, the kill scenes shine with excellent gore, blood splatter, and exploding heads. The soundtrack, is very good, but falters at the end by using the same song as "28 Days Later," making the conclusion feel cheesy and somewhat of a ripoff.

In conclusion, Doomsday is a must-see for action genre enthusiasts and apocalypse fans. I'd rate it 6/10 and strongly recommend it.

It's "Escape From New York" meets "The Road Warrior" by way of "28 Days Later" in "Doomsday". Director Neil Marshall's ("The Descent") post-apocalyptic homage to the above mentioned (and more) plays it pretty fast and loose with plot and logic, never once slowing down for character-building as it jumps from one wild set piece to another. It's a film that seemingly has no attention span, never feels terribly cohesive, and yet never fails to entertain.

It's the year 2035 and a virus has all but decimated Scotland. In an attempt to contain and control the virus, the government builds a wall separating the ravaged country from the rest of Britain. Presumably, they made Scotland's ravaged population pay for the wall themselves. Enter hardened officer Eden Sinclair, as played by Rhona Mitra. Part Sarah Connor, part Snake Plissken, Sinclair (and her faceless team) is tasked with re-entering the ravaged region to hunt down a possible cure for the virus. Along the way, she matches wits with the locals who include but are not limited to a group of "Mad Max" rejects and a game Malcolm McDowell (who also provides the film's lengthy expository narration). Butts are kicked and blood is shed, to say the least.

Marshall knows what kind of film he is making and he also knows you've seen this film a hundred times before. Appropriately, he takes glee in his film's excess, going full Paul Verhoeven at times in embracing over-the-top gore and laugh-out-loud ultra-violence. This is a film made for the genre fan whose bread is buttered by '80s action, sci- fi and horror. It's pure homage of the highest order; a grindhouse- esque onslaught of tackiness and titillating tension. "Doomsday" never quite rises above its source material, and that's OK. As far as mindless, late-night entertainment goes, few modern films get the formula down as well as this glorious cheesefest does.

A lethal virus has hit the UK (we just can't get a break, can we?) and the Government has taken the drastic measures of quarantining the infected by shutting off Scotland and part of the North of England and simply leaving it to die. In terms of those outside of the quarantine zone the measures are successful – or at least it appears this way for several decades, until the virus again manifests itself in a major city. With evidence of survivors inside the quarantine zone, the authorities realise that some form of cure must have been found and dispatch a military unit led by Major Eden Sinclair, to retrieve it.

I can totally understand the bad reviews for this film and why generally it was not that well received but I think a lot of professional critics forgot that all Neil Marshall was doing was what plenty of Hollywood blockbusters have been doing for quite some time – eschewing logic in favour of pace, action and spectacle. This is what Doomsday essentially comes down to – a hope that the film will be sufficiently action-packed and entertaining that the majority of viewers will overlook or simply not care about the sheer disregard for logic or content. Those that like this film will generally have been won over by this approach, while those that do not will no doubt pick the film up for the very things that it deliberately omits as part of this gamble. This is not me praising or the attacking the film - this is just me observing it for what it seems to be.

It certainly is not a sci-fi rooted in reality, even if that is what the rather dry and serious opening section suggests it is going to be. It doesn't suddenly become something different though, it is a gradual drift into action silliness that starts with moments like Aliens, crosses into Mad Max 2, then into a world of swords and castles then finally into Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome. The uneven tone is a problem and it does make for a strange film that never seems sure of what it is or what it is trying to do. The main thing it appears to be going for is sheer entertainment value and, in this regard, Marshall gets close to his target but just not close enough. At times it is wonderfully silly with great action sequences that throw everything at the screen except logic. These scenes do entertain and do prevent one worrying too much about the logic of a Bentley flying down a highway in a Scottish wasteland (for example) but the film generally doesn't manage to do this across the entire film.

The swords/castle section is part of this problem, as this feels too dry and out of place to really work. Another factor is the violence. OK, I'm not a gore fan at the best of times but I'm not totally against it either. Here there are plenty of gory effects but they do rather detract from the entertainment value of the film by being a bit off-putting in just how graphic and frequent they are. This aspect is also part of the product that contributes to the uneven tone and content. The cast also struggle a little with the uneven tone but mostly they do good work – albeit fairing best when the film gets into "balls-out action" stuff in the latter stages. Mitra deserves a lot of credit for her turn and it is a shame that Doomsday will not boost her career as much as she deserves. It is not that she delivers a great character, but that, as an action heroine she does all that is required by being sexy, strong, dark, fearless and attractive, and in doing it she drives the film and makes it work in a way that it may not have done without her. Alongside her the rest of the cast do not have as much to offer but are all OK. Hoskins, Lester, O'Hara, Pertwee, McDowell and others all do what is required of them – good enough but not great.

Doomsday is a strange film, which wears the reasons for its relative failure all over its running time. It is uneven, illogical and rather silly, with Marshall's gamble just not paying off sufficiently. Having said that though, the film does at times hit the spot with large action sequences and great pace/energy/style and there is enough to entertain if you are in the mood and willing to forgive it its weaknesses.

OK, I'm not claiming its good but it is serious fun. It is basically a mix of the Mad Max films in Scotland but also throw in some scenes from 28 Days Later, Resident Evil, LOTR and Braveheart.

If you can imagine that then you'll have a pretty good idea what to expect - no, I didn't think you could.

It does just massively rip off all the above but as I said, I'm not claiming its good, just a lot of fun.

Added bonus is the great music choices which just add to the fun - "Good Tning" by FYC when the main lunatic introduces himself to the crowd and "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes To Hollywood for the big car chase.

Not gonna win an Oscar but a hell of a ride.