Doomsday

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 April 2008, and a sudden viral outbreak has hit Scotland hard. To contain the deadly bug (dubbed the Reaper Virus), the British government works quickly to build a containment wall around the afflicted country. The possibility of the disease spreading to the rest of the world appears to have been effectively stopped in it's tracks. Fast forward 30 years and the virus has reappeared, this time in London. Satellite monitoring has picked up images of apparent survivors in the hot zone, which leads the government to suspect the potential for a cure. Desperate to put an end to the reborn plague, the Brits send a team of soldiers into the walled off country in the hopes that they can find the cure that may not even exist.

The third feature film from British filmmaker Neil Marshall. I thought this was a fun time at the movies, but don't expect anything new here. Doomsday is a pure love letter to Escape From New York and the Italian post-nuke films of the 80's. There are homages all over this thing, and I would like to think that I caught most of them. Hell, even Nightmare City seemingly gets a nod with the look and behavior of the infected. Watch the scene where one of the infected axes his way into Hatcher's compound and see if Lenzi's trash classic doesn't come to mind. Marshall knew what he wanted to do with this film, and he does just that. I have to admit, it was somewhat surreal watching such a film on the big screen, particularly the extended Sol/feast scene, which gets pretty nutty.

Rhona Mitra plays the team leader of the squad sent into the hot zone. She's a gorgeous woman with a killer accent, but she also comes through as a believable action star. I've long been a fan of her's, so it's nice seeing her get a role like this. Craig Conway is warped as the over-the-top Sol, but he lacks menace. He did get me to hate him, but that had more to do with the fact that I found him annoying. The considerable talents of Malcolm McDowell, Bob Hoskins and Alexander Siddig provide solid support despite what little they have to work with.

My biggest gripe with the film is the wall to wall use of music. It seems like there's never a scene that doesn't have some form of music blaring, and that becomes tiresome. A little more subtlety in that area would have been most appreciated. Also, some of the scene transitions feel awkward, and the film itself feels quite rushed. We don't get much down time or quiet moments, it's all very busy.

Still, I must admit that it's decent fun. Original? No. Flawed? You bet. That aside, if you have a certain affinity for this brand of entertainment, you should eat it up. And for the record, I'll take this one over The Descent any day. Mitra puts the wannabe badasses in that clunker to shame.

Like Greg Mclean, director of "Wolf Creek" and another great white hope for the horror genre, Neil Marshall followed a very promising horror flick with a deliberately trashy project. Where Mclean directed his attention to a murderous crocodile, Marshall took a bow to two of his favorite movies, "Escape From New York" and "Mad Max". "Doomsday" is not just influenced by those two movies, it's practically a mash-up with the female heroine from "Underworld" thrown-in. So, the first thing you should forget about when you pop in this movie is originality. Marshall makes no excuses for paying homage to his heroes George Miller and John Carpenter (hell, he even named two characters in this movie after them).

Like "Escape From New York" and "Mad Max", "Doomsday" demands a lot of suspension of disbelief to be enjoyable. However, maybe sci-fi flicks could get away with more stupidity in the 80's or maybe Marshall's movie is just extra dumb. Sometimes it seems like the director wasn't even trying to fill plot holes or avoid laughable action scenes. If you're looking out for mistakes in "Doomsday", you'll find plenty to complain about.

So, no, this isn't the high profile follow up one would have wished for after the dense, claustrophobic "The Descent". On the other hand, "Doomsday" doesn't fail to entertain. It's fast paced and charmingly old fashioned. Who else dares to come up with a post-apocalyptic world in which punks and knights rule the country in this day and age? Marshall's love for the project is somehow transmitted to the viewer and actually gives you a very pleasant feeling.

If you're able and willing to turn off your brain, "Doomsday" can be a very entertaining, old-fashioned action movie. It may not be a masterpiece or even a good movie, but it can definitely be seen as a fun little interlude by a director that must not be written off just yet.

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.

This thunderous picture begins in Great Britain, 2007 . A deadly virus spreads causing hundreds of thousands infecting . The government evacuates people and builds an impregnable wall along with the Wall of Adriano, impeding the access . London, 2035 recent time, the reaper virus breaks out again. Then , various authorities, P.M (Alexander Siddig) and Canaris(David O'Hara)decide to send a specialists team. Nelson(Bob Hoskins) assigns the dangerous mission to Major Eden (Rhona Mitra). She along with a crack group (Adrian Lester, Sean Petwee, among others)are urgently dispatched into quarantined Scotland to meet Doctor Kane (Malcolm McDowell)who allegedly has a cure. In the near-future Glascow city, they'll have to fight against cutthroats, a band of depraved crazies thirsty for blood and survive some battles to-the-death.

This exciting movie is packed with noisy action, unbelievable car stunts, tension, thrills, chills, and lots of blood and gore, including throating-slit ,beheading, impaling and cannibalism. The story is a blend of classic Sci-Fi movies as ¨Escape from N.Y.¨, ¨27 Days/Weeks later¨ and of course ¨Mad Max¨, taking parts here and there. Thrilling musical score fitting to action by Tyler Bates. Colorful cinematography reflecting splendidly the Scotland outdoors in which resides the Doctor Kane and where he has built a medieval world. The motion picture is well directed by Neal Marshall (Descent, Dog soldiers) but with no originally because he has copied previous films. This remarkable action film appeal to science fiction buffs