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Doomsday (2008)

Time Out rating

Average user rating

2 reviews

Synopsis

Rhona Mitra and Bob Hoskins star as elite scientists sent to find a cure to a lethal virus which has ravaged the population of Scotland. Along the way, they deal with desperados, scoundrels and a menacing, Lear-like feudal lord played by Malcolm McDowell.

Movie review

From Time Out London

The Mohawk-sporting villain of Neil Marshall’s futuristic action movie drives a Frankenstein car cobbled together from spare parts, decorated with human skulls and flayed skin. Marshall, likewise, lashes together elements from ’80s post-apocalyptic movies such as ‘Mad Max’ and ‘Escape from New York’ to create a supercharged monster of a movie. Parts cannibalised from other movies are bolted on with less success, but Marshall’s adrenalin-fuelled skill and enthusiasm propel the action forward with reckless abandon.

Twenty-five years after the Reaper virus prompted the quarantining of Scotland behind a modern-day Hadrian’s Wall, the disease resurfaces in London. The only hope for an antidote lies with a group of survivors found north of the border. At the behest of the government and her fatherly mentor, Department of Domestic Security chief Bill Nelson (Bob Hoskins), Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) and her crack team of soldiers are dispatched to bring back the cure.

Behind the wall, they find Glasgow presided over by post-punk impresario Sol (Craig Conway) and his tattooed tribe of Marauders; but after escaping through a hillside tunnel, they emerge into a medieval world ruled over by castle-dwelling tyrant king Kane (Malcolm McDowell). With Rhona Mitra’s cold-blooded heroine front and centre, the tense group dynamics and ensemble acting that served Marshall so well in ‘Dog Soldiers’ and ‘The Descent’ are less evident.

Still, the violent fight scenes, explosive set-pieces and retro-future settings fire the imagination. Appropriately, given its throwback pedigree, ‘Doomsday’ culminates in a car chase, accompanied by Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s apt ‘Two Tribes’.

Author: Nigel Floyd

Time Out London Issue 1968, May 8-14, 2008

User reviews of this film

james said...

Posted on May 12 2008 07:29 i agree with the other review, for a science fiction moive it was ridicules, the car chase at the end its stupid. the gangs of people from both cities just appear in places for no reason other than a lazy script. and they keep saying though out the film about noone being alive and there been no contact with the outside world, however the main character uses a mobile phone to get in contact with someone in london. which goes against the hole story...basically don't see this film save your money....

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fueler said...

Posted on May 10 2008 22:45 I'm in overall agreement with the previous post. The film simply jumps between ideas or indeed completed scenes that could almost have been cut direcfly out of other films. I'd mention Doppelganger, Mad Max 3, MP holy Grail, Mad Max 2 and I'm sure I kept on thinking back to Hawk the Slayer half way through.
Ms Mitra does her best given the script, messrs Hoskins and McDowell lend some much needed screen presence though, as may be imagined, they are not there for long.
As has already been pointed out there are some terrible logical inconsistencies, neither tribe could find the army dump? The bentley is out accelerated by a Moggy thou and a plumber's van (fear of speed cameras perhaps?).
At the end, when Mitra returns to Glasgow It dawned on me as to what had been missing all the way along. Where were the numeric scores at the bottom of the screen? Just think of it as a series of levels in a video game where you cannot affect the obvious outcome.

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boydie said...

Posted on May 09 2008 19:08 starts off with a promising story with room to develope into something special but as every scene enfolds you cringe, roll your eyes and wonder at what the point is! although it is a science fiction movie it is SO unrealistic, in a lot of areas, one being a car chase with a bentley continental gt being kept up with by trikes, motorcross bikes and ramshackle banger racing type cars! the bentley nearly goes 200 miles an hour for gods sake! pointless plot, badly done

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