This film was quite possibly the single most crushing and disappointing cinematic experiences of my life.

I mean....

One of my favourite directors: Check
My favourite genre (Apocalypse): Check

Expected end result = film better then hot steamy sex with Rhona Mitra and Michelle Tracthenburg

Real End result = Failure of will to live and an enema with a rolled up copy of the Wall Street Journal

I mean its not terrible, but my lust of this film was so large it never stood a chance. for one it stuck its hands in 20 different candy jars while never waiting long enough to taste any of them. One minute its Mad Max, next minute its Riddley Walker via 80s soundtrack, and then on to Evil Dead 3 mixed with a bastardized Escape from New York. That would be great...............if the film spent more then 5 minutes at them!! Instead you get the cinematic equivalent of motion sickness.

However the worse truth I brought out of this was if given a choice of watching Doomsday or Damnation Alley again I'd go with Damnation.

Sadness on multiple levels.

Loved it. It was totally crazy and I had a blast. Rhona Mithra kicks ass!

A-

This is one of my new favorite bad movies ever. It has no idea what it wants to be and it doesn't care! I had no clue what was going on, had no clue what any of the characters were supposed to be, and realized how bad some of the acting was, and I didn't care. Saul is the best character because of how over-the-top insane and funny he is. Malcolm McDowell coming out of nowhere was funny for some odd reason. Saul's girlfriend getting the arrow in the head, after she had already had her head chopped off, comedic gold. And then there's like medieval stuff going on. I had no clue it made no sense. It's in the pantheon of my favorite bad movies (joining The Marine near the top) and is the first time I'm sounding like Bradley in saying this could become a cult classic in the future.

- B+

P.S. Favorite scene in the movie had to be when Saul doesn't catch whatever her name jumping on the train and does his best over-acting while screaming, "NO!!!" and then proceeding to punch one of his own men in the face off the train platform. CLASSIC!

Ok, I watched the first 45 minutes and I just can't take anymore. This movie is fucking TERRIBLE and not even remotely entertaining. I couldn't care less about anything that was going on. I honestly didn't understand what was going on a lot of the time. But maybe it's just because I didn't care. It's too bad because it seemed entertaining, but I can't see this movie getting any better.

The last half hour is easily the best part. Pretty much nonstop action and cool car chases.

Probably the worst film of the year.

You would think...

Hot chick + 28 Days Later + Thunderdome + Timeline (?) + Malcolm McDowell + End of the world destruction would be at least entertaining...

...you'd however be incorrect.

Solid F.

Easily in the top 10 Worst Films of All Time.



F

To paraphrase Montgomery Burns: "Release the haters!"

Perfect review. At least someone knows what they're talking about.

It's supposed to be a homage or a pastiche of all these other films, but it jumps around so much that it hardly matters. Nothing is stitched together, everything is totally random. It goes from 28 Days Later to Mad Max to Escape from New York to Army of Darkness with nary a segue, plus it throws in half-baked references to every sci-fi film between Logan's Run and Children of Men. And it's boring to boot. The action scenes are not thrilling nor particularly interesting, the backstory is incredibly derivative, and the characters fail to make much of an impression. I give it style points, and it's clear it is referencing these films, not ripping them off, but it's just executed so terribly that it's not worth watching. Major disappointment.

I watched this today (second time too) and I enjoyed it more on the repeat viewing. First time, I agreed with the consensus that said it was terrible. But there's something likable about the effort put into it. It's so random in spots, as trix said, and I'm not certain if Neil Marshall was going for an homage flick or a serious movie with liberal borrowing from other movies and genres, but I liked it. It's not perfect, nor could I recommend it with a good heart because it deserves the right audience. Most will (and do) hate it. But there are too many good moments not to like it.

**1/2 / ****

Doomsday

From the director of Dog Soldiers, although you'd never be able to tell, comes a science fiction horror-thriller about a quarantined Scotland.

You know the movie is going to be shit when it starts off so fast, badly edited and with a girl getting shot in the eye and not even making a sound in pain. The badly edited, erratic fight sequences actually carried through until the end. The whole film makes no sense. Where did the survivors get food, water, petrol, and gas? They obviously ate for the 20 or so years they have been enclosed, and they've drank too. I saw motorbikes being used, so they need petrol, and they burned Sean Pertwee alive so they must have had gas.

During that Pertwee-feast scene, they played music from 28 Days Later, which was uncool. I don't mind borrowing from other movies, but from your direct competition? Bad move, and makes you look sad. I think Rhona Mitra wasn't a bad actress, but I suspect she was only chosen because of her similarity to Kate Beckinsale, and they obviously wanted to promote her as the new Selene.

There were similarities with Mad Max 2: Road Warrior, but with Doomsday there was nothing original, and much of it was just playing out action-horror cliches, especially the dialogue. Mitra took her role seriously, and that was probably the best thing about it. Most of it was shit. It certainly got better in the daylight. I really hate those night time horror-action-thrillers, they are just all the same. Bob Hoskins and Malcolm MacDowell feature in smaller roles, but they are pretty uninspired actors in a terrible movie.

Marshall has just never been able to live up to his Dog Soldiers brilliance. The Descent, this, and Centurion are all badly made movies that just don't work. In more capable hands, the stories could have worked. It seems that instead of making exciting movies, Marshall is revelling in his Splat Pack membership, and now favours blood and gore over style and substance. Doomsday is just uninteresting, and it never allows the viewer to get into their world and/or care about any of the characters. Some directors, I guess, are just better suited to lower budgets, Neil Marshall is one of them.

If you want to make action movies, you've got to be prepared to smash up a Bentley, and Marshall just wasn't prepared to do that, instead trying to fool us with window clings and dust marks. Oh, and the gimp was crazy. Why would there be a gimp there?

F

This didn't hold up very well on repeat viewings.

What grade would you give it now?

About a C- or worse. Enjoyed it much less on repeat viewings.

Wow. That's quite the drop.