The best way that I can describe this film is that its very random. By random I mean that it doesn't really know what kind of film it wants to be. Does it want to be 28 Days Later? or Road Warrior? or Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome? or Escape from New York? or some medieval nightmare? or some weird, twisted, contorted mess of all the above? Who knows? Parts of this really worked for the ultra cheeseyness factor while other parts failed miserably and as of right now I'm torn as to whether I liked it or not. For the most part it entertained me, which is what I look for in a movie, so I'm giving this a ? for now.

Grade ??

Me liking!

Doomsday is B-movielicious - - trashaction done right!

It reminds me of when I saw Mad Max and Highlander for the first time back in the day. I knew they tweren't high art, but they resonated into the future nonetheless, bearing sequels aplenty all due to their noble story-driven lineage.

Neil Marshall carries his directorial prowess forward from the awesomely dark and story-driven thriller The Descent into this macabre view of mankind's forthcoming destiny.

It's Return to the Planet of the Homo Sapiens for gawdsakes!!!

...and I know, some of you are going to instinctually crap on this movie because the lead is a female - - I've seen it before with Aeon Flux and Ultraviolet in the sci-fi/action realm as well as with Catwoman and Basic Instinct 2. But for those that can groove on Rhona Mitra's kick-ass ice queen portrayal of Eden Sinclair, I can guarantee you there will be sequels aplenty as our comfortable familiar world deteriorates into the viral plague world of 2035 depicted herein.

Hold your breath, tighten your N-95, and dive into the future with Doomsday 1...

8 out of 5.

using flux, ultraviolet, catwomen and basic instinct 2 doesnt help your case.

Very instinctual response. Thanx!

Enjoyably over-the-top action film that mixes horror and action, futuristic and medieval(!).

Bradley's assertion that people hated Catwoman and Basic Instinct 2 because the lead was female always makes me laugh.

...especially when you consider that BI2's lead character is a guy.

Heh. That's funny!



(At least I hope you were joking...)



{Edit: So as to not clutter up the Doomsday thread any further (though perhaps in a way the clutter does salute Doomsday's manic B-movie jumbledom!), I'm going to respond up here to Dark Shape's later assertion in this thread that apparently he wasn't joking after all...

To say that Catherine Tramell is not the lead character of BI2 is simply preposterous. All other characters are merely flies caught in her elaborate webs of deceit. I realize Dak Shape was trying to score some kind of insult against me, but this is far beneath his generally solid interpretation of film here at KJ. He done must gone some crazy...}

filled with blood,guts and gore check
terrific use of 80s music check
freaks and weirdos check
cool chase scenes and stunts check
roasted human medium rare check
Rhona Mitra check
weird shit going on like a village of people dressed in the medieval period check
homage to Mad Max and 28 Days later check
kickass movie check

I love this movie

A

Well, I'm sorry to say I actually sat through Basic Instinct 2 before awarding a grade. Can you say the same? 'Cause I remember lots of droll scenes with a very boring protagonist going about his daily routine.

Perrrrrty cool. I was entertained.

B

if zingaling.grade = "B" and bradley.grade = "SUM(5+" x ") of 5" then watch.movie = "not until DVD or cable"

After watching this again I'd have to say its a fun movie and should become a cult fave down the road. It greatness is in its randomness.

Grade B movie

Sorry to break the trend, but the constant stylistic changes just didn't work for me at all. The film was just so strange and random throughout that I found it incredibly hard to enjoy. Some of the action sequences were exciting I guess - but the plot made absolutely no sense (and the setup was reminiscent of a poorly-constructed video game), there was no closure to any part of the storyline, and there was absolutely no character development whatsoever (I realized halfway through the film that I really had no idea what any of the characters' names were). It's a film with a serious identity crisis, and that proved quite tiresome for me in the end. I also found the direction quite disappointing, considering I loved The Descent. Rhona Mitra is a solid action lead, but she really needs to choose better projects. C

For the early Doomsday fans - - have you seen this negative review posted by Dr. Lecter? First off, it's very uncharacteristic of the Doc to post that type of editorial thread in Cinemania, so I'm not sure what motivation it originated from there. But, at any rate, you'll find that I added an alternative review in the linked thread above, as a counterbalance to the unfortunate misjudgement posited...

History tells us that movies should serve one of a few purposes: to entertain, to enlighten, to make one think and a few others depending on the viewer and/or the critic. One thing films should not do is make the viewer stare, scratch their head in bewilderment and then mutter upon the end credits appearing ... "What the hell did I just see?" Apart from the occasional thriller with a twist ending or a complicated multi-level drama with multi-faceted stories and intricate conclusions, the aforementioned response generally signals a less-than-satisfying film.

And less-than-satisfying is perhaps too generous a label to apply to the latest work from director Neil Marshall, Doomsday. The follow up to his masterful thriller about female power in caves, Descent leaves much to be desired.

For starters, what exactly is the film about? Good question. Either paying homage or ripping off several previous (superior) films, it focuses on a virus unleashed in the UK. This time, the "reaper virus" kills thousands of people within a short period of time. To protect its citizens, the British government quarantines all of Scotland with a massive, technologically advanced wall system (which it is inexplicably able to erect around the entire country including underwater portions before the virus spreads into England and surrounding countries). Soon, the virus, and those infected, are dead and it begins to fade from memory. Or so everyone thought.

Thirty years in the future the film officially picks up as the government has detected a new outbreak of the virus and is searching for the all-important "cure" -- a staple in these genre of films. During routine surveillance on the previously infected portions of Scotland, they have realized that...contrary to beliefs, something or someone has survived. An elite team of soldiers and investigators is sent in to examine the survivor or survivors and retrieve a cure that they are sure exists.

Of course what would a movie be without conflict? The survivors, or at least some of them, are some form of radicalized gothic/S&M/aboriginal people who have formed their own society in the absence of other moral or legal systems. Mayhem ensures, complete with a grotesque (and might I emphasize that word) cannibalism scene, a random strip club/rock concert segment and a lot of chasing, decapitating and other sundry dismemberment. Of note, when the words "dismemberment" and "decapitation" have to be used in their plural forms, it is a good sign that this is not a movie for the faint of stomach.

Fast forward a little further into the journey, which one would imagine would take many days to complete but apparently occurs in the span of just 48 hours, and we meet our next ragged group of survivors. This group has thrown off the shackles of modern civilization, renounced all claims to a world outside the quarantine and set themselves up in an old Scottish castle. Complete with period clothing, an executioner and a king-cum-god-like-figure they claim to know nothing of an outside world and attempt to kill the strangers from another time.

That all sounds very fun, right? Thrown in a chase with a Bently (which they just happened to manage to secure in the nick of time) against an old VW, a few more decapitations, explosions, a hard rock soundtrack and absolutely no semblance of any original plot and there you have it, Doomsday. I might note that the aforementioned VW vs Bently chase was almost unintentionally humorous and probably offensive to any auto afficionadoes as the Bently actually...looses...the race.

What Marshall has created this time around has illustrated the classic pitfall of many directors: they can't make a great movie twice. The Descent was most definitely a great movie. A great cast, a terrifying premise, and a satisfying, if somber, conclusion. Doomsday] has none of these. Apart from 28 Days Later, it also liberally borrows from Escape from New York, Mad Max and various other post-apocalyptic and zombie films. It seems like it could be an homage to all of them, if it actually made sense.

It isn't a bad film per se though, don't get me wrong. Occasionally fun to watch, and never boring, it just doesn't quite fit together in the end. That is its greatest downfall: it tries to hard to be too many different films all at once. It tries to hard to be a post-apocalyptic film and a cautionary tale on the dangers of where humanity is heading. It also could be seen as a tale warning of the dangers of regressing to medieval society (because you know that is all the rage these days) and also of the problems with S&M-strip-goth-clubs with half naked dancers roasting their enemies on an open flame.

It will probably go down in memory as a cult classic. Perhaps it will be one of those films that with a little intoxication it becomes better. Whatever the case it is a potentially great film that tries to hard and fails on most levels. Disappointing to say the least.

C+

It's not a bad movie, but its completely average. The action is hardly memorable, you've seen hords or running people gunned down so many times, and they are finally caught. And like said, it reminds you far too many times of great flicks its desperately trying to copy. Perhaps the biggest problem is the lead. We have no idea why this chick is a badass, except that she is and is the best person for a suicide job (She even wears an eye patch for some of the film) But her main motivation is never bought, and she exhibits almost no charisma, and in a film like this, no one liners to make the character memorable.

That being said, I wasn't bored, it shifts from film to film so much its like watching a bunch of somewhat confident actors trying to recreate some of your favorite cult classics, and for the most part, they succeed, if to familiar results.

C

I wasn't trying to score an insult. But when watching Basic Instinct 2, boring psychiatrist guy is the lead. The story revolves around him. He's in almost every scene. Tramell is a supporting player.

Somewhat forgettabLe, but entertaining enough. Deserved more $$$ than the shitfest that was ULtravioLet. Oh, and who gives a fuck about character deveLopment in a pure-action fLick?

a Low B

I just found it a rather insane comparison.

Anyway, I saw the movie and I liked it a lot.

Review coming up.

Still very bizarro behavior from the usually reliable Doc - - posting a Cinemania thread talking down this good B-movie (Doomsday), then posting another Cinemania thread talking up a mediocre B-movie (The Ruins). Frankly, I consider this an abuse of your considerable KJ credibility power...

Wha?! I didn't talk down anything. I just posted what I thought was a ridiculous comparison, especially since I thought Doomsday looked pretty good.

It was ultimately a compliment - - you underestimate your influence here at KJ. I would be willing to bet that a fair percentage of KJer's chose not to see Doomsday in first run based solely on that one thread of yours...

Eh, it wasn't my opinion in first place, though.

B+


Well, this is obviously not as good as The Descent, Marshall's great predecessor, but it's also a very different kind of a beast anyway. It's just a hellishly entertaining wild mixture of many movies, most prominently the Mad Max series, Escape from New York, 28 Days Later (I swear, at some points it felt as if they had lifted the score directly from that film!) and other similar aspocalyptic efforts.

Rhona Mitra makes a great female action lead and I was surprised by how much she actually gets beaten up in this. Her backstory felt rather irrelevant at the end and was unnecessary. The supporting cast isn't really worth a mention as Malcolm McDowell is reduced to an extended cameo here and Alexander Siddig doesn't get much to do either, so it's pretty much Mitra's show.

After the small and claustrophobic The Descent, Marshall shows that he can handle bigger material as well. The movie might be disjointed and seems flat out bizarre at times (mixing Mad Max with the Medieval...the hell?), but I would be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy it. It's brutal, has pretty solid action and quite a lot of crazy crazy characters, primarily Sol and his gang. The final chase scene is great and had my blood pumping. I wish they had shown more of the whole Medieval society that Kane has established and that they had shown more of Kane overall anyway. There are also plenty of other, albeit small flaws here. On the whole, though, it's a fun ride of the kind that we're not getting very often nowadays, so kudos to Marshall for that!