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334 comments in total

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189 out of 249 people found the following comment useful :-
Doomsday, 14 April 2008
Author: Zombiehor.de (brains@zombiehor.de) from Detroit

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.

http://zombiehor.de/

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133 out of 210 people found the following comment useful :-
Gonzo mix of Mad Max, Escape from NY and 28 Days Later, 22 March 2008

Author: angelynx-2 (angelynx@spookhouse.net) from Washington DC

What an insane movie! I saw it in a criminally tiny Saturday afternoon audience (four people) and we all had a terrific time. Don't expect sense, great acting or original dialogue, just go for the kicks and enjoy. A totally deranged, over-the-top splatfest with hideous viral deaths galore, some of the best post-holocaust punk makeup and chase scenes since Road Warrior, brilliant use of 1980's dance music (Adam and the Ants, Frankie Goes to Hollywood--the placement of Siouxie and the Banshees' "Spellbound" and a Fine Young Cannibals track at the punk barbecue is simply inspired), a coliseum battle-to-the-death, a bizarre interlude in a Scottish fiefdom that feels as if the movie took a fast detour into the Shire, and the coolest star turn by a UK car since Harry Potter's posse made one fly. All of it snapping and crackling with so much kinetic energy and wild creative freedom that it's hugely exhilarating. We were still giggling like maniacs an hour after the movie.=) It's just such fun to see a director decide to go full-speed over the edge like this. It's not great art, but trust me, if you enjoyed Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, Planet Terror, Escape from New York/L.A., and/or any recent zombie movie, you can't miss this one.

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173 out of 313 people found the following comment useful :-
Masterpiece! Fans rejoice!, 15 March 2008

Author: Ian Gear (psychogoatee) from United States

If you're a fan of action, horror, and the 1980s, this is the film to watch.

If you don't enjoy those things, stop reading. This is for the true believers.

Doomsday is a love letter to 70's and 80's classics like Mad Max and Escape From New York. It's pretty reminiscent of Grindhouse: Planet Terror, so if you enjoyed that modern cult classic, you could get some kicks out of this one too.

Rhona Mitra sizzles as the stoic feminine warrior. She kicks ass, she's looks good. Bob Hoskins gives the movie heart with his fatherly performance, granted he gets less screen time than he deserves. Malcolm McDowell is as entertaining as always, he brings some class to the occasion. But enough about the cast, how about the mayhem? Yes, this film has it all. Crazy punks, medieval gladiators, and modern futuristic soldiers. It's got tons of inventive kills and bloody gore to spare.

The soundtrack featuring 80's style heavy synth, grandiose opera, and 1980's hits such as "Good Thing". There's plenty of enjoyable, cheesy yet clever dialogue.

What more do you need? Action/Horror fans, check out this fun gorefest. Enjoy.

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104 out of 182 people found the following comment useful :-
ridiculously retarded B movie that is fun fun fun!, 15 March 2008

Author: diseriq from United States

OK, like before DOOMSDAY, Neil Marshall made two great films, DOG SOILDERS and THE DESCENT, so going into this, i had high expectations. then i heard all of the negative buzz on the internet for months and months. so then i had low expectations. and the trailer sucked. basically, if you go into this film expecting anything serious at all, then yeah, you're going to be disappointed, because this is in no way a serious movie sci-fi action future apocalypse thriller. what it is - a tongue in cheek splatter fest homage to the great John Carpenter movies of the 80s and with a bunch of mad max thrown in. if you loved PLANET TERROR, then you will dig on this. really this flick reminded me of the vibe of BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA or CRANK. i'm not sure why more people weren't laughing, cause this film is simply hilarious. it just gets more and more over the top! cannibalistic punks BBQ one of our heroes to Siouxsie and the Banshees "Spellbound." and they have a GIMP!! little furry bunnies get blown up, and cows are squashed via tanks! oh yeah, look at you now, all covered in virus infected blood prime minister. what did you say, who is that guy? oh yeah! it's Dr Bashir from Star Trek Deep Space Nine, yes!!!

the gore is consistently excessive and top notch. then out of nowhere, it's a knight on a horse, hey there's Malcom McDowell collecting a paycheck!! boy does his nose crazy silly for some reason! this film is totally intentionally funny and camp. the thing is, i think it has a bit too much of a British sensibility for an American audience, cause there is a certain dryness to the humor, but it's pretty clear that Neil Marshall set out to make a big dumb retarded and fun Hollywood movie, and that ironically Hollywood is too stupid to know how to market it. this will find an audience on video, cause while parts of it are derivative of it's influences, it's too much fun not to like. you just gotta keep drinking and/or smoking! there are only a couple of aspects that keep it from being great - the editing is terrible pretty much throughout, and some of the action is hard to follow. then there is the dialogue that is really poorly staged. like they were working so fast to get the shots and come in under budget (especially at what is supposed to be a climatic scene between our heroine and one of the villains) that they just staged it, shot it once, and the actors were like, hurry up lets be done with this, we're ready to hit up that catered food. but regardless, i had a blast, don't know why my roommate asked the theater management for his money back, what a loser.

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69 out of 113 people found the following comment useful :-
Mad Max meets 28 Days Later meets Lord of the Rings, 14 March 2008

Author: Drue Hardegree from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Now don't get me wrong. I love bad movies, I really do. I may love them more than good movies. But Doomsday is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. And I didn't like it. Picture this: an Aeon Flux reject from Resident Evil is sent to an area walled off 30 years after a crazy virus kills off thousands of people. Why is she sent? To find the cure of course! Outside of the Wall she finds a whole bunch of cannibalistic gutter punks. Aside from some hilariously bad dialogue, and the cannibals, there are knights (thats right, from Medieval times!), ridiculous stunt driving with lots of explosions, and plenty of walks across the countryside with hobbit-like survivors of the plague, looking like they are trekking to Mordor. I think it was about that time I got a case of the giggles and had to excuse myself. This movie was one of the most gratuitous, ridiculous wastes of time ever! But I did get a bit of a laugh out of it, so maybe I'm being too harsh.

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114 out of 203 people found the following comment useful :-
So much fun, 16 March 2008

Author: sjbeattie from New York

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.

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38 out of 55 people found the following comment useful :-
A fun but deliberately dumb movie with nothing original, 27 August 2008

Author: Superunknovvn from Austria, Vienna

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? 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.

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31 out of 43 people found the following comment useful :-
Unintentionally Hilarious, 27 July 2008

Author: Mysticum from Denmark

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This is, without a doubt, one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It is so fantastically bad, I could talk for hours and hours about each and every little atrociously bad element of the movie. I am no stranger to the incredible or the suspension of disbelief required of any sci-fi fan wishing to be entertained. I love outlandish and outrageous things! I cannot, however, abide things which are literally UN-BELIEVABLE, and which conflict with ANY world, fictional or not.

This movie is a tour de force of idiocy. It is one long line of things so unimaginably retarded, you end up with a slight sensation of vertigo from shaking your head so thoroughly from start to finish. I will mention a few things that stood out as being particularly idiotic, but please believe me when I say that there are somewhere in the neighborhood of five hundred to a thousand equally appalling scenes left unmentioned.

Let's begin. Why are the soldiers at the beginning standing amidst a crowd of plague-carrying Scots? Why are they in front of the fence? As you ponder this, watching them get torn to shreds, you are interrupted by the realization that not only is there a fence behind which they would have been safe, there is also a forty foot tall steel wall a few hundred feet further back. Why are they not behind this wall? Who is in charge of this completely incompetent band of military morons? Why is a chopper behind enemy lines at this point? Why are the soldiers in the chopper not wearing protective gear? Why do they let indigenous Scots covered in blood and grime approach the helicopter? Why do they bring a blood-covered, bleeding, Scottish girl fresh from the crowd of plague-carrying lunatics onto their chopper, which is en route to the safe side of the wall? Is this not...perhaps a little foolish? In 2035, why does the heroine toss her eyeball (yes, really) instead of using a small mirror? Failing that, why isn't she using a little camera and a wrist-mounted monitor? In 2035? On that note: why is the technology in 2035 virtually indistinguishable from technology in 2008? Returning to our heroine, why would she give up her depth perception and risk losing her one eye? Someone might step on it, I'd think? How does the eye rotate on a flat surface without movable parts, while staying in place? Up in Scotland, if the tanks in which the special forces ride are so sturdy and gas-proof and you'd-need-a-50-caliber-rifle-to-put-a-dent-in-this solid, why does it come equipped with a large glass front window which can be shattered by throwing a brick? Why did no one spot the cows from afar? A thousand cows and suddenly they just hit one in the middle of the herd without warning? Ninja cows? Who dyed the Scots' hair? Why do they dye their hair? Why are they armed and working together? Why are they in the hospital after 27 years? Did they sit there for 27 years thinking, "One of these days...!" ? Who took the time to carve the names of disease-victims intricately into the large slab of marble at the hospital? After Scotland is walled in, its population dropping like flies, someone took the time to erect a massive marble wall and start carving the names of the dead into it? Seriously? How could a scientist in 2008 get further with his research in 3 months in a war zone than the entire body of scientists on the planet could in 27 years? Why did the rest of the world's scientists not attempt to concoct a cure for the virus? Why does the guy left behind in the vehicle outside the hospital go out to "help" the girl? Why does he carry her into the tank, remove his protective gear, and then turn his back on her? Who exactly is throwing the grenade right after the guy gets his throat slit and dies?

I could go on for a great deal longer, I assure you. I repeat: EVERYTHING - every single little thing - about this movie is so indescribably retarded as to be downright depressing.

This is the worst movie in the world. Hands down.

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100 out of 181 people found the following comment useful :-
"Doomsday" - The end is nigh!, 14 March 2008

Author: dee.reid from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"Doomsday," the third feature from British "B"-movie tour de force writer-director Neil Marshall, is a rehash of several distant cult movies, including both of Marshall's previous films, which are also considered cult classics. Yet, that doesn't make "Doomsday" even remotely bad, but it does make it very interesting not just to follow the story along, but to also point out the many references to films past.

Even the most amateurish film buff could point out the assorted references to "28 Days/Weeks Later," "Escape from New York" (1981), "Aliens" (1986), and the "Max Mad" movies. It's all part of the fun, really, and you can't blame Marshall for making references to the movies he loves and have inspired him as a filmmaker. Even his first feature "Dog Soldiers" (2002) and his superior follow-up horror flick "The Descent" (2005) get some mention here.

In the future, an out-of-control virus called the "Reaper virus" (the "28" movies) completely decimates Scotland, eventually leading to its being quarantined off with a 20-foot-tall, 12-inch-thick impenetrable wall ("Escape from New York") on all sides. The rest of the world goes on as if nothing happened, while millions are forced to fend for themselves in the virus-ravaged wasteland of former Scotland. In the the 30 years since the quarantine, law & order broke down and anarchy took over.

30 years later, the Reaper Virus makes a comeback, this time outside the quarantine zone. More news develops when spy satellites monitoring the former Scotland detect human survivors. Could there be uninfected people? Could there be a cure in there somewhere? Regardless, the government organizes a small task force to go inside and find answers. Nelson (Bob Hoskins), a government handler, is given the assignment of having his best operative Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) go inside with a crack team of commandos and look for answers.

They have 48 hours.

Right away, "Doomsday" removes itself from other post-apocalyptic movies by not focusing on the catastrophe itself and instead just focuses on humanity's attempt to move forward. "Doomsday" is about anarchy, and the downfall of society: What happens when you just leave a country to wither and die in the face of disaster? On the inside, however, it's all about finding a cure or a vaccine and bringing it back to the rest of the world. When Sinclair and her team are on the inside, they're all on their own, but of course they are not alone. As it turns out, barbaric clans have been formed (the "Mad Max" movies), under the leadership of Sol (Marshall's favorite go-to guy and movie regular, Craig Conway), who seeks to lead his punk regalia-clad minions to the conquest of the free world outside the quarantine zone. It should be pointed out here that they're pretty much cannon fodder ("Aliens").

It's fair to chide "Doomsday" for some script deficiencies and overly-abundant throwback references to films past and an apparent lack of details regarding Scotland's decimation in the 30 years since the Reaper Virus's outbreak, and Sol's rise to power. But Marshall keeps "Doomsday" lean and focused. Once on the inside, it's anything goes, as Sinclair and her teammates are pretty much left to fend for themselves when Sol's men ambush them and force them to participate in increasingly sadistic games of violence for survival and for that, the blood and gore is sufficient (Marshall knows no boundaries in the area of special effects).

"Doomsday" is an accomplished third feature from a provocative filmmaker, Neil Marshall. Though by no means perfect ("The Descent" was and I was feverishly looking for "Doomsday" to surpass it), "Doomsday" is still looking to make a killing at the movies this weekend.

9/10

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31 out of 46 people found the following comment useful :-
Derivative, 26 March 2008

Author: bkeithg from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I went in this movie with low expectations. I was hoping for a fun, lightweight popcorn movie that might creatively rip off similar movies. It turned out that it just ripped off similar movies. There were clever touches and some enjoyable attention to detail but those brisk moments of relief were too far apart.

The problems started for me in the beginning. All of the best films of this genre never had lengthy set ups. In Escape to New York, the president is caught and Snake is on his way in and that's all you really need to know. In the Road Warrior, Max just shows up out of nowhere right into the action. This movie had a long winded exposition by Malcom McDowell and a superfluous action scene aboard a ship.

The film had moments of potential, after the introduction of Sol and the final chase come to mind, but there was quite a bit of nothing going on in between. There were also more than a few clichés. About the only thing missing was a cat jumping out of the shadows.

It may have been intended as an homage to other movies of the genre but it's tributes only served to remind me of how these other films were much more superior and I ended up leaving the theater wanting to see The Road Warrior.

In fairness to the movie I probably did go in comparing it to these other post-apocalyptic films and maybe my expectations were actually higher than I originally thought but despite that it was still a pretty bland film.

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