Scan and Pan
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Doomsday
2035. Twenty-five years after the Reaper Virus ravaged Scotland and the British government built a wall across the north of England to keep the infected and dying inside, the virus reappears in London. The government knows that some people survived in Scotland, so they place Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), who as a child was one of the last people to make it out of Scotland, in charge of a team to go there to locate a possible cure. When the team reaches Glasgow, they discover it's now under the control of a gang of cannibalistic punks calling themselves the Marauders. Can Eden and her team survive the Marauders and find a cure before it's too late?
Writer/director Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent) tosses Mad Max, Escape from New York, Resident Evil, and 28 Days Later into a blender and pours a tall glass of unpleasant cinematic mess for the audience. Marshall the director has a certain flair for action scenes, but Marshall the screenwriter lets him down with a derivative story and worse, one that takes itself far too seriously. Tongue planted firmly in cheek, it could have been campy fun. Marshall's earlier films were creative genre films, which makes this one even more disappointing.
Marshall works with some familiar creative personnel from Dog Soldiers and The Descent, including cinematographer Sam McCurdy, who delivers some stylish lighting, and production designer Simon Bowles, who creates a convincing post-apocalyptic Scotland. The score by Tyler Bates (The Devil's Rejects, 300) is adequate.
Mitra, a former live action model of Tomb Raider Lara Croft for public appearances and promotions, is surprisingly credible as a female Snake Plissken (the anti-hero from Escape from New York), but she's consistently undermined by the poor writing. Craig Conway is energetically over the top as Sol, leader of the Marauders, but his schtick quickly becomes tiresome. Bob Hoskins and Malcolm McDowell appear to be just picking up paychecks as, respectively, Eden's boss and a rogue scientist.
The cast also includes Alexander Siddig as the British Prime Minister, David O'Hara as the real power behind the government, Darren Morfitt and Sean Pertwee as two scientists sent on the mission, MyAnna Buring as the rogue scientist's daughter, and Lee-Anne Liebenberg as Sol's beloved, Viper.
Doomsday is an inferior post-apocalyptic action film that copies much better films without understanding what made them entertaining. Do yourself a favor and go watch those films instead.
[2 out of 5 stars]
It looks far more interesting in advertisements than it is in actuality, in large part due to a stunning lack of originality.
2035. Twenty-five years after the Reaper Virus ravaged Scotland and the British government built a wall across the north of England to keep the infected and dying inside, the virus reappears in London. The government knows that some people survived in Scotland, so they place Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), who as a child was one of the last people to make it out of Scotland, in charge of a team to go there to locate a possible cure. When the team reaches Glasgow, they discover it's now under the control of a gang of cannibalistic punks calling themselves the Marauders. Can Eden and her team survive the Marauders and find a cure before it's too late?
Writer/director Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent) tosses Mad Max, Escape from New York, Resident Evil, and 28 Days Later into a blender and pours a tall glass of unpleasant cinematic mess for the audience. Marshall the director has a certain flair for action scenes, but Marshall the screenwriter lets him down with a derivative story and worse, one that takes itself far too seriously. Tongue planted firmly in cheek, it could have been campy fun. Marshall's earlier films were creative genre films, which makes this one even more disappointing.
Marshall works with some familiar creative personnel from Dog Soldiers and The Descent, including cinematographer Sam McCurdy, who delivers some stylish lighting, and production designer Simon Bowles, who creates a convincing post-apocalyptic Scotland. The score by Tyler Bates (The Devil's Rejects, 300) is adequate.
Mitra, a former live action model of Tomb Raider Lara Croft for public appearances and promotions, is surprisingly credible as a female Snake Plissken (the anti-hero from Escape from New York), but she's consistently undermined by the poor writing. Craig Conway is energetically over the top as Sol, leader of the Marauders, but his schtick quickly becomes tiresome. Bob Hoskins and Malcolm McDowell appear to be just picking up paychecks as, respectively, Eden's boss and a rogue scientist.
The cast also includes Alexander Siddig as the British Prime Minister, David O'Hara as the real power behind the government, Darren Morfitt and Sean Pertwee as two scientists sent on the mission, MyAnna Buring as the rogue scientist's daughter, and Lee-Anne Liebenberg as Sol's beloved, Viper.
Doomsday is an inferior post-apocalyptic action film that copies much better films without understanding what made them entertaining. Do yourself a favor and go watch those films instead.
[2 out of 5 stars]
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