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United Kingdom, United States, South Africa · 2008
Rated R · 1h 48m
Director Neil Marshall
Starring Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Adrian Lester, Alexander Siddig
Genre Action, Science Fiction, Thriller
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When a lethal virus spreads through Scotland, the authorities brutally but successfully quarantine the country. Three decades later, the disease resurfaces elsewhere, and an elite group is dispatched into Scotland to retrieve a cure. Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare.
In terms of story, “The Descent” and Doomsday are as different as two genre films can be, but the falloff in artistic quality is still quantifiable. Where “The Descent” was a slow, quiet, exquisitely modulated, startlingly original film, Doomsday is frenetic, loud, wildly imprecise and so derivative that it doesn’t so much seem to reference its antecedents as try on their famous images like a child playing dress-up. Homage without innovation isn’t homage, it’s karaoke.
Neil Marshall's flair for visceral action more than compensates for his script's lack of conceptual novelty in Doomsday. Principally South Africa-shot tale of a post-apocalyptic Great Britain cobbles together large chunks of "Escape From New York," "The Road Warrior," "28 Days Later" and "Resident Evil," but those with a taste for revved-up, splattery fantasy thrills won't be complaining.
The Hollywood Reporter by Frank Scheck
Mitra, clad in the requisite tight, sexy outfits, conveys a suitable toughness but little in the way of personality, while such distinguished British actors as Bob Hoskins and Adrian Lester dutifully show up to collect their paychecks.
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
Doomsday tries to cram so much into its limited 105 minutes that aspects end up feeling rushed and confused (especially the political situation in England) and the ending is perfunctory.
Los Angeles Times by Jan Stuart
Just to shake things up a little, I guess, the creators of the laughably over-the-top Doomsday thought it might be fun to turn the survivors of a deadly epidemic, rather than its victims, into maniacal murderers.
Marshall delivers what he promises and Mitri makes for a cool, kick-arse heroine in the Ellen Ripley mold.
As a guilty pleasure, it’s spectacularly entertaining
Marshall reveals himself to be a terrific showman of chaos and comic savagery. This is Baz Luhrmann's "Mad Max."
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