Doomsday Movie Review
*repost from 05-10-2008*
Directed by Neil Marshall
Starring Rhona Mitra
Another solid entry for Neil Marshall. I really dug Dog Soldiers and The Descent was a huge step forward in direction. While I wouldnt say that Doomsday is as good as that movie, its definitely a great action post apocalyptic movie that hearkens back to the early 80's when these type of movies ruled. While I was watching it I was having flashbacks to early Carpenter and even Paul Verhoeven with the type of editing and tone of the movie. Of course like most of these movies it was influenced heavily by Mad Max with hints of craziness like the Italian 80's knockoffs. A lot of the negative buzz I heard on the movie was the action scenes and the use of handheld cameras. Once again like Ill preach until proven otherwise, this type of style translates much better on home theater Tv screens instead of being magnified by huge movie theater ones. Not once was I disoriented and couldnt follow where the action was going.
The movie is basically about the United Kingdom gets a plague that is spreading among the people, killing almost everyone in site. The government builds a wall around the infected areas which I think is mostly Ireland and some of England. I think 20 years or so have passed and the plague is back to the "normal" population of London. The plague infested area of Britain is still cut off by the wall and most people assume that everyone was dead. The government finds out that some people are still alive and must have been immune to the virus. So they assemble a task force to go in and retrieve the cure. Rhona Mitra (Eden) was a little girl when the plague broke out and she was accidentally shot in the eye. Now shes a bad ass soldier and uses her false eye as a camera to record whats going on. She gets assigned to lead the team thats going into the danger zone. Once they go in, they fight and eventually get caught by a group of crazy cannibals lead by that mohawked dude in the picture named Saul. Eventually they escape with the help of others and make their way to Kane "the king" of the area.
To say anymore would be in spoiler territory but lets just say there is a castle, knights, and a huge entertaining car chase scene in the last act of the movie. The movie had some great gore, kills and just plain captured that 80's action feel that I love so much. Rhona did a solid job as a leading lady and reminded by quite a bit of Kate Beckinsale in the Underworld movies. Yes the movie is over the top and the rock song entrance and dance by Saul is very different but it fits the spirit of the movie perfectly. Im convinced you either "get" this type of movie or you dont. I for one love it and cant wait to see his next project. I hope Neil stays a genre director and doesnt think he needs to go "mainstream" to be successful. On a scale of 1-10 I give this a screaming decapitated head 8.1 out of 10.
Heres to hoping for many more movies starring Rhona