Doomsday (2008)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Neil Marshall

Writer:

Neil Marshall (writer)

Release Date:

14 March 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The End Is Nigh.

Plot:

A futuristic action thriller where a team of people work to prevent a disaster threatening the future of the human race.

Plot Keywords:

Virus | Wall | Quarantine | Major | Future

Cast

Caryn Peterson	...	Vagrant Girl
Adeola Ariyo	...	Nurse
Emma Cleasby	...	Katherine Sinclair
Christine Tomlinson	...	Young Eden Sinclair
Vernon Willemse	...	David / Gimp
Paul Hyett	...	Hot Dog Victim
Daniel Read	...	Sergeant #1
Karl Thaning	...	Pilot
Stephen Hughes	...	Soldier #1 / Johnson
Jason Cope	...	Wall Guard
Ryan Kruger	...	Soldier
Nathan Wheatley	...	Patient "X"
Cecil Carter	...	DDS Assault Trooper
Jeremy Crutchley	...	Richter
Rhona Mitra	...	Maj. Eden Sinclair

Also Known As:

Doomsday - Tag der Rache (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexual content/nudity.

Runtime:

USA:105 min | USA:113 min (uncut version)

Country:

UK | USA | South Africa | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES | Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #44107) | Ireland:18 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:NC-16 (edited version) | Hong Kong:III | Norway:18 | Netherlands:16 | Finland:K-18 | South Korea:18 | Germany:18 (cut) | Sweden:15 | Taiwan:R-18 | Australia:R | Italy:VM14 | New Zealand:R16 | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Portugal:M/16 | Iceland:16 | Japan:R15+

Filming Locations:

Blackness Castle, Blackness, Falkirk, Scotland, UK

Company:

Rogue Pictures

Trivia:

Though the film takes place in London and Scotland, most of principal photography was done in South Africa. The last scene shot on the continent before moving to the UK was the lengthy car chase with the Bentley crashing through the bus.

Goofs:

Plot holes: The APC vehicles are able to sustain hits from missiles, chemical weapons and heavy fire - so why are the windows so easily breakable?

Quotes:

[first lines]
Kane: Like so many epidemics before, the loss of so many lives began with a single microscopic organism. It's human nature to seek even the smallest comfort in reason, or logic for events as catastrophic as these. But a virus doesn't choose a time or place. It doesn't hate or even care. It just happens.

Movie Connections:

References The Last Boy Scout (1991)

Soundtrack:

The Can Can

Fancy a trip to the beautiful Scottish Highlands?

Neil Marshall, the multi-talented British director who previously made the gory but nevertheless tasteful "Dog Soldiers" and "The Descent", surprises and primarily pleases his fan-base audiences with this mega-outrageous, campy and tasteless SciFi-horror-action hybrid that is simply destined to become a cult classic within the next couple of years already. I was lucky enough to see the film during a national film festival, where Neil Marshall was at guest himself to single-handedly present his film to anxious Belgian genre fans. Marshall described his own film in only a few words, but it was much better than any film-critic could ever do it in his place. He openly admitted that "Doomsday" is principally a direct love letter to all the movies he grew up with and that he deliberately stuffed the screenplay with numerous tributes and hidden references towards the paranoid and apocalyptic Sci-Fi (road-) movies of the early 80's. It only requires a glimpse at the screen and you immediately know Marshall is right. "Doomsday" catapults you straight back to the glorious days of cheesy exploitation where literally everything was possible and plot-logic and coherence weren't necessities. The two main inspirations for the film are obviously "Mad Max" and "Escape from N.Y.", but talking in terms of absurd plot twists, OTT set pieces and flamboyant costume designs, uncompromising gore, deliberately bad acting performances and insane character drawings, "Doomsday" is actually far more reminiscent to the (mainly Italian) rip-off industry of that time. Apart from the aforementioned and acclaimed landmarks, I also recognized bits and pieces – though I may be mistaken of course - of far more obscure titles like "The Atlantis Interceptors", "After the Fall of New York", "2033: The New Gladiators", "The Bronx Warriors", "Warriors of the Wasteland" and countless of others.

In 2008, there's a sudden outbreak of the unstoppable and incurable "Reaper Virus in Glasgow. In order to prevent further spreading, the British government simply decides to build a wall all around Scotland and leave everyone within the borders to die a slow and painful death. Almost twenty years later, in 2035, the feared Virus returns and threatens to rapidly extinct the entire population of London. The Prime Minister and his corrupt as hell right hand Canaris send the fearless Special Agent Eden Sinclair to Scotland to search for a remedy. Because there definitely are survivors in Scotland; the government just decided to keep it secret. When entering the area with her troops, Eden almost immediately runs into large clusters of survivors that reverted to primitive and barbaric life-styles. Their search for the virus' cure quickly turns into a vile battle to stay alive. "Doomsday" is simply Fan-Tas-Tic entertainment and it's undoubtedly the greatest trash-film of the past two decades. The plot stops to make sense quite early in the film and has more holes than the average fishing net. The narrative is also wildly incoherent and even the tiniest plot twist and line of dialog is stolen from another film. But, seriously, who cares about all that when a movie is this much fun! "Doomsday" is extremely violent, with unhinged footage of anarchy and even a throwback to the Roman times in the arena, but simultaneously hilarious, with the craziest characters imaginable and even a soundtrack featuring golden eighties bands like The Fine Young Cannibals and Franky Goes to Hollywood. The campy highlights in "Doomsday" are literally too numerous to list, but I assure it has everything any fan of B-movies could ever dream of. I hate to sound obnoxious and/or pretend all knowing, but all those people claiming "Doomsday" is a pointlessly stupid film either missed the whole point or simply don't fit within Neil Marshall's target group and thus shouldn't criticize.