SYNOPSIS:
When
a virus strikes, authorities brutally quarantine a country as
it sccumbs to fear and chaos in the action-packed new thriller
DOOMSDAY. The literal walling-off works for three decades -
until the dreaded Reaper virus violently resurfaces in a major
city. An elite group of specialists lead by Eden Sinclair is
urgently dispatched into the still-quarantined country to retrieve
a cure by any means necessary. Shut off from the rest of the
world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become
a waking nightmare.
MOVIE REVIEW:
There’s a difference between paying homage
to classic movies such as "Mad Max", "Escape
from New York" and doing a 'stitch-and-sew' attempt at
creating a post-apocalyptic thriller. Director Neil Marshall
apparently had the line blurred and seems to resort to the
latter with "Doomsday".
It’s
Great Britain, 2008 with a mysterious reaper virus attacking
Glasgow, Edinburgh, the government has to quarantine the infected
by permanently building a wall to isolate them from the rest
of the world. However, 25 years later the virus is back with
a vengeance and the government has to send a small team of
military personnel led by Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra)
to go back to the infected area to retrieve an antidote to
save the country.
Neil
Marshall who did the much superior "The Descent"
also wrote the script offers no explanation as to why or how
the reaper virus came about. Perhaps this is of no importance,
we can see he is too busy indulging himself in those crazy
scenes of heads being decapitated, limbs and blood splattered
all over. Did I mention there are actually survivors behind
the wall after all those years? In Marshall’s version,
the people have all turned into cannibalism, those crazy punks
wields machetes and whatever they-can-laid-their-hands on
the military intruders in which the punk leader, Nol (a character
who disappeared half the time and appears for the finale)
believed that there’s indeed lives behind the other
side of the wall.
Obviously,
"Doomsday" is not a social-political movie that
film students might find interest in. It’s a crazy,
cat-and-mouse action thriller that consists lots of unintentional
laughable moments with none of the on-screen characters worth
rooting for. Take for example, when the military APC vehicles
first entered through the wall and the vehicle hit a bump
on the road and the camera slowly pulls back to reveal a field
full of cows. The first question is why do the survivors have
to resort to cannibalism when they can have piping hot medium
rare steak? Is it because years of isolation have unwittingly
turned them into savages? If this is insufficient to warrant
a laugh, Marshall even threw in a medieval setting at the
half-way mark to soften the weak plotting.
You
got to experience "Doomsday" yourself for all the
silliness and fortunately, Rhona Mitra (a Kate Beckinsale
look-alike) is excellent as eye candy, Major Eden and she
gets to hog the screen for most of the duration with her kick-ass,
athletic body and she is due to appear in next year "Underworld
3: Rise of the Lycans".
Anyway
"Doomsday" didn’t turned out to be as smart
as "28 Days Later" or as captivating as "I
Am Legend", it’s a B-movie, action flick (inspired
from several superior movies) disguised as an apocalyptic
thriller that offers 104 minutes of mindless violence and
stupidity.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
The only difference between the Code 1 and Code 3 DVD is 1)
Feature commentary with director Neil Marshall and cast members
is missing here and 2) the cover art is different. The rest
of the extras are similar though.
Anatomy
of a Catastrophe: Civilization on the Brink is a
typical 17 minutes featurette that touch on several aspects
of the movie which includes cast/crew interviews, costume
design etc.
The
Visual Effects and Wizardry of Doomsday is a short
3 minutes featurette that talks about how visual effects enhance
the outlook of Doomsday and include footages of how miniatures
effects aid in the finale sequence of the movie.
For
those interested at how the crew created those crazy weaponry
and out-of-this-world vehicles, Devices of Death:
Guns, Gadgets and Vehicles of Destruction is a 20
minutes featurette that will satisfy your curiosity.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Presented in 16x9, the visual and colour tones are rich in
detail bordering on the darker side. The DVD comes with Dolby
Digital 5.1 and impresses in the surround speakers with all
the loud ambient effects and dialogue.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
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