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Doomsday

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Doomsday (2008)

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Reviews Counted:63

Fresh:30

Rotten:33

Average Rating:5/10

Consensus: Doomsday is a pale imitation of previous futuristic thrillers, minus the cohesive narrative and charismatic leads.

Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

US Box Office: $10,955,425

Synopsis: Writer/director Neil Marshall earned the respect of horror devotees with his first two features, DOG SOLDIERS and THE DESCENT, refreshing and scary twists on the werewolf and expedition-gone-wrong... Writer/director Neil Marshall earned the respect of horror devotees with his first two features, DOG SOLDIERS and THE DESCENT, refreshing and scary twists on the werewolf and expedition-gone-wrong genres. Where those works exemplified a respect for pure horror, devoid of the tension-spoiling comedy that infects most fright films, DOOMSDAY is Marshall's love letter to the post-apocalyptic action-exploitation films of the 1980s. Bubbling over with action, gore, and dark humor, his third film has all the bases covered for a fun, knowingly corny viewing experience. After a deadly plague results in the quarantine of the entire country of Scotland (in a scene reminiscent of I AM LEGEND), a wall is built around the country preventing anyone from going in or out. Thirty years later, the British government believes everyone within the wall to be dead, but when they find signs of life and learn of the possibility of a cure, a team of specially trained agents led by Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) become the first outsiders to venture inside the country since the epidemic. They discover that there are plenty of survivors who have splintered into fierce, warlike tribes, living in a lawless society where cannibalism and murder are the order of the day. Astute viewers will have a blast playing "spot the influence," with loving, obvious nods to ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, ALIENS, 28 DAYS LATER, and the MAD MAX films. At the film's halfway point, Marshall switches gears, transforming the film from a punk-informed futuristic action film into a medieval-style chase film, utilizing Scotland's castles and sumptuous green landscapes to the fullest. Mitra is an exciting physical presence as Eden, a female version of NEW YORK's Snake Plissken, and the great supporting cast includes Bob Hoskins and Malcolm McDowell. [More]

Starring: Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Adrian Lester, Alexander Siddig

Starring: Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Adrian Lester, Alexander Siddig, David O'Hara, Malcolm McDowell, Sean Pertwee, MyAnna Buring, Nora-Jane Noone

Director: Neil Marshall

Director: Neil Marshall
Screenwriter: Neil Marshall
Producer: Steven Paul, Benedict Carver
Composer: Tyler Bates
Studio: Rogue Pictures

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Reviews for Doomsday

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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As scattered as it is senseless.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment 1 Comment
03/14/08
Bill Gibron
Bill Gibron
Filmcritic.com

Doomsday is a mess of lousy filmmaking and unrelenting artistic bankruptcy, smashed together to form an ear-splitting, overcooked, awfully irritating shell of an experience.

Full Review Source: BrianOrndorf.com | comment 3 Comments
03/14/08
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
BrianOrndorf.com

A series of loosely linked action scenes, Doomsday plays out more like a video game than a movie.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
03/21/08
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Doomsday might seem novel - if you've never seen "The Road Warrior," "Aliens," "Escape from New York" or any other post-apocalyptic flick before.

Full Review Source: Washington Times | comment Comment
08/02/08
Christian Toto
Christian Toto
Washington Times

As the crowd screams and pounds their chests, the camera shows Eden's back. It's a grim resolution, even in the post-apocalypse.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
03/21/08
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

Soulless, impersonal and shamelessly derivative, this dime-a-dozen sci-fi garbage is such a depressing step down for Neil Marshall that one can hardly believe it was made by the same guy responsible for the rightfully acclaimed The Descent.

Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment 1 Comment
03/15/08
Dustin Putman
Dustin Putman
DustinPutman.com

The protag of this popcorn pastiche is modeled on Jovovich in Resident Evil, and one way to pass the time is to count the numerous actioners from which Marshall borrowed (lifted) for his saga: The Road Warrior, Escape from New York, 28 Days/Weeks Later.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
03/16/08
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Dreadful stuff, aggressively silly and repulsively nasty.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
03/15/08
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

Even the two fanboys behind me - who almost reached orgasm during the Speed Racer preview - laughed and yelled "What?!" when shown both a gimp and a medieval pit fight.

Full Review Source: Seacoast Newspapers (NH/Maine) | comment Comment
03/15/08
Gina Carbone
Gina Carbone
Seacoast Newspapers (NH/Maine)

[Director] Marshall cribs whole sections from other movies (Aliens and The Road Warrior, most blatantly) so baldly that you have to wonder how he'd like it if someone ripped off The Descent this egregiously.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
03/19/08
Gregory Kirschling
Gregory Kirschling
Entertainment Weekly

Doomsday typifies the kind of movie that gets dumped into theaters during the late winter -- a regurgitated storyline, no big stars, and no real prospects at the box office.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment 3 Comments
03/14/08
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

Much as one might admire the British health care system as presented in the documentary Sicko, even Michael Moore would have to admit they have a hard time over there coping with apocalyptic viruses.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
03/17/08
Jan Stuart
Jan Stuart
Newsday

Has Neil Marshall been studying under Paul W.S. Anderson?

Full Review Source: ReelzChannel.com | comment Comment
03/14/08
Jeff Otto
Jeff Otto
ReelzChannel.com

a debacle that achieves the rarified air of being so terrible it's great.

Full Review Source: Gazette (MD) | comment Comment
03/21/08
Jeffrey Lyles
Jeffrey Lyles
Gazette (MD)

...just the umpteenth killer-virus movie of the last few years...

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
03/25/08
Jim Lane
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review

I still believe with all my heart that no movie with real car stunts, a tough-chick hero, and a severed head that thunks directly into the camera can be all bad. But this is pushing it.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
03/18/08
Jim Ridley
Jim Ridley
Village Voice

Delivers the exploitation goods and then some, but it's so utterly derivative it represents a depressing step backward for Marshall...

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
03/21/08
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

If Doomsday was designed to be trash cinema, the filmmakers achieved their goal and then some.

Full Review Source: Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) | comment Comment
03/21/08
John Wirt
John Wirt
Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)

The survivors have made it a priority -- as they have in so many post-apocalyptic action flicks -- to store up provisions of mascara and hair dye.

Full Review Source: LarsenOnFilm | comment 1 Comment
03/14/08
Josh Larsen
Josh Larsen
LarsenOnFilm

Neil Marshall should be ashamed for foisting such a disappointing follow-up to The Descent on his fans.

Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | comment 1 Comment
03/15/08
Kam Williams
Kam Williams
NewsBlaze
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Doomsday

July 28, 2008: RT on DVD: Harold & Kumar, Doomsday and Dark City Director's Cut
Since we're all still recovering from Comic-Con 2008, and tons of new home video details dropped at the Largest Nerd Gathering in the World, it's time for RT on DVD: Geek... More...

July 25, 2008: Team of specialists sent to quarantined Scotland in post-apocalyptic sci-fi adventure. Opens in new window
More...

May 14, 2008: UK Box Office Breakdown: Speed Racer Tanks
Cripes! The bloodthirsty summer movie season has its first big-budget flop of the summer, and we're only two weeks in. The disappointment, no scrap that, disaster in question... More...

May 06, 2008: Neil Marshall's 10 Post-Apocalyptic Picks
The Doomsday director runs RT through the movies that inspired his cyber-punk vision of a dodgy future. More...

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