Good story, Not enough for a whole film

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Captivating movie !

Doomsday as others have remarked is a cross of many SF classics, Mad Max, Aliens and Escape from New York to name just 3 The plot sees Scotland cut off from the rest of the world due to a killer virus. However when the same virus rears it's head in London a team of special forces ops and medics are sent into Glasgow when signs of life may mean that there is a cure. What they find is a savage society where canibalism is the norm. Doomsday is filled with action set pieces of the highest order plus a cast that includes Bob Hoskins and Malcolm MacDowall. This is a film that gives your money's worth.

Doomsday is a ridiculously trashy post punk action picture set in a futuristic Britain.A deadly virus has caused chaos in Scotland. The government has erected a 12 foot steel wall along the border to separate it from the rest of the country.Now, 20 years later the virus is broken out in London and the government needs to find a cure. They know that there are survivors up in Scotland and send a unit to find someone with immunity.Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) is leading the troops, she is feisty and brave. She needs to be as Scotland is a post apocalyptic nightmare and she thinks the government who have sent her have an agenda.It is clear that writer/director Neil Marshall wears his film and musical influences on a sleeve here. There is a soundtrack harking back to the 198os. There are nods to films such as Mad Max, 28 Days Later, Escape from New York.I just think it was all a bit banal and bad. The gratuitous violence against women is off putting though.

I might be a late comer for this film and Doomsday was released in 2008. It was directed by Neil Marshall who's work include The Descent, Dog Soldiers and some TV episodes. I've seen Dog Soldiers before this and loved it, so I was actually interested at Doomsday, as Neil Marshall seems to love 80's movies a lot. Dog Soldiers was pretty much a homage to 80's horror films and Doomsday obviously takes influence from Mad Max but also seems to add some elements from 28 Days Later (great film).Doomsday doesn't seem to be known by most people and was a box office disappointment and after seeing Doomsday, I wasn't surprised why it failed.Doomsday starts out great as we see that there is a dangerous disease called, Reaper virus, which kills most of the infected. UK government isolates Scotland by building a large wall near Hadrian's wall (I think). This causes diplomatic problems with the rest of the world among other issues like civil unrest and unemployment. After 25 years (or 27 or 30, I don't know. The information is conflicted), Reaper virus is found on London. Quarantines take place and most likely isn't going to hold long, so other measures should be taken. It it revealed that Scotland has survivors, meaning that there should be a cure and government sends a small group to find it.By now it's clear that Doomsday isn't very logical film and it's suppose to be like old B-movies. It doesn't make sense most of the time, but doesn't take itself too seriously. To put it simply, stupid fun. I would argue that it works for the first half, but the moment action starts behind the walls, Doomsday becomes a mess. Too many illogical situations come and go, along with the action. This wouldn't necessary be a bad thing for this kind of film, but there's so many fast cuts and poorly paced music, it becomes annoying. It's sad because I actually found the previous moments very interesting and even creepy. There were high stakes finding the cure and we do see some moments of total chaos in London (unlike in misleading trailer, it didn't have the time to spread to whole region).There are so many questions left after seeing the film. I know it's suppose to be silly on purpose but it's not silly in a good way. For example: 1. How did Reaper Virus got into London sewers without infecting people that are near Scotland. I assumed it was smugglers, but why would they go to Scotland and wasn't it the most heavily guarded places on earth? If it was the government sector that did it, wouldn't it make sense to send a squad to get the cure before releasing Reaper virus to London? 2. How did cannibals come up a good plan against two armored vehicles? Did they have scouts all over the place? They just suddenly come out of nowhere like they are ghosts or something. Also, why was it a good idea to bring that one woman inside the vehicle when it was SO OBVIOUS that she was a bait. 3. How did cannibals and medieval-like knights (seriously) find the good guys so easily? It happens three times and they somehow organized everything.4. What were good guys trying to do after finding out that former doctor (played by Malcolm McDowell) has gone crazy. I understand why the lead female intentionally got caught, but what were they trying to do before getting caught? Did they try to approach the castle or something else? There are other problems, but I don't have enough time and space to mention all of them.I can live with the wall building speed and unrealistic tribes with great amount of fuel and resources even after 25 years, but adding too much silly moments while trying to keep a serious tone can break the film. I just don't think that same magic can be added to modern movies unlike in 70's and 80's. Dog Soldiers is an exception, but somehow Marshall, with his team, failed to capture the 80's in Doomsday. There are definitely good moments in Doomsday, which is why I give Doomsday a 4/10, like the first half of the film, special effects were top notch (hard to tell difference between practical effects and CGI) and action wasn't bad until the final action sequence (which did have one shot that was awesome). Casting was surprisingly good even if dialogue was slightly cringe-worthy. Actors did fine job with the material they were given; Bob Hoskins' character being my favorite. The moments when we see Reaper virus affecting people were honestly creepy and I wished the film would've shown more. Doomsday does forget what it's suppose to be and tries too hard to be 80's film.I wouldn't give a 4/10 and instead give it a perhaps 7/10 or 8/10 if the film keep the tone and atmosphere of the first half. Too long action setup without breaks with continuous action music playing in the background and fast editing just hurt my ears and eyes. Just because you make quick edits and add music to a scene, it doesn't make a good action film. The last half was really that bad.

The only redeeming feature about this truly horrible film is that it could be taken as a rather amusing commentary on the relationship between Scotland and England. This is Scotland after independence, perhaps? Tartan-clad rabid cannibals dancing manically to the bagpipes as the English roast in their flames... This is utter nonsense I wasted minutes of my life on I won't get back. I only watched it for Rhona Mitra, whom I'm enjoying very much in The Last Ship. I suspect she does not look back fondly to making this horrible, horrible film. Perhaps when they told her the plot for The Last Ship (also a pandemic from a virus) she had a moment of PTSD. I'm waffling to get my word count up to the required amount. Once you've said this movie is beyond bad, where do you go with your critique? And if you're writing a plot where the inhabitants of a sealed-off country have turned to cannibalism to survive, don't then also have millions of cows roaming free everywhere... Don't quote me on this, but I "think" you can eat cows?