Doomsday

Title: Doomsday
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: Action, Sci Fi, Adventure, (Comedy)
Starring: Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Craig Conway, Michael McDowell
Director: Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, Descent)

There will be few references to this being a comedy, and whilst this might be a stretch from what you would normally expect from such a film in this genre, one cant help but chuckle at the sheer ridiculousness of the plot. Those with difficulty in suspending disbelief during a film should avoid this like the plague (which coincidentally, runs rampant during this). An obvious homage to B-Movies of the past it clashes them together in a train wreck of style, providing waves of action that whilst obscurely coming about, never fail in entertaining.

It is Glasgow, Scotland that the deadly ‘reaper’ virus came about, highly infectious destroying people in their millions. A wall was placed, separating the scots from the rest of the world (who remain uninfected, naturally), until finally, over two decades later, the virus has spread to the heart of London. Enter Eden Sinclair (Mitra), suicidal woman sent with a rag-tag group of young soldiers (amongst them a ‘Carpenter’ and ‘Miller,’ just in case the influences weren’t clear enough) under her command (most of which don’t last long) sent back into Scotland to try and discover the cure from those few survivors who still remain there.

Prominently featuring the cannibalistic punk rockers who have since escaped from ‘Mad Max,’ Bob Hoskins as the disillusioned mad scientist who has lost faith in humanity, locking himself up in a castle where only watching gladiatorial combat manages to raise his spirits, and the magic of the modern equivalent of the ‘Mines of Moria’ as they are led by a rampant Robin Hood fan too the treasure deep within the mountain (a brand new, fully operational Bentley continental); this feels like the missing part of ‘Grindhouse,’ or the sequel to Raimi’s ‘Army of Darkness,’ if not for the unfortunate absence of Bruce Campbell.

The acting quality varies, the lead unbelievably wooden and emotionally retarded, it is fortunate little is required of her beyond wearing that tight vest and hitting things, the soldiers themselves incapable of entirely comprehending their stupid actions[1], naturally making their jobs more difficult. McDowell lends his ever present, never tiring embittered old-man voice to the proceedings, and Hoskins lends his standard good cop routine. Instead, the show (at least for me) is stolen by the characters of ‘Sol’ (Conway) and ‘Viper’ (Lee-Ann Leibenberg), the leader of the punks desperate to see our leads heads on a pike[2] and his – strangely arousing[3] and heavily tattooed – girlfriend respectively, with a fun-filled ferocity their presence almost immediately elevates the enjoyment of the scene.

I’m not going to pretend this is anything original[4] or a masterpiece of any form, in fact the opposite is closer to being true; this film is terrible. The plot is abysmal and the acting often laughable, and this is precisely what makes it so enjoyable to watch. No film concerned with attempting to be realistic in any manner could have pulled such an endeavour off successfully. Despite a slow start, once it gets going you’ll either find yourself rolling your eyes so much it hurts, or in a geek-lovers, B-Movie homage heaven.

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[1] “A survivor! She could be infected! Here, shove this shopping bag over your head and come into the APC with me” and “Damnit, we made this APC resistant to chemical weapons, gunfire and missile attack but forgot to get double glazing on the windows” stand out as prominent examples in my mind.

[2] Sol angry at the beheading of Viper – it must be said this death was the only one I was upset about. Screw the soldiers, save the tattooed pyromaniac!

[3]Rawr

[4] HAH!