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Saturday, November 21, 2009
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‘Doomsday’ is really doomed
Movie Review: Doomsday
By Rachel Shepard
Special to 2theadvocate.com
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PLAY OFFICIAL TRAILER
out of 4 stars.
The quarantine proves successful, but decades later the Reaper virus appears in London, and a team of specialists is sent out to find a cure before everyone is infected. Leading the team is Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) who goes back to the still-quarantined area to battle through the death and destruction of old Scotland.
With Neil Marshall directing “Doomsday,” there were great expectations as his previous modern horror films, “Dog Soldiers” and “Descent,” were well-received hits. However, “Doomsday” fell way short of the mark.
It reminded me of a B horror film with an added futuristic twist. The only thing that set it apart from this genre was a bigger budget and slightly better cinematography.
The writing wasn’t as cheesy as we usually get from these sort of films, but it seemed as if the only reason people would talk is to fill space to get to the next gory fight scene.
I expected some blood and violence as its R rating stated that as a reason, but the amount of blood and guts was totally unnecessary. It seemed they were more interested in throwing blood on the camera lens than actually having the plot make sense. Even for someone who probably enjoys gore, this film took it over the top, and it got real old real fast. From the very first scene, people were being shot and their blood was being sprayed everywhere. It was a never-ending blood fest that became more disturbing the more you saw.
There was one point in the film where it actually seemed to make sense and drew you in to what was going on. You found yourself rooting for Eden and her gang to succeed, until they came out of the woods and stumbled upon a secret high-speed car. It appeared out of nowhere along with a box of high-tech cell phones that none of the virus victims had found in 30 years. Thus -- like every other action film -- a high-speed chase ensued.
One decent aspect of the film was that it was very feminist-friendly. In “Doomsday,” the women always win, and they will kill you if you cross them. The girls will like Eden Sinclair because she can handle herself without a man’s help, and the guys will like her because she’s a hot bad girl. Mitra did an excellent job playing Sinclair, and I expect we’ll see a lot more from her in the future.
Overall “Doomsday” didn’t impress me much, but if you are looking for a blood bath without much meat, then you will probably enjoy this one much more than I did.
