Doomsday (UK - DVD R2)
Leigh Riding checks out director Neil Marshall's British actioner on DVD...
Feature
In the year 2008, a devastating viral strain known as the Reaper virus erupts and threatens to wipe out Scotland, forcing government officials to quarantine the country by constructing a 21st century Hadrian's Wall in order to isolate the infected. In 2035, a new strain of the virus erupts in London, and the secret of a potential cure is discovered to exist in the heart of Scotland, now inhabited by vicious, feral gangs. The chief of police enlists Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) and her squad to retrieve the cure from gang leader Kane (Malcolm McDowell) before the whole of Great Britain is engulfed by the disease.

The writer/director Neil Marshall is a genuine rarity in British cinema; a committed genre film maker. With the exception of Paul Anderson, there are no notable champions of the sci-fi, horror and action genres. The British industry generally produce heritage cinema and worthy human drama, and frown on the more mainstream 'popcorn' fare, and when an established director such as Danny Boyle tackles horror and sci-fi, the British film industry attempt to dismiss the genre angles and sell them as 'worthier' films.
However, although Anderson struggled in the UK with British productions like the underrated Event Horizon, Marshall bucked the trend by making the popular Dog Soldiers and the acclaimed The Descent, both becoming modest hits. It was only a matter of time before Marshall was approached by the major studios. Doomsday is the result.

Smartly moving away from straight horror for his major studio debut, Marshall settles for a far more action oriented movie, and takes advantage of the increased budget by crafting his 'love letter' movie, in much the same manner as Grindhouse. The inspirations for Doomsday are right there for everybody to find; early John Carpenter, the Mad Max trilogy and 28 Days Later are obvious, and subtle nods to Army of Darkness and George Romero's lesser seen Knightriders are also there to find. Although Doomsday is an undeniably well made film, Marshall lets the influences run riot, tipping the film from homage to full blown pastiche. There's no getting around the fact; Doomsday imitates Carpenter's Escape From New York so closely, it could be labelled as a remake.

Being the huge John Carpenter fan I am, and an Escape From New York fan in particular, the similarities are as clear as day. The score echoes vintage Carpenter; aside from the virus macguffin the plot is incredibly similar; Rhona Mitra's character wears an eye patch; the hero is forced into a fight to the death armed with maces and shields, just like the famous 'boxing ring' fight in Escape From New York; and the chase climax simply replaces the Brooklyn Bridge with a Scottish highway. Calling one of the characters Fresno Bob doesn't help either. Even when Marshall leaves that film alone, he lets his love of Mad Max run rampant, with the climactic chase echoing The Road Warrior a little too closely, and the main villain Sol (Craig Conway) being far to similar to Wez from the same film. The barrage of familiar imagery threatens to capsize the film.

Surprisingly the film stays afloat. Although it's all been seen before, the film still entertains. There isn't an ounce of fat on the script, the action is brisk, hard-hitting and well staged (a siege and APC escape early in the film reminiscent of Aliens is superb), production values are high, and all of the actors are game. For those who like their action hard and bloody, the film certainly comes up trumps, with enough exploding heads and flattened bodies to please the old school. Doomsday has a sense of energy and enthusiasm that is undeniably infectious. Although a pastiche of classic films, this is crafted with far more skill, care and attention than one would expect.

Video
For those of us still clinging on to standard DVD for dear life, transfers like this give us something to be smug about. The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer here is outstanding (despite the incredibly annoying Universal watermark on this screener), with no grain, edge enhancement or loss of detail. The film's distinctive colour scheme is also well served, and black detail is solid throughout. The night-time action sequences early in the film are incredibly well handled in particular, and as a whole the transfer is superb. Without upscaling this is a good looking disc, but stick the upscale on, and this is a cracker.

Audio
The 5.1 Dolby Digital mix is an absolute stonker too, offering a textbook action mix. Soundtrack and dialogue are well separated, with plenty of activity in the surrounds and lots of well placed ambient effects spaced around the 5.1 system. Action sequences are incredibly strong, with the gunfire sounding immense, and the car engines practically growl with bottom end. Explosions sound huge with added bass to blow your hair back. This is a track to rattle the windows with, and makes a DTS option redundant. Credit to Universal for not skimping on the standard DVD in favour of BD in the audio/video area.

Extras
Anybody who owns the Dog Soldiers DVD will know that the commentary with the director and stars was one of the best there is outside of a Carpenter/Russell talk track. Unfortunately, this track (featuring director Neil Marshall, and actors Sean Pertwee, Darren Morfitt, Rick Warden, and Les Simpson) is slightly disappointing, with lots of long, long gaps. However, there is some great stuff on here, and Marshall is the first to point out some of his more outrageous steals from other movies. It's definitely a lad's commentary and everybody's clearly having a laugh watching the movie. It's a good natured track, and it's nice to hear the cast (Marshall's long time friends) congratulate the director for his success.
‘Anatomy of Catastrophe: Civilization on the Brink’ is a standard making-of, with all the usual talking heads, and doesn't really delve too deep into the production.
‘The Visual Effects and Wizardry of Doomsday’ uses comparison shots and interviews with the effects department, and does what it says on the tin. ‘Devices of Death: Guns, Gadgets, and Vehicles of Destruction’ is the boy's toys section of the disc, taking a look at the hardware on offer in the movie. In all, it's a fairly decent set of extras for a release at this level.

Overall
There is no doubt that Doomsday will split the audience straight down the middle. there will be those who will be unable to look past the similarities to much loved movies of the past and just see a noisy bastardisation of old favourites, and there will be those who will look past the similarities and simply be drawn in by the cheeky enthusiasm and sheer energy of the film and have a rollicking time. Loud, occasionally uneven, derivative and always huge fun, the film is recommended as a solid throwback movie made by grown-up boys for grown-up boys... like me.
Review by Leigh Riding
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Existing Posts
if u r looking for an action moive, u may enjoy this a bit...
if u r looking for a horror movie, then u may not like it...
if u r looking for both on this, then u got it...
i thought it was a decent horror film with some action scenes, and it was more action that horror... and not a huge action movie... it was just OK... and with some stupid mistakes, but after all i enjoyed it... just a bit, but wouldnt watch it more than twice...
if u r looking for a horror movie, then u may not like it...
if u r looking for both on this, then u got it...
i thought it was a decent horror film with some action scenes, and it was more action that horror... and not a huge action movie... it was just OK... and with some stupid mistakes, but after all i enjoyed it... just a bit, but wouldnt watch it more than twice...
I just blind bought this on Wed and loved it this is the first Neil Marshall film I have seen (I blind bought "Dog Soldiers" but havent gotten around to watching it yet)I would rather have "Doomsday" then a remake of "Eascape from New York".
I really liked Doomsday. I don't think I'll be watching it again, but I thought it was above average homage. The evil cannibal punks dancing around to the Fine Young Cannibal's "Good Thing" was the moment I realized I was officially enjoying myself.
I rented the Blu-ray last week and thought it was fun. Not high art, but it contained some pretty awesome action scenes and okay performances.
8/10
8/10
leigh1975 wrote: losthighway wrote:
THERE ARE A FEW OF US! BluRay just leaves me cold!
BluRay doesn't leave me cold per se, it's more the 250 quid price tag for the player that does...I agree - HD is the way of the future no matter what 'format' it is.
Just the high prices......
THERE ARE A FEW OF US! BluRay just leaves me cold!
BluRay doesn't leave me cold per se, it's more the 250 quid price tag for the player that does...I agree - HD is the way of the future no matter what 'format' it is.
Just the high prices......
I loved this film. Saw it twice in theaters and i have the DVD. I see as a great actioner and loving homage (to Carpenter's EFNY and the Mad Max films).
losthighway wrote:
THERE ARE A FEW OF US! BluRay just leaves me cold!
BluRay doesn't leave me cold per se, it's more the 250 quid price tag for the player that does...
THERE ARE A FEW OF US! BluRay just leaves me cold!
BluRay doesn't leave me cold per se, it's more the 250 quid price tag for the player that does...
I'm on the "noisy b*****disation of old favourites" side of the fence. Absolute tosh.
IMHO Dog Soliders was dire and way over-hyped. Have heard nothing but poor reviews for this one but will probably give it a rent if nothing else takes my fancy.
I agree with your comment though Leigh... For those of us still clinging on to standard DVD for dear life, transfers like this give us something to be smug about...
THERE ARE A FEW OF US! BluRay just leaves me cold!
I agree with your comment though Leigh... For those of us still clinging on to standard DVD for dear life, transfers like this give us something to be smug about...
THERE ARE A FEW OF US! BluRay just leaves me cold!
Doomsday was just plain fun.I loved how they set up, what should have been long lasting characters and took them out without a care in the world. Great leave your brain at the door fun!
Good review Leigh!
Good review Leigh!
S**t film. Martin Compston was wasted in it also, could have developed his character a bit better.
I watched this one on blu-ray (USA version) last week and I actually loved this film for what it was: a noisy, violent, fun, over the top and completely insane collage of old favourites. And any film that puts a great song like Dog Eat Dog by Adam And The Ants on the soundtrack is okay in my book...
Scandalously, In The Mouth Of Madness is only available on R1. Come on EIV, you sold the VHS...
Only seen that once and mostly forgotten it. Always intended to pick up the DVD but never got around to it.
Never too fond of Memoirs Of An Invisible Man or Village Of The Damned either, Carpenter definitely hit a 90s slump. However In The Mouth Of Madness is the nuts.
Vampires is better than them both, but only because of James Woods
Escape from LA and Ghosts of Mars are piss poor though.

Chris Gould wrote: I didn't know this disc was watermarked before I sent it to you Leigh; we usually don't review those discs. Stupid bloody practice anyway. It doesn't curb piracy - we're not the ones ripping the discs off (they should look closer to home).
I can see the point of watermarks on the feature, but watermarks all over the featurettes was a LITTLE excessive...
In a wierd way, it IS c**p; one wonders if it's actually the long rumoured remake, changed for legal reasons. It's better than Escape From L.A., but then again, even Ghosts Of Mars is better than Escape From L.A. (cue rabid John Carpenter debate from staff members...)
I can see the point of watermarks on the feature, but watermarks all over the featurettes was a LITTLE excessive...
In a wierd way, it IS c**p; one wonders if it's actually the long rumoured remake, changed for legal reasons. It's better than Escape From L.A., but then again, even Ghosts Of Mars is better than Escape From L.A. (cue rabid John Carpenter debate from staff members...)

I didn't know this disc was watermarked before I sent it to you Leigh; we usually don't review those discs. Stupid bloody practice anyway. It doesn't curb piracy - we're not the ones ripping the discs off (they should look closer to home).
Anyway, I thought this was c**p
They should have called it Escape from Glasgow.
Anyway, I thought this was c**p



Suitable only for persons of 18 years and over
Disc Details
Release Date:
1st September 2008
Discs:
1
Disc Type:
Single side, dual layer
RCE:
No
Video:
PAL
Aspect:
2.35:1
Anamorphic:
Yes
Colour:
Yes
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 English, Dolby Digital 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles:
English, Spanish
Extras:
Feature Commentary with Director Neil Marshall and Cast Members Sean Pertwee, Darren Morfitt, Rick Warden and Les Simpson, Anatomy of Catastrophe: Civilization on the Brink, The Visual Effects and Wizardry of Doomsday, Devices of Death: Guns, Gadgets and Vehicles of Destruction
Easter Egg:
No
Feature Details
Director:
Neil Marshall
Cast:
Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Malcolm McDowell, Sean Pertwee, Craig Conway
Genre:
Action
Length:
109 minutes
Ratings
Awards


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