Doomsday (2008)

Director:

Neil Marshall

Writer:

Neil Marshall (writer)

Release Date:

14 March 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The End Is Nigh.

Plot:

A futuristic action thriller where a team of people work to prevent a disaster threatening the future of the human race.

Plot Keywords:

Virus | Wall | Quarantine | Future | Major

Cast

Caryn Peterson	...	Vagrant Girl
Adeola Ariyo	...	Nurse
Emma Cleasby	...	Katherine Sinclair
Christine Tomlinson	...	Young Eden Sinclair
Vernon Willemse	...	David / Gimp
Paul Hyett	...	Hot Dog Victim
Daniel Read	...	Sergeant #1
Karl Thaning	...	Pilot
Stephen Hughes	...	Soldier #1 / Johnson
Jason Cope	...	Wall Guard
Ryan Kruger	...	Soldier
Nathan Wheatley	...	Patient "X"
Cecil Carter	...	DDS Assault Trooper
Jeremy Crutchley	...	Richter
Rhona Mitra	...	Maj. Eden Sinclair

Also Known As:

Doomsday - Tag der Rache (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexual content/nudity.

Runtime:

USA:105 min | USA:113 min (uncut version) | UK:108 min

Country:

UK | USA | South Africa | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES | Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #44107) | Ireland:18 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:NC-16 (edited version) | Hong Kong:III | Norway:18 | Netherlands:16 | Finland:K-18 | South Korea:18 | Germany:18 (cut) | Sweden:15 | Taiwan:R-18 | Australia:R | Italy:VM14 | New Zealand:R16 | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Portugal:M/16 | Iceland:16 | Australia:MA (Cable TV rating) | France:-12 (with warning) | Brazil:14 | Argentina:16 | Japan:R15+

Filming Locations:

Blackness Castle, Blackness, Falkirk, West Lothian, Scotland, UK

Company:

Rogue Pictures

Trivia:

The APC vehicles were manufactured with real steel plating and armor plated glass windscreens so that actors and stunt people could interact with them authentically. They took four or five weeks to design and ten weeks to build. Two were manufactured, and every piece of them was custom made.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the top secret satellite photos we see only few lonely people but when the crew arrives at the city they encounter hordes and hordes of "punks". However, the satellite photos are said to be from 3 years previous, the gangs may not have been as prominent as they are at the time period in the film.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Kane: Like so many epidemics before, the loss of so many lives began with a single microscopic organism. It's human nature to seek even the smallest comfort in reason, or logic for events as catastrophic as these. But a virus doesn't choose a time or place. It doesn't hate or even care. It just happens.

Movie Connections:

References Escape from New York (1981)

Soundtrack:

Spellbound

Maybe ridiculous, but an interesting action thing

Like Dave White says on his review, this movie is all about action and gore and it has anything you can imagine. Pick up your favorite thing of any action movie... Yeah, it has.

Neil Marshall is the director of this sci-fi-thriller-epic. He's also the director of The Descent (2005), an incredible thriller with great tastes of horror with an outstanding grand finale.

Of course that Doomsday is not so refined like his previous movie, but while the The Descent is all about technical perfection, Neil Marshall seems like just having fun here, and that's what makes this movie so enjoyable, because it's thrilling without being intelligent, it's funny without being crappy, it's frightening without being predictable and also predictable without being unpleasant. It's a very uncommon action movie that brings us back to great references in action movies thru the years since the 80's. It could have been a huge mess, but it actually works. It starts as an horror movie like 28 Days Later, then it becomes a sci-fi movie with tastes of Alien, bring us great remembers of Mad Max, passes thru dungeons tales and ends up like The Transporter. Right to the point: Neil Marshall is not afraid to dare and play with clichés in action movies over the decades.

Doomsday has some resemblances to his previous movie: it's all surrounded by a female character; the main character has to deal with "things" that somehow survived in a stark place and the characters has to deal with extreme conditions.

The main character is performed by Rhona Mitra, an actress who is gradually gaining prominence and more interesting major roles mainly in action movies. And she deserves it. Specifically in this movie she is a bad-ass woman with heroic intentions but politically incorrect, which makes her character well edged with an interesting appeal, giving to the audience fair reasons to keep their attention always on her and thrill with every moment she gives. The movie is all about her, and Rhona Mitra was a good choice for the role because she has all the qualities and flaws that fits perfectly to the character.

If you like action movies but it's not worried to dare something a little different from what is being produced in the last few years, this is an excellent choice. It's not something that you will keep remembering for a good time like the movies that became references to this one, but it's something that you will enjoy (a lot) for a few hours.