Doomsday (2008)

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

Director:

Neil Marshall

Writer:

Neil Marshall

Stars:

Caryn Peterson, Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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	...	Eden Sinclair

Storyline

A lethal virus spreads throughout the British isles,infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands. To contain the threat, acting authorities brutally quarantine the country as it succumbs to fear and chaos. The quarantine is successful. Three decades later, the Reaper virus violently resurfaces in a major city. An elite group of specialists, including Eden Sinclair, is urgently dispatched into the still-quarantined country to retrieve a cure by any means necessary. Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare.

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Plot Keywords:

virus | wall | british | major | quarantine | 

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Taglines:

Mankind has an expiration date

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [jp]

Country:

UK USA South Africa Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 March 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Doomsday - El día del juicio

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£311,383 (UK) (9 May 2008)

Gross:

£944,521 (UK) (23 May 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rogue Pictures, Intrepid Pictures, Crystal Sky Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min 113 min (uncut)

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES Dolby Digital EX

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Alexander Siddig, playing the British PM, is the real-life nephew of Malcolm McDowell, playing a leading figure among the Scots in this picture.

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Goofs

During the PM's brief, during which the contingency plan to isolate "All of London north of the river" is outlined, a map of London and the flood barrier is shown. Judging by the scale (approximately determinable by the readily recognizable kink in the Thames), the barrier only goes as far north as Hackney, and thus is isolating maybe 20-30 square miles out of the 600 or so square miles of London.

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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.

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Connections

References The Last Boy Scout (1991)

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Soundtracks

"Club Foot"
Written by Christopher Karloff and Sergio Pizzorno
Performed by Kasabian
Courtesy of The RCA Records Label and Sony BMG Music Entertainment (UK) Ltd.
by arrangement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment

User Reviews

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.