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.

---

Plot Keywords:

virus | wall | british | major | quarantine | 

---

Taglines:

The End Is Nigh.

---

Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi

---

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

Despite having many dangerous choreographed stunts, only two went wrong. A motorcycle rider was dragged when he meant to roll safely aside. He was not injured. Another was the man whom Sol punches in the face on the train platform; on a second take of the scene, the stuntman's nose was broken.

---

Goofs

While a well-maintained lift would not fall even with the cables cut, due to the use of the Otis elevator brake after 20 years of disuse and poor maintenance, it is quite possible the brake is inoperative.

---

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.

---

Connections

Referenced in Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape (2010)

---

Soundtracks

"The Can Can"
Performed by Ariel Rechtshaid
Courtesy of MasterSource

User Reviews

Stupid. Stupid. And even more stupid than that

I just love the end of the world. Whether it's Day Of The Triffids, War Of The Worlds, The Stand, 28 Days Later or any number of other books or movies, there's some vicious little child in me that takes great joy in seeing the whole of civilization smashed into little bitty pieces. So when I heard that Neil Marshall, the director of the great Dog Soldiers, was making an end-of-the-world movie, my sadistic little heart leapt for joy. This was going to be good. This was going to be one of the movies of the year.

And I gave it the benefit of the doubt, at least at first. The clunky voice-over I could live with, the excessive gore wasn't a problem (exploding bunny, yay!), and... OK, why are those soldiers standing in the middle of a horde of rabid, disease-carrying Scottish people? Especially when there's a big, safe wall not a hundred feet away? And how did they build that wall so quickly, and how did they prevent anyone from getting out of Scotland, especially before anyone knew how serious the virus was? All right, asking too many questions. There's bound to be one or two plot holes, you just have to look the other way and pretend they aren't there. There's a good action sequence, and then

• who's this stumbling old man? He clearly can't act for toffee, but he

looks strangely familiar... Bob Hoskins? When did he become such a lousy actor? OK, we can ignore that - my God, the guy playing Canaris is even worse. And how come, with Britain's economy in the dumper, the population of London has doubled thirty years into the future? Wouldn't people be, you know, leaving, rather than moving INTO horrible slums in a dying city? Where did the infected people in that London basement come from? Did they drop from the sky? How come they got there without infecting half the country on their way? And if the evil mastermind is going to wipe out London anyway, why did he bother sending a team up to find a cure for the virus? What was the point of that? And how did those tanks run into the middle of a vast herd of cows without noticing? One cow you might miss, but there are about a thousand of the buggers milling around, and despite the tank's big glass windows, they don't see any cows until someone steps out of the vehicle. I've heard of selective vision, but that's just dribbling madness.

And oh yeah, you didn't think tanks generally had large, plate glass windows, did you? And if they did, they'd be made of some amazingly tough material, right? Nope. The windows of this tank can be busted by THROWING A ROCK AT THEM - making the invincible machine vulnerable to anyone with a throwing arm and a pebble.

OK, that's enough. 24 minutes into the movie and I just can't write any more. The dialogue is clichéd, the acting is abominable, the plot doesn't make the slightest bit of sense, everything about this film is poorly done trash that seems to have been knocked off in a couple of days by a bunch of witless clowns with less talent than a dung beetle. And yeah, I have seen the rest of the movie - I could be here all day talking about the bits that make no sense, but I'll spare you.

All right. Getting worked up now. I'll just take my medication and go off to bed. And when I wake the next morning, maybe I'll have forgotten this wretched, pathetic, miserable dog's dinner of a film.