You’ll be buzzing about the animal mutilations and the eyeball, and probably pick out more influences than I have with the concept crossover. You’ll also probably yell, ‘Off wit his head,’ in the gladiator sequence too. You’ll definitely cheer at all the gore scenes.

::


Doomsday

Final taste test: Needs to be seen and in the theater.

Film Genre Breakdown:
Action: 60 percent
Comedy: 15 percent, and all dark
Drama: 15 percent
Mystery: 5 percent
Romance: 5 percent

Cool Factor rating: 100 percent
Silence in the theater: 90 percent

Best facet of the film: The three ‘worlds’, and freakin’ Malcolm McDowell, baby!
Concept Crossover: 12 Monkeys to Escape From New York to the Mad Max Trilogy.

Peapod Reviews:

Friends Pea:
You’ll be buzzing about the animal mutilations and the eyeball, and probably pick out more influences than I have with the concept crossover. You’ll also probably yell, ‘Off wit his head,’ in the gladiator sequence too. You’ll definitely cheer at all the gore scenes.

Family Pea:
Even little kids will enjoy the spectacle, but it definitely earns the R rating. If you don’t mind subjecting your children to lots of violence and gore (with humans and animals), then go for it. They probably won’t get a lot of the dark humor though, and will get restless whenever there’s dialogue, which may be difficult for the to understand with the accents.

Cinephile Pea:
You’ll be arguing later about how many other movies it ripped off, but hopefully realize that that was the point, to take successful themes and combine them into something different, and with a kickass lead actress. I picked out one continuity error, but that’s what they get for having an injury for more than half the movie. You’ll have to contend though that it has a strong beginning, and actually has a deeper purpose with the story.

Escapist Pea:
You’ll be waiting for the inevitable sequel, and want to see the unrated version as soon as possible. Familiar themes of the lone warrior will draw you in, and the various stages of social decay will draw you into their worlds. Loads of action, gore, and dark humor will keep you sated.

Geek Pea:
You’ll be blogging about the social orders in a heartbeat, and debate who would win a fight: Eden Sinclair, the lead character, Mad Max, Snake Plissken, or Resident Evil’s Alice. Like me, you’ll be identifying the medieval weapons, want the modern weapons, and fully expect there to be a video game version asap. Also, if you’ve ever played Car Wars, you’ll not want to miss this one.


Main Review:

Aside from the slightly inaccurate title, this is my kind of movie. In fact, I think they made it especially for my tastes. The strong, cold, and brutal female lead with a a conscience and a legitimate purpose satisfied my Sarah Connor fix. The road battles fulfilled my Mad Max/Road Warrior/Beyond Thunderdome needs. A society of chaos tapped into the inner anarchist, and a ravaging disease (without zombies, thankfully) brought me back into the future world of 12 Monkeys. A reminder of the military crew from Aliens, and a desire to see the female lead and Snake Plissken fight together, kept me fixated throughout the movie. It’s brutal and bloody, and pretty much everybody is unforgiving. Darwin would be proud.

The story keeps things simple. Disease ravages Scotland, so England decides to build a wall around it. Years later, the disease returns. Toss in a government secret, and London’s best and most ruthless enforcer, and you have a do or die scenario smart enough to hold on to your attention because of an early emotional scene. We travel through three worlds, with three very different power structures, and, ultimately, it is up to the moviegoer to decide which one makes the most sense.

Neil Marshall does triple duty with Doomsday, and the total creative control shows. You’re going to have a hard time forgetting what this writer/director/editor throws at you. It was one more duty than his last film, The Descent, different but equally unforgettable (he definitely likes female leads, and knows what to do with them). I haven’t seen his Dog Soldiers yet, about British solders on manuvers battling werewolves in rustic country, but from what I’ve read it seems pretty fantastic. Neil Marshall appears definitely fond of the Ten Little Indians-type story line as he eliminates his characters in these three films one by one.

Bob Hoskins is a familiar face, giving us a mentor with a matching conscience to Eden, and Alexander Siddig is too, which you may know from Syriana and the 2007 season of the television show 24. Now, Rhona Mitra, the actress playing Eden Sinclair, has been around a while, but it’s safe to say that this is a breakthrough role for her. She carries the film well, and you don’t doubt for a second that she’ll give you a beatdown if you get in her way or a bullet in the head if she thinks you deserve it.

If she smiled in the film, I don’t remember it. That rules. Her character’s not indestructible, but she can sure take a beating. Rhona gives enough to let us know there’s a human under the machine that the film’s government has honed. Still, even she is overshadowed by a wonderfully gruff and gnarly Malcolm McDowell, who hits his character’s mark spot on (of course).

Doomsday definitely grips the eyeballs. One look at the railer will tell you what to expect, but once you get to swim in the R rating a bit, the gore will produce shock, surprise, and giggles (well, if you can tap into a dark sense of humor). Some of the spectacles will inspire a rewind desire, and while it may not be too noticeable, the three ‘worlds’ each definitely have unique looks.

The range of costumes and set designs was equally grand, and you definitely won’t doubt what your seeing. I will admit that Eden Sinclair’s ‘camera’, might have benefited from a smoother visual, but it got the job done. The film, interesting enough, constantly uses signs to twist the audience in a particular direction. Some aresubtle and comical but all add to the film.

The gore is accompanied by gore-matching sounds which have just the right measure of comical and sick and are definitely the most memorable aural parts of the movie. The weaponry and fighting clang in your head quite nicely, and the dialogue has the right amount of punch. Eden’s camera suffered a bit from generic sound, but like lthe movie’s visual affects, it was acceptable.

There’s more to Doomsday than just action, but Neil Marshall was smart enough to keep the adrenaline pumping for most of the movie. It’s twisted enough, but not so much that the audience lost the emotional connect with the hard as nails heroine. It could have been longer, though. It has the potential to be an epic three to four-hour movie, exploring the three worlds thoroughly.

I normally am not fond of movie or character crossovers, but I would definitely see a flick with Eden Sinclair teaming up with Mad Max or Snake Plissken. If there isn’t a sequel within five years, I’ll write Neil Marshall, demanding it.

After taste test: Reserve your DVD copy now. It’s definitely the type of movie you could watch over and over. I’ll definitely be adding Doomsday to my own DVD collection, and see the sequel without hesitation.

Official site:

Doomsday: Rough Enough


The WORD’s Gresham Gregory can be reached at overthere@mac.com.