DOOMSDAY (2008)

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"Doomed, but had initial promise."

This film is strange. Strange because as a film it doesn't know what it is meant to be? The first half hour makes it look promising indeed, we have a woman Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) who looks like a bad ass police officer. Her look I found a little comparable in some respects to Kate Beckinsale in Underworld. In fact I thought it was Kate Beckinsale at the beginning, until I saw the woman's face clearer.

The plot revolves around the 'Reaper' virus which first appears in Scotland. The Government decide to close the border between Scotland and England, leaving those that are infected to die. Its a bit like 28 days/28 weeks.

After thirty odd years the Reaper virus thought to be contained, appears in London. Plans are afoot to isolate the area as before. But the Government are aware of people still alive in Scotland which would seem to suggest a possible cure.

Katherine Sinclair is to head a team to go into the infected zone, looking for a Doctor who may or may not have the cure to the virus. He was trapped in the infected area when the border was closed. It is known he teamed up with some soldiers who were also stranded, so he seems the most probable man to have perfected a cure.

So far so good, she assembles her team and sets off into the infected zone. At this point we mislay the plot. There are hordes of people still in Glasgow. Because of the circumstances they have turned into marauding savages with an appetite for human flesh.

For some reason it seems a popular ideal that if the world was to go to hell, we would all somehow go punk. Are punks the epitome of hell or something? I wouldn't have thought so. Mohicans are the order of the day, which I somehow doubt would be the case. People I have known who had that hairstyle spend hours getting it right, cans upon cans of hairspray, weird mixtures to make it stand up. In a post-apocalyptic world, I doubt most people would want to spend this amount of time on their hair.

This seems like almost a pure rip from Mad Max II,though Mad Max did it better. Imagine a Braveheart battle scene, then rather than kilts put them in latex trousers, boots, a few tattoos, some body piercing and a Mohican and you will get the general idea.

But it get's better. On one side we have the bloodthirsty Mad Max type Scottish cannibals. On the other side we have people that have regressed to medieval times, sporting swords, bows and arrows, wearing armour and riding horses.Of course this lot are as mad as the cannibals.

Now there is to me a big inconsistency in this film. Seemingly the cannibals in Glasgow turned this way through lack of food. The food ran out, so they started eating one another. Yet when Sinclair first goes into the infected zone, they run over a cow. When they light up the field, there are thousands of cows. So here we have people living off people, when daisy and her pals are roaming around like nothing has happened.

There are some good actors in this, Bob Hoskins, Malcolm MacDowell, and David O'Hara to name a few. The beginning looks positive, but as soon as they get into the infected zone it all falls apart.

The only way I can describe this film, is a cross between 28 days, Max Max II, King Arthur/Excalibur and Escape from New York. We don't so much borrow ideas from these films as blatantly rip them off. It is like the writer/director Neil Marshall has taken bits of all his favourite films and created a collage.

What I find disappointing with this film is it started promisingly. It could have been a much better film, if a little more thought had gone into the plot. In a way I feel Neil Marshall ruined what could have possibly been a very good film.