Saturday, August 08, 2009

Doomsday

Doomsday is a post-apocalyptic British film directed by Neil Marshall (The Descent, Dog Soldiers).

The film tells of a future where a 100% fatal virus has infected Scotland, causing the British government to wall off the entire place (Escape from New York style). Years later, the virus which appears to have been contained has a breakout in central London. With this crisis, the government reveals that not everyone appears to have died. A mission is sent into the now closed off Scotland, to recover a potential cure. What they find are punks and people who have regressed centuries due to being cut off from the civilized world.

The film stars Rhona Mitra as Major Eden Sinclair, Bob Hoskins as Bill Nelson, Malcolm McDowell as Marcus Kane, Alexander Siddig as Prime Minister John Hatcher, David O'Hara as Michael Canaris, and Craig Conway as Sol.

The film was brutal and unrelenting in the violence portrayed on screen. So violent it's almost a distraction from the plot. It's not that I don't like violence in my films or that I'm that squeamish (only when something nasty happens to the eyes), I just felt that key sequences appeared to be designed just to show some super violent death or maiming.

* 1/2 out of *****

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