Doomsday Review

"Doomsday" is surely one of those ideas that looks great on paper but when realised things do indeed appear bleak. Director Neill Marshall was batting a thousand with his "Dog Soldiers" and "The Descent" - two projects blending and refitting generic conventions superbly. Can he repeat the feat here with an oddball apocalyptic vision?

"Doomsday" just doesn't know what film it wants to be. It's like "Mad Max" meets "28 Days Later" via "Escape from New York" with a pinch of "Top Gear" thrown in (no seriously). It apes some the things that made these films great but the combined effect here is so derivative it actually stings.

Scotland has been infected with the Reaper Virus - a truly nasty piece of work that goes about liquefying the population in double-quick time. The response to this epidemic is to rebuild Hadrian's Wall and quarantine the entire country. That's all well and good but lo and behold the virus crops up some 25 years later just off the bank of the Thames. That's not all - there are survivors walking the streets of Glasgow. And survivors means there's a cure right? So the Prime Minister, with the aid of Chief Bill Nelson (Bob Hoskins), and his insidious right-hand-man Canaris (David O'Hara) decides to send a team of mercenaries north of the border to hunt down the survivors and find the apparent cure. Chosen to lead the team is Major Eden Sinclair (Rhone Mitra), a one-eyed super soldier with the disarming party trick of using her artificial eye as a surveillance device before entering the fray. Of course what the team find up there is a smorgasbord of craziness. An immunity to the virus has sired two very distinct tribal factions. One punk-like clan who like nothing better than prancing about to the Fine Young Cannibals whilst….wait for it….eating people with "Thunderdome"-esque glee. The other is a medieval obsessed group led by Dr. Kane (Malcolm McDowell). Both are equally bonkers and so the stage is set for some faintly inspired carnage and a high concept apocalypse. Oh and there's even time for a shameless Bentley plug in the final reel.

"Doomsday" deserves the odd bit of praise for its sheer ballsyness alone. The mix of all of these genre tropes shouldn't work…and it doesn't in the end. But at least Marshall had a stab at it (and a hack and slash as well). All the actors involved here have experienced better (even the relatively new Mitra can fall back on some strong US television work) but this is a real set back for an undeniably talented director. When all is said and done "Doomsday" should, hopefully, just go down as a bad day at the office.