Did you like Escape From New York? Did you like The Road Warrior? If the answer to either of these questions is 'Yes', then you will like Doomsday.
Doomsday is the third full length feature from British writer / director Neil Marshall. His previous two movies, Dog Soldiers (2002) and The Descent (2005) were both excellent examples of horror / action. The Descent is one of my favorite horror movies. (When you scare the moviegoer with claustrophobia and lygophobia way before you even introduce the monsters, you got it going on.) Doomsday differs in the respect that it is more of a sci-fi / action movie, than a horror / action.
The plot of Doomsday is fairly simple. In the near future, a highly contagious flesh eating virus breaks out in Scotland. Great Britain's answer to the plague is to seal Scotland off from the rest of the world. The rest of the world answers by shutting off Great Britain from all aid and commerce, due to the barbaric way that the government deals with the infected. Years later, as London, and most of England, wallows in poverty following a population explosion, the flesh eating virus breaks out in one of London's overcrowded slums. The government decided to send a team of commandos and scientists into the now dead land of Scotland, hoping to find a cure in possible survivors. Things turn for the worse when the government's info isn't as good as they think, and the commandos find Glasgow, Scotland ruled by savage, cannibal punks. And it is up to tough-as-nails and hot-as-hell Major Eden Sinclair (played by tough-as-nails and hot-as-hell Rhona Mitra) to lead the survivors of the ill-fated mission out of the whirlwind of terror.
Rhona Mitra is smoking hot. There. I've said it.
She is beautiful and athletic, unlike certain 'resident' action heroines who are disgustingly skinny. She handles the role well, not taking herself too seriously. Her character is very tough, but not indestructible. And her character is very smart (not the use of her 'camera' to record certain events to 'cover her ass'). And Mitra's Eden Sinclair reminds me of a female 'John McClane': she handles outrageous situations with grace and a bit of tombstone humor, when needed.
Is this a kids movie? Absolutely not. If you take your kids to see Doomsday, you are part of the problem with society. There is a lot of violence and there is a lot of gore. Almost too much, at times. For example, a guy gets cooked and eaten on camera. That reason enough for you?
Is this a date movie? No. See above. The sheer horror that befalls people in this movie outweighs anything that might benefit a dating experience. It will be too uncomfortable in mixed company or with people you are not familiar with.
I loved Doomsday. It totally rocked. Was it outrageous? Yes. But it was fun and exciting and Rhona Mitra was smoking hot. I give Doomsday six severed heads out of six.
