Saturday, 17 May 2008

Doomsday



This movie earns a giant 'what the fuck were they thinking.' I'm sure, loyal readers, that you know that when a review starts off like that you shouldn't hope for much. And you really shouldn't regarding this bizarre mindfuck of a movie. Let's start with the plot synopsis, shall we?

"A futuristic action thriller where a team of people work to prevent a disaster threatening the future of the human race."

Sound familiar? It only just describes about a million films in the last decade with exactly the same plots. 28 Days/Weeks later, Planet Terror, Resident Evil, etc, etc, etc. The only difference being is that Doomsday doesn't create zombies, but rather decimates the human race like a good little virus. No, the antagonists in this film aren't raised from the dead, infected with rage... they're fucking faux-punk-rock, metalhead, crazy cannibals.

Although this film is described as a homage to older, similar films (Mad Max, Escape from New York..) the film takes no creative liberty and creates a film I felt I'd seen a million times before. Somebody has said; "Homage without innovation isn't homage. It's karaoke." Which I think describes the film perfectly.

This film suffers from an identity crisis of the highest value, if you turn yourself off completely from the plot and just want to enjoy a bit of action and gore. Go for it. But unlike films that do this well (here's looking at you Planet Terror), the characters are dull, the scenarios unbelievable and distracting (medieval castles, what?!). The whole thing was just... eh.

The best bits were the intentional gore-comedic parts and some of the fights. So you'll come out of this movie with approximately three laughs and two 'omg's at the action scenes. Joy.

If you want to watch this, for god's sake make sure you rent it and don't waste the time and effort to see it at the cinema.