Review of Doomsday (1938) by Johanna N — 03 Aug 2009

Yopu ever have a bad few days, and all you want is some movie to take you mind off of things? Nothing introspective, or overly emotional, in fact the less thinking the better. Enter Doomsday. Think 28 days later meets escape from NY, paying way more tribute to John Carpenter. Now throw in over the top gore, and female baddassery and you're pretty close to Doomsday.

Here's what I liked:

The effects: There wasn't a whole ton of really pretty CGI in this movie, and I like it. They actually shot cars crashing, andhad fake severed limbs. The gore was exceltent, becuase if you're going for gory, than you have to do it right. This movie did just that. Everything from canibalism, dismemberment, and plain old explosions, the effects for Doomsday really drive home the popcorn fun.

Good pacing: You what sucks, when an action movie slows down and tries to be plot heavy, and then fails miserably. This did not hapen with Doomsday. When the Action kicked in, that was it. it was firefights, sword fights and mayhem all the way until the conclusion. if you're going for action, plot can always be second if the action is done right.

Cannible punks: I am not Joking. someone is BBQ'd to the tune of Suxise and the Banshees. All the city folks have mohawks and are covered in tatoos, and they'll most likely eat you. I give nothing away because this dosen't do justice to that scene at all.

Here's what I didn't like:

Editing: You know, I would like to see a documentary on how films are made in England. I notice that a lot of films from over there seem to run out of budget and thus the editing is shit. I mean I don't have any complaint with the scenes in concept, they were fun as hell. But you can tell they did a lot of things in one take for some reason or another. It probably wasn't because they thought all those scenes were awsome from the get go.

Stock ideas: Quite frankly, you've seen this movie. Virus is killing folks, making them crazy. We're going to send badass soldiers to go find a cure where we dumped the sick folks the last time. It not hard to follow, there's not a crap load to be known about the characters, the leader is damn near the toughest, yet sexy, woman in the world. The scientist is kinda meek, The second in comand is stoic , but not as much as the leader, yada yada yada. However, this doesn't override the fun of the movie, just don't expect Oscar level performances.

No one watched it with me: Its Tuesday night at like 11:30. My friends either are too far away or have work tommorow. I was in a bad mood and skipped going out, found this moive instead. However I could see scenes where my buddies would be yelling at the screen with glee as people died in various ways. seriously folks, watch it with a friend, because nothing says I enjoy your company like violence, gore and canibbleism.

The Bottom Line: I liked this movie. I hear it got panned in theaters, I can see why. We expect too much from action movies these days I think. Look back at the classics, specificaly the two movies Doomsday draws from the most, Mad Max and Escape from NY. Go watch'em, I'm here all week. You done? Sweet! Notice anything about those two movies? THEY ARE FUCKING ABSURD!!!!! They are classics because they're absurd enough that its ok, and furthermore the action is good enough to hold its own end more than up. I mean interesting death scenes, car chases, suprises galore! Really, who thought Donald Plesence was going to save Kurt Russle by machine-gunning the bad guys! What do you mean I just ruined the end of that one, I said go watch the damn movie, its your own fault!!! The point I'm making is an action movie is more than just shooting and dieing, it allows you to suspend reality for a while, It gets you away from what ailes you. Doomsday has got that in spades.