The MoFo Movie Club Discussion - Doomsday

Alrighty folks! Here we are again. Once again I feel I should point out that in fact, I'm not Tatty. He asked me to go ahead and get us started this time around and I hope I can be half as good a host as one Mr Tacitus. If not, I'm sure the complaint desk is still open for business. However I know the guy who runs that department and if you don't send in a check with your complaint you'll be up the proverbial creek.

But enough about me, we're here to talk Apocolyptic thrillers! Obviuosly I really like this flick as I previously mentioned Here.

Others such as our own Mr. Used Future think its absolute trash, his review is located Here.



I've noticed on this board anyway, that a contingent of folks from the UK really disliked the film and the majority of folks the that loved it live in the United States. Anyone have any thoughts about that?

Not to completely regurgitate my own review but I do think it bears repeating. To me, to make a movie like this work I believe you need good people around you. You know like good actors. This flick had plenty of them. I also really liked the costuming and all of the little ways that Neil Marshall tried to make it his own. Those APC's were built from scratch, which is pretty cool.

So what do you think MoFo's? Does this movie have what it takes to become a "cult classic" like Mad Max? Or is it simply trash that should be avoided at all costs.

Feel free to chime in any and all who want to be heard. The first rule is that you don't talk about... Oh nevermind.

Fire Away!

__________________
We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...

It's funny you should mention Mad Max, because I immediately thought of it (Beyond Thunder Dome) at the party/barbecue scene. I also thought about 28 days later, and Resident Evil. Which means that this film lacked anything original in my opinion.

I didn't think the acting was anything extraordinary, and the costumes for the miscreants are out of an S&M catalog (not that I would know that). In fact, this movie was like one long Judas Priest concert I went to back in my wild youth, with bits of dialog built in.

*yawn*

__________________
If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.

Johann von Goethe

I really liked Doomsday, but at the same time I went in not expecting much so it was not hard to please me. I need to give it a 2nd viewing before I can give a true final decision. I did have fun though and for me that is important for this type of genre.

__________________

“The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton

Doomsday is Marshall's weakest film, I had a sense of that going into it. It's still an entertaining one though, I had a good time watching it.

It does remind you of numerous other films, but I thought that was always the point. It plays out like 3 totally different films and that's where the fun is, in my opinion at least.

I don't think it will become a cult classic, it's not that good. Dog Soldiers is something of a cult classic, Doomsday is basically just a popcorn flick that has come and gone and will be forgotten as time goes by. It did it's job for me, kept my interested for an hour and forty-five minutes.

If people think that it's just another virus takes over a city type flick, they're wrong. This one actually stands out from the that heap and that's because of Marshall's talent as a director.

In my review I mentioned that the lead character would make the list of bad-ass chicks, and I still believe that, only she won't be mentioned in that list. Why? Because the film itself isn't as memorable as Kill Bill or Alien, so while the Bride and Ripley are at the top, Sinclair gets left behind. Tis a shame.

Oh yeah, the chick with the tattoos was hot too.

__________________
"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

Yeah Sinclair deserves some badass credits for taking down that big guy that was an awesome fight scene. I loved Doomsday i saw it twice in theaters (i had coupons) because it was so entertaining the first time around. The gimp was the best part.

oh and malcolm mcdowell!

I haven't gotten around to watching Doomsday yet, but I am in possession of the netflixed DVD so maybe I'll watch it tomorrow. I did want to comment on this idea though, because I think it's an interesting concept. It certainly seems that Americans tend to give things a little more credit/respect if they're accompanied by an English accent. If you look at something like Children of Men, for example, I think a lot of European MoFo's were underwhelmed by that flick. But the vast majority of American MoFo's loved it. Coincidence? Not bloody likely.

Reminds me of an Arrested Development subplot in which American-born Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) fell in love with a Brit named Rita (Charlize Theron). He was infatuated with her and because he couldn't see past her English accent, he didn't realize she was mentally retarded. He mistook her mental retardation as playful English humour.

And I think this is a phenomenon that can be observed again and again throughout our culture. We constantly heap critical praise upon the Brits and we're so impressed by their contributions to the arts. But really they're just a bunch of retards.

So, with that in mind, I'm going to be giving Doomsday a very thorough, fair critique whenever I get around to watching it. But, so help me God, if the characters have British accents I'll probably be too in awe of them to give the flick anything less than a glowing "A".

Hot potato!! Hot potato!!

You were going so well until you posted a picture of an evil witch...

__________________
"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

oh my eyes. Don't do that again SW, you don't know how it upsets us!

I'll try to coherently reply at some point after I stop laughing at SC's post... Jesus that was funny.

Doomsday Quiz


Well, in short I loved it. Let me describe myself to you, a 15 year old boy, whose an action junkie. If it explodes I'm happy, and the acting was good enough to keep me interested (especially Craig Conway as Sol.)

As for the whole British vs. American's, I think stereotypically we (Americans) are dumb. That's how most people, I think, think of us. So, of course when we support dumb movies, Beverly Hills Chihuahua making #1 in the Box Office, twice so far, whereas one of the best reviewed movies, Man on Wire (which I haven't seen, but plan on catching the DVD,) barely make a mil, people are going to think we're mentally retarded.

But I think the most important question Doomsday raises, is, what if? What would you do if a sudden epidemic like this one started, and what would you do if you had to be in there 20 years later? Would you flee, or get stuck with all the people I shall call Apocolyptos? Would you survive, how would you survive?

If an epidemic like this ever started, I'd be sure as heck that I'd get out of there, anyway I could. If I were to be stuck in there, I'd get a shotgun and basically blockade my house with me shooting my gun at anyone who walked through the freakin door. If I had to be in there 20 years later, I'd bring lots of ammo, and really good shows, so I outrun the rest of my team. I think I could survive because there is only one entrance to my house, and shotguns kill all.

But again, good movie

__________________
I used to be addicted to crystal meth, now I'm just addicted to Breaking Bad.

In short, I don't think I'd give this film anything above ...

As some of you may have guessed (or already know), I am an Escape From New York fan. The parallels between the two films were a nice touch at first, but as the movie went on, they started to grate a little. If I wanted to watch Escape From New York, I would.

That seems to be my real problem with Doomsday. On the surface, it looked exactly like the sort of post-apocalyptic action thriller I would love to bits but it honestly didn't feel like it. Sure, there were parts that I thought were fairly cool (the violence was inventive and rather well-done, as was the climatic car chase) but as a whole, it just felt rather boring. Kept my attention, but didn't thrill me as much as I'd hoped.

Overall: . The execution is decent (no pun intended) but it's all been done before.

__________________
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Saw this over the weekend. Meh. It definitely had some interesting moments, but it was so horrendously schizophrenic. Watching some of the special features, a lot of the people involved seemed strangely proud of how it hopes from one setting or theme to another, but I thought it was just disjointed.

First, the scope is global. We're introduced to Eve and it's all perfectly straightforward, if a little uninspired. At some point it simply stops developing her as a character and jumps from one area to another; horror, action, Mad Max-ian, medieval. It's just plain weird.

The one thing I liked -- which was never really expanded on -- was what Kane said to Eve, about them not wanting to be saved. To the contrary, they were trying to keep away from civilization. I liked that. I like the idea that, to them, the wall wasn't to keep the survivors out, but to keep everyone else in. That's a clever shift in perspective, and I would have liked to have seen the movie build towards it and explore it more.

Other than that, not a lot to say. I saw the Unrated version, and I think I can guess which scenes didn't find their way into theaters; namely, some of the shots of them pulling the flesh off of their little sacrifice (I don't recall the characters name) after he'd been roasted on an open fire like a massive chestnut.

I suppose I can see how Doomsday could have been a fun thrill ride that bounces from theme to theme, but I don't think Marshall pulled it off. A fairly stale, straightforward emphasis on any one of the film's themes would have been decent, though certainly not spectacular. I think this flick aimed a little too high, and fell wildly short.

Doomsday was decent for what it was. The car commercial could have been left out. That goes with today's movies though, unfortunately. It seemed to be a twist on 28 days later. More fun and action and alot less serious. That woman on the cover got my attention though. Nobody in Mad Max made me rewind to catch another glimpse. Oh that tongue!

Doomsday? I would probably give this a 3/10 because it was nothing but trash.

Okay, so i saw this today and I did not like it. I hate to re-hash all the criticisms levied here at Doomsday already, but I think that's what I'm about to do. It was just so flippin lifeless, ya know? And that's an unforgivable sin in something like this. Actually, I say lifeless, but I'm not even sure if that is what I mean. Because it definitely seems that everyone on both sides of the camera were very enthusiastic and energetic about this thing. But I do feel like Doomsday has a major identity crisis on its hands. It never comes together, feeling very episodic and that doesn't serve the movie all that well. It's like Marshall threw together a mish-mash of all his favorite flicks but forgot to add in all the little touches that made those films so much dang fun. I haven't seen any of his other movies, but from what I've heard, he was never guilty of this kind of thing before. Maybe, like someone suggested, Marshall was given this astronomical budget and he wanted to make sure he got in every little wink and nod he could (Was that Malcolm McDowell or ****ing Merlin from Boorman's Excalibur?). Just in case he was never given this opportunity again.

Superficially, I think the movie does deliver pretty much everything you'd expect going in. Maybe moreso, even. I did like the fact that, in a less glaring throwback to the classic post-apocalyptic thrillers, Marshall didn't CGI us all to death. I can almost respect this movie for going the practical route with all its head-popping set pieces. It's a credit to the movie that the action scenes aren't boring or anything, but when you surround those moderately snazzy bits with the very definition of mediocre garbage, you've got a problem.

So, yeah. I liked Doomsday a little better when it was called Aliens. Or Escape From New York. Or The Road Warrior. Or 28 Days Later. Or any other movie you can think of, really. I believe the perfect one-word summation of the flick has already been mentioned here: "Meh"





But, goodness, I could stare at Rhona Mitra and her legs all day long.



And I also think she's, like, ten times cooler than Kurt Russell.

Mitra is hot, but she lacks Russell's charisma.

One thing I found myself doing was keeping a checklist of virtually every Escape From New York reference I could spot. A little...pedantic of me, perhaps, but eh. Here are the ones I remember off the top of my head.

• The font used in the credits is identical
• The maps at the start look the same
• The present is also referred to as "NOW"
• The main character has one eye
• Both films feature a duel between the main character and an oversized juggernaut in front of a large crowd
• Both films also feature a car chase near the end
• Subplot revolving around corrupt government officials
• The main character befriends people inside the wall
• Cannibals

I think I'll leave it at that lest I bore everyone else.

At this point, anything I say would be redundant. Most of the films referenced have been mentioned. However, I don't think that Dr. Malcolm McDowell pretends he's Merlin because maybe he does believe he's leading his "Children" toward a new Renaissance. Well, the Renaissance has nothing to do with Merlin. He, Uther Pendragon and Arthur have much more to do with the Road Warriorish society established by Sol (the kill-all-and-eat-all Primitivism). So, in that way, it doesn't surprise me that he wants to waste "the Outsiders" when things look like they won't turn out his way.

I did like the '80s music played during Sol's "performance" on stage, but I still had to not give him full props for being just too much like Wez in The Road Warrior, right down to his screaming at the screen when he's pissed. Even so, his group certainly believes in him just as much as the doctor's does. In fact, the entire film is completely divided into what seems like cult members, although I'm not trying to imply that makes it any better than it is. It's just that the first thing, I believe, that most viewers take from the film, is that there is a crapload of action. I mean, enough for two or three movies probably. I don't think the film needed to have so much action at the expense of plot twists or general storytelling, but if you like action, futuristic horror and ultraviolence, I can certainly understand why you'd like this film.

If you want something a bit more thoughtful, maybe you should have watched the theatrical version. (I don't know this for a fact, but I'm guessing they added about eight extra minutes of intense action and violence to the "Unrated" version.) The scenes with Mitra and Hoskins seemed to carry some gravitas which may have been negated by the "take no prisoners" attitude of the Unrated Cut. I mean, the film is really quite spectacular in many ways, but I've seen a few "spectacular" films which suffered from overkill, and this may well be one of those. My initial reaction was , even if it might not be as good (read:ORIGINAL) as Dog Soldiers and The Descent. Before I started typing this post, I was leaning toward . At this point, I'm not really too sure anymore. However, right now, I'm thinking about the film's ending. Did anyone else mention it because if you did, I missed it. Does the ending qualify as something original and enough to tip it into the "benefit of a doubt" mode? Of course, if you don't recall the ending, I'm not sure what to say.

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Oh, I was gonna have some fun coming up with some puns around the title of this 28 Days Later for slow learners - the best I came up with was Children of Phlegm - and after 10 minutes was ready to really slate Marshall's third feature.

Then I kinda got sucked in and went along for the ride...

Doomsday ain't great, and as has been mentioned I think it's his least accomplished film but there's something in it that takes this slightly bizzare mish-mash of Mad Max, Tomb Raider (more later), Braveheart, V For Vendetta and Monty Python & The Holy Grail above the mountain of DTV crap polluting the shelves right now. Not far above it, mind, but above it nonetheless.

Plus points:

1. The wonderful Ms Mitra. She's been an action heroine waiting to happen since pulling on those famous shorts and becoming the first (or possibly second, I can't remember where Nell McAndrew figured in the mix) human face of Lara Croft.

Vidi.

2. Neil Marshall himself. It takes someone with swingers the size of cannonballs to even dream that he could get away with something as brassy and unashamedly generic as Doomsday.

3. Bob Hoskins. He's simply one of my favourite actors - underused in this but slipping into the 'mentor' role quite nicely. Liam Neeson must have been waaaaay too expensive.

4. The genius of placing nearly the whole bloody big mess up in Scotland. Sure, there are a few postcard shots which the Tourist Board no doubt approve of but the whole ethos of Sol's crew is just so darned Scotch. Like Govan on a Saturday night. Any Saturday night.

From spewing the contents of a can of Tennants over Eden in the torture scene to the delightful vernacular ("Dozy tw@t" etc) peppering the film like Rab C Nesbitt with a bottle of Buckfast in 'im.

It's joyous!

The nonpluss points:

1. The wilfully generic nature of Doomsday is both a blessing and a curse. The all-too-frequent references are maybe not as self-concious as a Tarantino film but I'm pretty sure that a second viewing (and I'm gonna listen to the director's commentary later this evening) could descent into a game of 'spot the influence'. This game could only possibly be lost if you're exceedingly drunk because Doomsday wears its heart, still pumping and leaking, stapled firmly to its studded leather sleeve.

Maybe that's not a minus point, then.

2. The bad guys in suits (Tony and Gordon gone awry?) just aren't sufficiently drawn and, thus, lacking in any real menace. Which brings me to...

3. Malcolm McDowell. As a McGuffin he's woefully underused (left on the cutting room floor? I suspect there are a lot of other scenes which didn't make it, especially at the film's beginning) and no amount of beardy silver-hairdness can make up for it.

Neil Marshall has proven that he's good at manipulating genre conventions in ways that his budget should have no right to allow and, I suppose, Doomsday can never begin to approach the charm of Dog Soldiers and the near faultless The Descent.

Still, it's an 'A' for Effort (and an enjoyable as an overall rating from me) but lacking in genuine invention and struggling ultimately to cross the finishing line with arms aloft.

Somewhere there has to be a Hollywood producer who is willing to finance Marshall with the $$$s that his ambition craves - maybe it's the upcoming Drive? It might well result in a mini-Heaven's Gate but I'll certainly be watching.



This last shell is for the winner who thought up that stupid glass eye gag...