Mikes Film Talk

The 2008 horror film Doomsday from Neil Marshall, could have been titled “Baby, Don’t Fear the Reaper.” Regardless of title, the film is pure Marshall, from the first frame to the last.

Doomsday is the third film to be written and directed by Neil Marshall. The first two, Dog Soldiers (2002) and The Descent (2005),  I have written about before. These three films show Marshall’s growth/ He also earns a solid status increase as a writer/director. Each progressive film benefits from an increased budget and the calibre of actors goes up as well.  More impressively, each film’s scope is enlarged. His first two films are a cozy affair. Single locale, set number of actors and scenes, FX capable but not too flashy. Doomsday in terms of all the above mentioned items, scoops them both.

It looks great

Filmed for an estimated budget of $30,000,000 Doomsday looks impressive. The cast comprises the usual Marshall regulars, Sean Pertwee, Emma Cleasby, Nora-Jane Noone, MyAnna Buring, and Craig Conway (Conway gives a stand out performance as the mad-as-hatter ruler of a blood thirsty mob of survivors – Sol). The cast also includes some big names: Bob Hoskins, Malcolm McDowell (as Sol’s pop, you can see where Sol gets his personality from), Rhona Mitra, like I said big names.

the story

In the not too distant future a killer virus known as The Reaper sweeps through Britain. The government decide to contain the infected behind a huge fortified fence that stretches from coast to coast, cutting off Scotland completely and leaving everyone trapped behind the fence to die. The rest of the world condemns the United Kingdom for their actions.

Jump ahead thirty years and two things happen almost simultaneously. Satellites that have been orbiting the  contaminated area north of the fence spies movement. This discovers that The Reaper has made an unwelcome return.

The government drafts a small group of elite specialists. They will enter the contaminated zone. Their mission is to find  a research laboratory that was working on a cure for the virus. The lab working before being trapped in the containment area. The team need to find out who has survived and how.

Rhona Mitra is one-eyed Eden Sinclair. *This role obviously got her cast in Underworld 3.* She leads the team of experts into the area. Eden, whose “glass-eye” doubles as a camera with video recording capability, is hard as nails and  very independent. She and her team breach the wall to head into the laboratory. They are jumped by Sol’s people. While they outgun the crowd, they cannot outpeople them. The group are now captives. Sean Pertwee is killed. In following Pertwee’s tradition, this is at the beginning of the second reel.

Very Mad Max

The film has a very ‘Mad Max‘ feel to it. From the outfits that Sol’s people wear, to the vehicles they use at the end of the film in a protracted Mad Max chase scene, the film feels like an English version of the Mel Gibson cult favourites. Marshall himself stated the the Mad Max trilogy inspired him and that he was paying his own homage to the films.

It was very nice to see Malcolm McDowell as Sol’s father, the lab scientist who has decided to remake the survivors behind the wall into his vision of Darwin’s theory. His madness dictates that he can willing sacrifice his own children if they do not obey him and his rules. Once Eden returns from the infected territory with a “cure” for the reaper virus, she  sets up the very people who sent her and her team to almost certain death. She puts in motion  the mechanics for their downfall.

the verdict

Doomsday is a cracking film. It has a snappy pace and the actors all do well. It is a great rollercoaster of a film with a female as hero. I can easily give this one a full 5 star ranking.

The bigger budget shows in the end result and I am guessing the Marshall will have an even bigger budget for his next film. Doomsday can be rented or bought on Amazon Prime and other rental streaming platforms.

the trailer