Wednesday, 23 April 2008

• The horror, the horror...

  Parker Langley:

  Neil Marshall, director of the acclaimed horrors Dog Soldiers and The Descent returns to the big screen on May 9th with Doomsday, a post-apocalyptic action spectacular filmed and set in Scotland.
   
  In the year 2008 a viral outbreak in Glasgow kills millions of people, leaving authorities with no choice but to erect a thirty foot high wall the length of the border with England, effectively cutting Scotland off from the world and leaving it die. But when survivors are discovered thirty years later, a team of soldiers is sent in to try and find a cure for the virus now that it has resurfaced in London.
   
  Arriving well armed, they find that society has regressed into medieval savagery and cannibalism, and they face a deadly battle to find the cure and make it back to the border.

  

  Madonna was so scared by this film that she turned to stone. True story.
   
  Marshall is clearly a fan of 80s action cinema, with the entire set-up borrowed from Escape From New York and much of the action reminiscent of Mad Max. And it's as an action movie that Doomsday works spectacularly, with scenes of bloody carnage at every turn and superbly orchestrated set-pieces.
   
  In an eclectic cast Rhona Mitra makes a decent bid for action heroine status with a spirited turn as the team leader. Amongst the Scots in the cast, David O'Hara adds to his roster of snarling Celtic bampots as the Prime Minister's slimy right-hand man, but Martin Compston doen't get much of a chance to shine in a blink-and-you'll-miss-him role.
   
  While not up to the standards Marshall set himself with his first two films, Doomsday is an entertaining throwback to the action epics of your youth. If you're not looking for logic or particularly interesting characters, there's plenty to enjoy on those terms.
  
  

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