DOOMSDAY.

The best way to describe Doomsday is “oddly entertaining.” The first half is like mixing 28 Days/Weeks Later with Mad Max, and the second half is like mixing King Arthur, Gladiator, and Mad Max. Like I said: odd. It’s like a comic-book premise without being a comic book. The plot of Doomsday is thus: Roughly 30 years after a major plague (the Reaper Virus) spread through the upper section of Britain (namely Scotland), the virus has reappeared in the safe zone. The government gets Bill Nelson (Bob Hoskins) to get his best soldier, Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), to head up a team into the quarantined area before the Doomsday Contingency Plan (flooding and killing all of London) is performed. Why? Because they’ve noticed that there are people still alive inside (via satellite images), which means there must be a cure. And the only way there could possibly be a cure is if Dr. Kane (Malcolm McDowell), a scientist/doctor who got stuck behind, had found one. Unfortunately, when they get there, they discover that they really aren't alone... and that's a problem.

As I said, Doomsday is an odd mixture of things. In all honesty, it should have been called Doomsday: Randomness on Screen. The first major section of the movie was a lot like the 28 ___ Later… movies, in a way. It was really a horror/suspense kinda deal. Then, quite a ways in, the punk guys show up, led by a crazy dude named Sol (pronounced Saul). They’re survivors of the initial outbreak who have broken from all law and are living savagely, violently, and sado-masochistically (…seriously, there’s a random dude in all black leather, including a full leather mask over his face, and he’s constantly in chains). They’re also cannibalistic. Not too long after that, the movie gets medieval with people dressed up like they are walking about the Renaissance Festival. But during this stuff, there’s a Gladiator-like coliseum fight (Telamon is freakin awesome looking). After that, there’s a huge and incredibly crazy car chase sequence. For a car chase with no traffic, this sequence is maybe a few notches below Death Proof (because that one was awesome. This one doesn’t come close to that, but it’s still really cool).

Oh, and did I mention the blood and gore? My God, was there a lot of it. Nothing is safe in this movie, from people to bunnies and cows. Blood is excessive (It’s almost a ridiculous amount, as you might find in any Comic Book). The action is pretty cool, for what there is of it. I think my favorite fight was the (too short) sword fight about halfway in. Oh, and the main character can remove her eyeball from her socket and use it like a wireless webcam kinda thing. Nifty (and random). As for music, it was pretty cool, though the main theme reminded me WAY too much of the main theme from the 28 ____ Later… movies. It was almost identical, but with a few differences.

So really, if you shut off your brain and don’t think about all the movies this is ripping off (and don’t mind a bit of blood), this movie is really cool. The acting is done pretty well, for the most part, except for the dude who played Canaris. He got on my nerves with his whispery voice that sounded like he’d had one too many cigarettes, not to mention his stiff acting ability. The movie was over-the-top, random, and pretty fun when you just give yourself in to it.

I Am McLovin!

(Update: Thinking about it... this is a lot like this director's previous film, The Descent, in one specific way: The first half (pre-Punks) has very good atmosphere and is naturally suspenseful. The second half just gets bizarre and introduces random things that almost make the movie worse than it could have been (i.e. the creatures of The Descent).