Knights Vs. Road Warriors
A jumble of way too many cliches, but it’s post-apocalyptic film. I guess I may as well watch it.
Doomsday was a random pick for a mindless random movie watching night, and it was post-apocalyptic. That alone draws me in no matter how bad the film actually looks. Perhaps I should psycho-analyze my love of this genre of film, but then I may miss out on something good. I can honestly say that I knew little about this film except for the whole post-apocalypse story and that Rhona Mitra was in it. So I was fully prepared to be underwhelmed.
All I can say is that I was underwhelmed by the film, but overwhelmed by the ridiculous nature of the entire story. The film begins with an almost acceptable introduction that is led by a voice over from Malcolm McDowell (he will come up again). The reaper virus has decimated Scotland. It has no cure and the only alternative for Britain is to build a wall (even though they don’t say it, it’s Hadrian’s Wall) and shut off the infected from the rest of the world. During the intro, we are also presented with a mother desperately trying to get her daughter saved to the other side of the wall. Then the daughter gets shot in the eye and we are introduced to the subtle nature of Doomsday. Wait, I mean we are introduced to the dramatic foreshadowing that makes the plot obvious nature of Doomsday. Hmm, I wonder if we will meet someone with only one eye later in the film. Honestly, the idea of the virus is interesting and well though out in terms of governmental intrigue, but then the film just goes plain silly.
In the future, the Reaper Virus is threatening London and we find out that there are survivors on the other side of the wall. This leads to a team being sent in to find out if there is a cure. Hey look, the police officer with only one eye is sent to lead the team. Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) is given the task of finding the cure. We are then led on a truly hilarious trek that takes the viewer from Bikers of the Apocalypse survivors and Medieval Knights survivors that have both created a new world order. Too make a long story short, there is no cure and Eden is a super kick ass anti-hero that finds herself.
I really wish I could explain the plot more, but I don’t know where to begin because you would only say things like “really?” or “that didn’t happen did it?” I wold have to say that after the initial plot set-up, this film is ludicrous. It feels like someone came in to edit the script and said that the original film wasn’t out there enough, let’s add a post-apocalyptic biker gang from The Road Warrior and tweak them by making them cannibals. I too wonder where they get their gas. But wait, let’s also add a Dr. Marcus Kane (Malcolm McDowell) that was once a leading virus researcher trying to discover the cure of the Reaper Virus but has since become disgruntled and a leader of a new society that looks more like King Arthur than New World Order. My only question is will Malcolm McDowell act in anything? This dichotomy makes the film an exercise in mash-ups rather than a coherent story. Hey everyone, the future either holds unlimited gas but we need to become punk rockers and cannibals (which is interesting because the second the team enters the walled zone they run into a massive grouping of cows) or it holds a LARP convention.
Doomsday is truly a B-movie. It focuses on the explosion and car chases rather than plot, but what really makes it B is the disregard for any type of intelligence of the audience. Let me see, we find a hidden cavern that houses a Bentley and gas (along with other technological wonders such as a GPS locator). When the Bentley screams out of the cavern, sparks fly as it brushes the closing blast doors. Amazingly, there are no scratches on the car. That about sums the film up.
Doomsday was an exercise in good ideas gone bad. The film was watchable but at some point it goes from being a film experience to being a can you spot the errors experience. I wish I had better things to say about the film, but even Malcolm McDowell and Rhona Mitra can’t save it. I should point out that Rhona Mitra does have potential as the Tomb Raider archetype, oh wait she was Lara Croft at one time. I really can’t recommend this film, except for those of you that want to watch Doomsday just to have a laugh.
