DOOMSDAY

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Summary:
Fine-ass Beckinsale lookalike Eden Sinclair sneaks into a quarantined section of the British Isles in 2035, where a virus broke loose in 2008 and she was separated from her mother. With her bionic eye, she becomes a victim of political puppetetry in search of Dr. Kane. He might have a cure.
She then arrives in Thunderdome, battles a medieval wannabe knight, and drives a Bentley that can't outrace a beat up Subaru. Retarded? Perhaps. Fun? Maybe for some.

Review:
Sometimes I get amazed at the crap that gets released to the big screen. This low budget hodge-podge of messy movie making has a few things going for it. There's a decent amount of gore. I laughed a couple times. And... Rhona Mitra is HOT!

It tries very very hard to be a "throwback" to the 80s Carpenter type flicks (including the Carpenter-esque soundtrack) while also containing obvious inspiration from The Road Warrior. Throw in the whole Escape from NY theme, and you're educated on most of the rip-offs provided for Doomsday!
According to this movie, in 2035 when society is sectioned off due to a viral breakout and anarchy takes over, everyone looks like a late 70s punk extremist that eats human flesh and loves to throw massive punk rocker parties. There is of course a "gimp". You know, the faceless shining black leather clad S&M type. He's a laugh riot, lemme tell ya!
I laughed when a bunny was blowed up on screen. That was funny. I was barely holding on to the stupidity spewing forth when the Thunderdome knockoffs start struttin' their stuff on stage. Soon, Eden Sinclair ends up in a medieval castle in which everyone is living like they are under the rule of Henry the Red, Duke of Shale, Lord of the Northlands and leader of its peoples. Complete with peasant clothing and oldschool arena fighting. This was TERRIBLE.
It got even worse when she starts getting chased by bad guys, and the good guys hole themselves up in an old warehouse cave. They open a crate, and there is a badass Bentley GT. I guess after 25 years, it's still gassed up with a full tank and 100% in working order. Out of NOWHERE, Mad Max's road crew knows exactly where they are at, and there's a roadrace... in which a beat up Subaru hunk of JUNK is keeping pace and bashing this pristine Bentley... I don't know. It makes no sense to me.

Perhaps this could all be taken in good fun, with a huge grain of salt. I would have had more fun with this if it wasn't for the fact that it SUCKS. I understand Marshall's desire to try to stretch the movie's action and settings across several genres for a different approach to the whole sci-fi action movie schtick. It's too bad that each "genre" Eden gets thrust into is a retread of other movies, many of which are actually GOOD. For Doomsday, it's more than just a Fish Out of Water complex. I don't even think the Life Aquatic Out of Water could describe the analogy of such awkwardness. Walking out, I thought that perhaps there were some redeeming factors to it. I considered perhaps giving points for creativity. Now I've changed my mind.

Doomsday is a messy, unoriginal and dumb movie. I had a few laughs, but overall it's not even worth a waste of time.

GRADE: D

Reviewed: 3/31/08