Doomsday

When this movie came out at the cinema my review was one of the more positive ones around. It might not have done my credibility as film critic much good, but slagging-off films isn't always good film criticism either. In the end most film criticism these days is merely opinion based of taste rather than a proper analysis of the film. Of course, DOOMSDAY doesn't stand up to scrutiny. It's derivative and implausible, but the point of it was not to make an award-winning art-house film but to be a bit of mindless, action-packed entertainment. When art house darling Tarantino made GRINDHOUSE (and KILL BILL for that matter), he too got a lot of similar flack from the critics, but for the genre fans who "got" what QT and RR were doing, GRINDHOUSE was a great bit of entertainment. DOOMSDAY should be viewed in a similar light.

Neil Marshall has proved he can make a decent scary movie with THE DESCENT and his first feature DOG SOLDIERS and it seems that Marshall simply wanted to pay homage to the films he enjoyed when he was growing up (MAD MAX, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK etc). On top of that it is a rare British action film that doesn't have mockney gangsters, and simply for that it should be applauded.

If you listened to other reviewers instead of me and didn't see this at the cinema then I suggest you get a copy of it on DVD, invite a few friends around with your favourite poison, crank up the volume on the surround sound and enjoy a night of explosive, body-breaking, car-wrecking fun. Don't worry too much about the ludicrous plot, and if there's anything that you think is implausible or irrational then watch our interview with the director, or watch the DVD again with the commentaries.

DOOMSDAY is out DVD on 1st September and is available from major retailers including Amazon and Play.

Watch the trailer here

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