Doomsday (2008)

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The downside is not a question of whether Doomsday is an interesting or entertaining film, or both. Because it's been crafted with so much energy, style and good heartedness. The problem overall is that it lacks a cohesive narrative to support the eye popping beauty of it's surface visuals. The less exhilarating flaw however is how terribly ordinary it is. And how unremarkable it is in comparison to the numerous futuristic thrillers that it decides to borrow from. Rhona Mitra didn't help at all because her performance is simply an utterly charmless and less thrilling impression of Kate Beckinsale in Underworld. I know that it isn't a great start to the review, but the film offers plenty of reasons why it should be recommended. While incredibly stupid and wildly derivative, it is a real heart-racer of a film. Neil "Dog Soldier" Marshall's tremendously fast paced direction is an impressive and quite welcome change to his usual restrained but nevertheless amazing directorial talent. His previous films "Dog Soldiers" and "The Descent" were claustrophobic works of art. This is a rip roaring and hilarious action horror that delivers the thrills but falls at the expense of a likable heroine and developed character arcs. Marshall's previous films boasted all of the above, and their absence dissapointed me. I have always kept high expectations for him because he is one of the best directors of our time. Although Doomsday is certainly not a classic, it is also never dull. It has all of the breathtaking, explosive qualities that Hollywood films should have. That is a good thing, but it also means that the things good about it are generic. The heartbreaking downside for me was the disappearance of the flawlessness of his earlier films. As they say, you can't have too much of a good thing. I think Doomsday is a fun, messy, flawed, dark and gritty film. It has variable qualities and ideas that fit and others that don't. But it passes in terms of living up to the strength of it's convictions. It's well designed, underated, action packed and purely badass.