The trailer's online for DOOMSDAY, the new movie from Neil Marshall. As far as I'm concerned, he's made two very different but enjoyable movies to date and I'm hoping this will be a third. From the trailer, it looks like a cut and paste of his favourite scenes from genre classics, have fun spotting them.

Doomsday trailer

Oh wow, I see he is a big a fan of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK as I am. This new one looks a bit disappointing.

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK left a lot to be desired for me, so the idea of a semi-remake is not only not blasphemous but welcome. There's a bit of ROAD WARRIOR in there, too, but the appearance of Malcolm McDowell as Rasping Elder Statesman and the Tacitern Tanktopped Tart heroine are less impressive. Still, I'll put it in my Netflix queue.

I enjoyed how the battlewagon from Damnation Alley gets a drive-through...

I love the battlewagon from DAMNATION ALLEY, which has figured into many a going-to-sleep reverie in the 30 years since I saw that crapass flick. Maybe it'll get a better chance to shine here.

So I guess Rhona Mitra is the love child of Freddie Rodriguez and Rose McGowan? Snake Plissken, but with better curves.

When Neil Marshall was at Lincoln Center for The Descent, he spoke of a WWII Allied commando thriller as his next film. I think he's talented enough to do more than a series of cover albums. But I guess if John Carpenter is tired of making new John Carpenter films, the new kids will make 'em.

And, lack of originality aside, it does look fun.

As far as Neil Marshall goes, this looks like a step backwards, but I'm still looking forward to it all the same. I'm a sucker for all things post-apocalyptic, Rhona Mitra is pleasing on the eye, it appears to be a mash-up of all my favourite cult movies, and it gives me the excuse to trawl out the predictable jokes about how his post-apocalyptic vision of Glasgow doesn't look any different to how the present day version does at 1am on a Saturday morning.

I'm sold!

I've heard some mutterings that someone is working on getting a remake (or even better, a straighter adaptation of the book) rolling.

This is one of those rare cases where I'm all for it. Even back in the day I was upset over how badly they bungled the opportunities.

Now it is my turn to speak in the The Simpson's "Comic Book Guy" Voice. Please imagine this voice as you are reading below.

"The vehicle featured in the theatrical trailer for DOOMSDAY is unfortunately not the same vehicle used in the underrated sci-fi seventies film, DAMNATION ALLEY. The transport vehicle used in DAMNATION ALLEY had many cosmetic differences. While it is true that, with the passage of time, this vehicle could've been modifed over the years for use in different films, the most notable, and certainly most obvious clue that this isn't the same vehicle is the lack of six wheels on each side, in a triangular configuration. As you can see by the rare photo collectible below, the actual DAMNATION ALLEY car had twelve wheels. The DOOMSDAY vehicle has only eight. Four on each side, in a horizontal formation."



Didn't the (aging badly) DAMNATION ALLEY vehicle reside right off the 101 in LA? You could kinda see it from the freeway while heading into Hollywood (go past the 405 freeway exit, but, I think, it was before the Hollywood Blvd. exit). It was there, on the right side of the road, in a garage-like structure with no door, for many, many years. Don't know if it's still there, though.

To anyone feeling let down by Neil Marshall for helming this mega-derivative project, I'd argue that very few directors get to choose their next film. Most of the time you go to work on the first property for which you can raise financing. (David Cronenberg has said this is why he made EASTERN PROMISES, which was not even close to being No. 1 on his queue.) I'm sure Marshall has a drawer full of worthier scripts and one's he's personally dying to make but which are harder sells than DOOMSDAY.

Of course, you afford this same benefit of the doubt to any and all filmmakers, right? :P

It's a financial reality whether or not any of us cineastes care to admit it.

Of course. I was just teasing because Marshall gets the solemn apologia while any number of others would get the snark.

I'm thinking that enthusiasm for THE DESCENT has a bit to do with that. I tend to forget that's it's rated more highly by many horror fans than it is by me. Not that I disliked it or anything.

Or - wait a tic! Hold everything! Does Marshall have one of *your* scripts in that drawer of his?! This explains all!! :P

Um, yeah... but he wrote the script.

And it could be the one script he had that somebody else with larger pockets wanted to make at this time.

I can imagine the pitch meeting where Marshall, having run through his top five most personal scripts, is asked the inevitable "So... what else have you got?" And, defeated, he shrugs and says, "Well, there is this one script, I just wrote it for myself, it's total balls out, indefensible filmgeek masturbation, my five favorite sci-fi films rolled into one, but let's be serious..."

And across the table, five hearts have stopped beating.

Well, after once again being enthralled and thrilled AND scared by THE DESCENT last week when I was home sick, I can't muster much excitement over this project. Not my thang, y'all, but enjoy it if it's yourn.

This thing opens in a few days... and has it been seen by any critics anywhere? :unsure:

It really looks a lot like a riff on one of the many Italian made MAD MAX/ROAD WARRIOR ripoffs that came out during the 80's. Not the most interesting thing out there, and I kind of expected better from Marshall, based on what I'm seeing so far.
Which means of course I'll see it.

Hmm, I checked Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, and neither site has any reviews for this movie up yet. Is this a bad sign?

EDIT: I realized a little while ago that Doomsday isn't actually out until tomorrow (I must have gotten momentarily mixed-up on what day it was), but it seems like Rotten Tomatoes and other sites usually have some reviews up a day or two before a new movie's release date.

From the trailers, Doomsday doesn't look like anything particularly great, but I liked Marshall's The Descent quite a bit, so I'm semi-interested in it.

It's not being screened for critics.

Here's one from Variety, and it's not at all bad, really.

And the bad news, from The New York Times.

Anyone see it?

i saw it yesterday and if shortened a bit it would have made a great segment of a GRINDHOUSE II (maybe with the new RAMBO!)...

i don't know if i'd call it a classic, but if you liked movies like:

all the mad max films
EFNY
28 days later
army of darkness
etc

you'll probably find something to like in this movie...

and if movies like the resident evil series can be marginal hits, this one (which is way better than those flicks) should do well, especially when it hits dvd...

it was total 80's cheese, down to the soundtrack...

and one of the characters names was "carpenter"...

SPOILERS...


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my jaw hit the floor when the movie shifted to an almost lord of the rings type setting! I don't remember seeing anything like that in the trailers, so it was quite surprising when it happened...

the lead character taking her eyeball out to use as a recording device was pretty cool...

oh, and in the future, you can cook a human in a few seconds! i would have thought it would have taken at least 8 hours!

I dunno if there was a call for a reference-a-minute homage to early '80s post-apocalyptic films, but this one won't be topped... Marshall knows his stuff.

Seriously doubt anyone else would think throw in a Malevil setpiece. And the Toecutter reference was a hoot.

I'm not going to say that Doomsday is a complete success, but I felt it delivered on most of what it set out to do: a Valentine to the post-apocalyptic movies from Damnation Alley on up to 28 Days Later, with a big ol' sloppy kiss for John Carpenter. Actually, this film plays Marshall to Carpenter what Richard Franklin was to Hitchcock.

Hoskins as Donald Pleasence and Mitra as Snake Plissken's kid sister (with a dash of Napoleon Wilson) were also a pleasure.

But what I enjoyed most is that it seemed like a dig in the ribs to Danny Boyle, whose 28 Days Later and Sunshine seemed just as much a Frankenstein of genre movies, but with the references concealed better in the fabric of the narrative.

At least Marshall footnoted his riffs.

Yeah, Craig, but what the people want to know is, was Planet Terror pwned? :P

Heh... while Doomsday roxxored, it didn't quite pwn.

. . . here is a review from the BOSTON GLOBE by someone who seems to understand what is going on here (at least it is in line with what has been said on Mobius) . . .

. . . http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=11437

. . . sad to say, UNIVERSAL appears to be leaving this one flat (I am presently brain dead as to where I read this, but it might be because it was produced by ROGUE PICTURES and was to be handled by FOCUS until that company was rolled in UNIVERSAL and who cares about this product that wasn't really ours anyway); we have one of those little adds about that big in the local press that doesn't even list the cinemas at which the movie is screening and it just opened on Friday . . . I was not aware the film had been released (and I am probably one of the few who has actually been looking out for it) until I read the above comments; better run downtown as I am sure it will be gone pretty fast . . .

Wesley Morris, Globe Staff:

:blink:

Okay, now I'm scared.

I just saw it and its....okay, I guess. I mean, at what point does "loving homage to 80's post-apoc films" become "tired knockoff of 80's post-apoc films"? For much of the movie I caught myself saying stuff like "hey, they're dressed just like those clowns in THE ROAD WARRIOR" and "hey, remember a somewhat similar scene in ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK?", etc. And I don't like doing stuff like that in movies, it takes you out of the flow. (I dislike self-referentialism in movies intensely, actually.When done very very well -- some of Tarantino's stuff -- it adds a nice little dimension to things, but it's too easy to not do it well and to get a rarefied smug feeling, instead. I want to watch a story, not an elaborate comment on a story or a type of story.)

But I digress. SPOILERS COMMENCE


Transposing ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK into 28 DAYS LATER land causes all sorts of story problems, one of the biggest being I do not understand why the badguy would try a plan that defied common sense as well as morality -- being Evil doesn't mean being stupid.

Rhona Mitra is okay in the lead, but as is often the case with females starring in action movies I had a hard time swallowing the notion that she could kick as much butt as she ended up kicking. I wonder if the director had problems as well -- too many of the early action sequences are chopped up Greengrass style -- this can be for a few reasons, but here I suspect it's to hide Ms. Mitra's physical limitations.
(Actually, the black Sergeant sidekick was much better, and probably should've been the lead -- he has the kind of gravitas you need in these roles, and he just looks more plausible beating up guys in armor.)

Oh, armor. The castle sequence, complete with horses, armor, lances, King's Executioners, stained windows, weary scribes, etc. -- great fun, all of it, like we'd suddenly slipped into A Connecticut Yankee in King's Arthur's Court.

The best thing about the movie, though, is the final car chase sequence, which obviously owes a debt *cough* to ROAD WARRIOR, but is still pretty stupendous for all that. I mean, it might be the best car chase sequence I've seen in the movies in the past few years, no joke, better than THE BOURNE SUPREMACY and GRINDHOUSE and whatever else I can think of right now. It does some imaginative things, and for once we get proper takes so we can see the whole thing clearly. Really, that bit is highly highly recommended.

As for the rest? I don't know. I guess I would say in the end that this is a pretty self-indulgent movie, it's like the director just decided to use this as an excuse to cram in every goofy genre idea he ever played with. That makes it more a movie of it's parts rather than a whole -- something it's obvious influences never suffered from. I wouldn't go out and see it, but it might be worth a rental, you can skip through the nonsense and concentrate on the better moments.

doug

i don't know about leaving it flat, i haven't seen many commercials for it, but they've had myspace adds for a few weeks now...

also, i live in a podunk state (NH) and its literally playing every theater in the area...

which is way more than can be said for DIARY OF THE DEAD, which never even played here...

The best thing about the movie, though, is the final car chase sequence, which obviously owes a debt *cough* to ROAD WARRIOR, but is still pretty stupendous for all that. I mean, it might be the best car chase sequence I've seen in the movies in the past few years, no joke, better than THE BOURNE SUPREMACY and GRINDHOUSE and whatever else I can think of right now. It does some imaginative things, and for once we get proper takes so we can see the whole thing clearly. Really, that bit is highly highly recommended.

Guess I'm showing my age (43), but I found the cutting in that sequence just as annoyingly incoherent as every other action scene. Actually, annoyance was primarily what I felt during DOOMSDAY. That, and apathy.

If this wasn't Neil Marshall's third movie, I'd say it was the textbook example of sophomore jinx. DOG SOLDIERS and THE DESCENT were terrific pictures that surprised me by how well crafted and entertaining they were; by contrast, DOOMSDAY is a tiresome, idiotic, headache-inducing mess that I couldn't wait to be rid of.

I've seen tons of ads for DOOMDAY for a couple of weeks now. I never saw a single ad for DIARY OF THE DEAD and didn't even realize it had been released. DOTD has already been relegated to the last chance multiplex, the Gaslamp theatre in downtown San Diego where there's no parking.

Given the film's doomsday-ish reception at the boxoffice, you won't be seeing those ads too much anymore. :)

I caught a matinee of Doomsday this morning, and I don't recommend it very highly. It starts out as a watchable B-movie, but by the halfway point, I started to think about what I wanted to get for lunch afterwards. If you're desperate to get out of the house and go do something, you could probably do worse (seeing a movie at about 10 AM with maybe one or two other people is usually fun if the movie is even halfway watchable), but this would probably be better suited to a DVD rental on a slow night. At times, and felt like about four or five different movies stitched together, and none of them really worked. My favorite thing in the whole movie might have been the use of the 80s John Carpenter font for the opening credits. (Is that font available anywhere as a word processor font?)

It's a bit of a disappointment after The Descent, but I'll still watch for Neil Marshall's next movie.

EDIT: Googling "John Carpenter font" turned up a couple of results that identify the font as Albertus:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus_%28typeface%29