OK, like before DOOMSDAY, Neil Marshall made two great films, DOG SOILDERS and THE DESCENT, so going into this, i had high expectations. then i heard all of the negative buzz on the internet for months and months. so then i had low expectations. and the trailer sucked. basically, if you go into this film expecting anything serious at all, then yeah, you're going to be disappointed, because this is in no way a serious movie sci-fi action future apocalypse thriller. what it is - a tongue in cheek splatter fest homage to the great John Carpenter movies of the 80s and with a bunch of mad max thrown in. if you loved PLANET TERROR, then you will dig on this. really this flick reminded me of the vibe of BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA or CRANK. i'm not sure why more people weren't laughing, cause this film is simply hilarious. it just gets more and more over the top! cannibalistic punks BBQ one of our heroes to Siouxsie and the Banshees "Spellbound." and they have a GIMP!! little furry bunnies get blown up, and cows are squashed via tanks! oh yeah, look at you now, all covered in virus infected blood prime minister. what did you say, who is that guy? oh yeah! it's Dr Bashir from Star Trek Deep Space Nine, yes!!!
the gore is consistently excessive and top notch. then out of nowhere, it's a knight on a horse, hey there's Malcom McDowell collecting a paycheck!! boy does his nose crazy silly for some reason! this film is totally intentionally funny and camp. the thing is, i think it has a bit too much of a British sensibility for an American audience, cause there is a certain dryness to the humor, but it's pretty clear that Neil Marshall set out to make a big dumb retarded and fun Hollywood movie, and that ironically Hollywood is too stupid to know how to market it. this will find an audience on video, cause while parts of it are derivative of it's influences, it's too much fun not to like. you just gotta keep drinking and/or smoking! there are only a couple of aspects that keep it from being great - the editing is terrible pretty much throughout, and some of the action is hard to follow. then there is the dialogue that is really poorly staged. like they were working so fast to get the shots and come in under budget (especially at what is supposed to be a climatic scene between our heroine and one of the villains) that they just staged it, shot it once, and the actors were like, hurry up lets be done with this, we're ready to hit up that catered food. but regardless, i had a blast, don't know why my roommate asked the theater management for his money back, what a loser.
the gore is consistently excessive and top notch. then out of nowhere, it's a knight on a horse, hey there's Malcom McDowell collecting a paycheck!! boy does his nose crazy silly for some reason! this film is totally intentionally funny and camp. the thing is, i think it has a bit too much of a British sensibility for an American audience, cause there is a certain dryness to the humor, but it's pretty clear that Neil Marshall set out to make a big dumb retarded and fun Hollywood movie, and that ironically Hollywood is too stupid to know how to market it. this will find an audience on video, cause while parts of it are derivative of it's influences, it's too much fun not to like. you just gotta keep drinking and/or smoking! there are only a couple of aspects that keep it from being great - the editing is terrible pretty much throughout, and some of the action is hard to follow. then there is the dialogue that is really poorly staged. like they were working so fast to get the shots and come in under budget (especially at what is supposed to be a climatic scene between our heroine and one of the villains) that they just staged it, shot it once, and the actors were like, hurry up lets be done with this, we're ready to hit up that catered food. but regardless, i had a blast, don't know why my roommate asked the theater management for his money back, what a loser.