Doomsday: Escape From Scotland? Doesn't Have The Same Ring
Neil Marshall isn’t shaping up to be a great filmmaker, but he’s certainly becoming an interesting one. His previous horror movie The Descent was amazing the first 30 minutes but lost it’s footing and fell hard. His newest, Doomsday, isn’t nearly as sloppy as he rehashes Escape from New York and the Mad Max movies with a bit of allegory to season things up.
If you have seen Escape from New York, you know the premise. Scotland has become ground zero for a disease that has no cure. It’s infection rate is so high that instead of trying to cure it, they wall off the entire place and leave them to die. Only one little girl gets out. Her name is Eden (Rhona Mitra) and she grows up to be a badass cop. Her boss (Bob Hoskins) gives her a top-secret job to go Scotland 25 years after the quarantine with a small military group and find a survivor who might hold a cure, since the virus has showed back up in the heart of London. Once there, she finds that there are in fact a lot of survivors who have grown accustomed to the taste of human flesh (and they’re not zombies). They are warring another faction who has decided to go back to feudal ages and become reacquainted with the sword and arrow. And both sides are eager to see Eden and her men dead.
The movie really doesn’t hold anything new to what you’ve seen in the movies it’s playing homage to. In fact two of the soldiers are named Carpenter and Miller, which is a clear indicator of the influence John Carpenter and George Miller had in this film’s style, especially in it’s punk look, it’s graphic and unnerving violence, it’s tension building action scenes, and it’s campy attitude towards authority and antiheroes. But Neil Marshall seems to like his heroine too much to make her bad in some way. His failing in allowing us an antihero makes this character boring. We like Snake Pliskin because he a bad man who knows he’s bad. We like Mad Max because he’s a dead man walking who doesn’t care what we think about him. Eden’s bland in comparison.
But the action does have it’s moments and the campy humor does work at times. I think it’s hilarious that we go from neo-punk of Glasgow to Robin Hood in the Highlands. And to top things off, we end up with a car chase that almost steals from The Road Warrior. The editing is crisp and the action never lags. But it all feels so darned old in a way. I know that in 10,000 BC, I stated that there are some things that never get old. Well, there are others that do, especially if you’re shots almost feel like you’re ripping off from your influences.
Like The Descent, I believe that Neil Marshall is again playing in allegory, this time about the situation in Iraq and possibly Darfur. Scotland is left to die in quarantine. Bad men take the place as leaders and begin a civil war with no end in sight and the rest of the world turns it’s head. But even it’s allegory seems to be feel forced when restrained by the influences of the movie. The problem with using such tactics is if it doesn’t work well, it fails miserably. The allegory doesn’t work well here.
But at the same time, I must appreciate it’s wild nature, it’s unflinching craziness and it’s bold screwball sense of humor. But I can’t recommend it since it doesn’t really have a voice of it’s own and doesn’t really distinguish itself as a whole other animal. If you want to see Escape From New York, why not just see Escape from New York?
I have a new rule of movie titles. The more macho the movie title (Doomsday, Never Back Down, Doom) the more ridiculous the movie. It’s almost as though the title is making up for the movie’s lack of adrenaline. I’m not saying that a title should be soft. But I find that movies with titles that are more imaginative (Escape from New York again) usually have confidence in it’s ability to deliver.
All in all, this isn’t a bad movie. It gives action and the people who want action will be satisfied. But it’s pale in comparison to some real action treats, the ones that don’t just deliver the goods but gut-checks you to the ground with a baseball bat. And that’s what I want in my action movies.
Grade: C+
If you have seen Escape from New York, you know the premise. Scotland has become ground zero for a disease that has no cure. It’s infection rate is so high that instead of trying to cure it, they wall off the entire place and leave them to die. Only one little girl gets out. Her name is Eden (Rhona Mitra) and she grows up to be a badass cop. Her boss (Bob Hoskins) gives her a top-secret job to go Scotland 25 years after the quarantine with a small military group and find a survivor who might hold a cure, since the virus has showed back up in the heart of London. Once there, she finds that there are in fact a lot of survivors who have grown accustomed to the taste of human flesh (and they’re not zombies). They are warring another faction who has decided to go back to feudal ages and become reacquainted with the sword and arrow. And both sides are eager to see Eden and her men dead.
The movie really doesn’t hold anything new to what you’ve seen in the movies it’s playing homage to. In fact two of the soldiers are named Carpenter and Miller, which is a clear indicator of the influence John Carpenter and George Miller had in this film’s style, especially in it’s punk look, it’s graphic and unnerving violence, it’s tension building action scenes, and it’s campy attitude towards authority and antiheroes. But Neil Marshall seems to like his heroine too much to make her bad in some way. His failing in allowing us an antihero makes this character boring. We like Snake Pliskin because he a bad man who knows he’s bad. We like Mad Max because he’s a dead man walking who doesn’t care what we think about him. Eden’s bland in comparison.
But the action does have it’s moments and the campy humor does work at times. I think it’s hilarious that we go from neo-punk of Glasgow to Robin Hood in the Highlands. And to top things off, we end up with a car chase that almost steals from The Road Warrior. The editing is crisp and the action never lags. But it all feels so darned old in a way. I know that in 10,000 BC, I stated that there are some things that never get old. Well, there are others that do, especially if you’re shots almost feel like you’re ripping off from your influences.
Like The Descent, I believe that Neil Marshall is again playing in allegory, this time about the situation in Iraq and possibly Darfur. Scotland is left to die in quarantine. Bad men take the place as leaders and begin a civil war with no end in sight and the rest of the world turns it’s head. But even it’s allegory seems to be feel forced when restrained by the influences of the movie. The problem with using such tactics is if it doesn’t work well, it fails miserably. The allegory doesn’t work well here.
But at the same time, I must appreciate it’s wild nature, it’s unflinching craziness and it’s bold screwball sense of humor. But I can’t recommend it since it doesn’t really have a voice of it’s own and doesn’t really distinguish itself as a whole other animal. If you want to see Escape From New York, why not just see Escape from New York?
I have a new rule of movie titles. The more macho the movie title (Doomsday, Never Back Down, Doom) the more ridiculous the movie. It’s almost as though the title is making up for the movie’s lack of adrenaline. I’m not saying that a title should be soft. But I find that movies with titles that are more imaginative (Escape from New York again) usually have confidence in it’s ability to deliver.
All in all, this isn’t a bad movie. It gives action and the people who want action will be satisfied. But it’s pale in comparison to some real action treats, the ones that don’t just deliver the goods but gut-checks you to the ground with a baseball bat. And that’s what I want in my action movies.
Grade: C+
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