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Doomsday
Universal Pictures

Doomsday reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 51 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
4.8 out of 10
based on 14 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 112 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexual content/nudity

Starring Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Adrian Lester, Alexander Siddig, and Malcolm McDowell

Authorities brutally quarantine a country as it succumbs to fear and chaos when a virus strikes. The literal walling-off works for three decades--until the dreaded Reaper virus violently resurfaces in a major city. An elite group of specialists, captained by Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), is urgently dispatched into the still-quarantined country to retrieve a cure by any means necessary. Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare. (Universal Pictures)


GENRE(S): Action  |  Drama  |  Sci-fi  |  Suspense/Thriller  
WRITTEN BY: Neil Marshall  
DIRECTED BY: Neil Marshall  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: July 29, 2008 
Theatrical: March 14, 2008 
RUNNING TIME: 105 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: UK 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Marshall reveals himself to be a terrific showman of chaos and comic savagery. This is Baz Luhrmann's "Mad Max."
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75
Philadelphia Inquirer David Hiltbrand
One caveat: The film has more blood-splatter than a dozen zombie movies. If you can handle that, Doomsday's drunken mash-up of futuristic and feudal is surprisingly satisfying.
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70
Variety Dennis Harvey
Neil Marshall's flair for visceral action more than compensates for his script's lack of conceptual novelty in Doomsday. Principally South Africa-shot tale of a post-apocalyptic Great Britain cobbles together large chunks of "Escape From New York," "The Road Warrior," "28 Days Later" and "Resident Evil," but those with a taste for revved-up, splattery fantasy thrills won't be complaining.
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63
TV Guide Ken Fox
Marshall delivers what he promises and Mitri makes for a cool, kick-arse heroine in the Ellen Ripley mold.
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58
The Onion (A.V. Club) Steven Hyden
Marshall’s fixation on John Carpenter and early James Cameron is all too apparent, but his own distinctive cinematic style isn’t, making Doomsday a likeably rambling but generic shoot-’em-up.
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50
Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling
Marshall cribs whole sections from other movies (Aliens and The Road Warrior, most blatantly) so baldly that you have to wonder how he'd like it if someone ripped off "The Descent" this egregiously.
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50
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Marshall, like his characters, does not mess around: Good people do bad things to not-entirely bad people while the Man (in this case No. 10 Downing St.) seeks ways to screw everyone.
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50
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Doomsday tries to cram so much into its limited 105 minutes that aspects end up feeling rushed and confused (especially the political situation in England) and the ending is perfunctory.
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50
Film Threat Stina Chyn
As a guilty pleasure, it’s spectacularly entertaining
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50
Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart
Just to shake things up a little, I guess, the creators of the laughably over-the-top Doomsday thought it might be fun to turn the survivors of a deadly epidemic, rather than its victims, into maniacal murderers.
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50
The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
Mitra, clad in the requisite tight, sexy outfits, conveys a suitable toughness but little in the way of personality, while such distinguished British actors as Bob Hoskins and Adrian Lester dutifully show up to collect their paychecks.
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40
LA Weekly Jim Ridley
I still believe with all my heart that no movie with real car stunts, a tough-chick hero, and a severed head that thunks directly into the camera can be all bad. But this is pushing it.
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40
Empire Helen O'Hara
Marshall's film is crammed full of good ideas but doesn't have the cohesion to pull them all together. Less effective than "Dog Soldiers," never mind "The Descent."
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40
The New York Times Matt Zoller Seitz
In terms of story, “The Descent” and Doomsday are as different as two genre films can be, but the falloff in artistic quality is still quantifiable. Where “The Descent” was a slow, quiet, exquisitely modulated, startlingly original film, Doomsday is frenetic, loud, wildly imprecise and so derivative that it doesn’t so much seem to reference its antecedents as try on their famous images like a child playing dress-up. Homage without innovation isn’t homage, it’s karaoke.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 4.8 (out of 10) based on 112 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

G Gill gave it a9:
Quite enjoyable if you understand what the director was trying to accomplish, which was an homage to some really fantastic films in the past 30 years.

Jag gave it a7:
This movie wasn't really amazing but it wasn't bad either. The trailer makes the actual movie look really crappy. When I first saw the trailer I thought "okay great, another invincible hot girl with a gun" but this movie does so much more than that. The beginning hooked me right off the bat and it stayed that way for a while. But then it got kinda boring and I started to loose hope. I thought it was going to turn out to be another 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead. But just when I was ready to start fast-forwarding it got really good again. And the variety here is also a real highlight. I don't want to give away the awesomeness but lets just say it will be the last thing you'll expect. There is also a real story here to but it can be consumed by the constant action which was awesome and well done . At your first watch-through you might think Rhona Mitra's character was really shallow and "topical action girl" but she was also really nasty and bitter. And then it hit me. She plays the role of a special forces soldier and she was in there for a long time (she was a major). She had no family, she grew up without an eye, and literally had no one. And when one is basically stealing, killing, and destroying for a living they usually loose respect for alot of things. Even people. Its that exact case with her so don't judge her to fast or you'll loose interest. It should also be noted that she is not invincible and there are very few"oh please" moments in the action sequences. She does alot of beating up but she gets her fair share of beat down too. This movie may not be the kind you'd want on your shelf but it would make a fun weekend rental or just something to have your buddy's over to watch with you. I liked it and it was worth the 4 dollars I paid to rent it. If you like action movies check it out.

Mark R. gave it a0:
Longest state lottery funded car commercial I've ever seen. This movie was so bad I feel as though my braincells would have been better used drowning in arsenic. This movie should have been illegal. I can honestly say that some of the glaring plot holes and inexplicable random circumstances were actually the high points of this movie. Not since an Uwe Boll movie has such a huge (also state funded) budget produced such a steaming mountain of manure. Think I'm being too harsh? Let me give you some highlights of the plot: 25 years is long enough to degrade to feudal society complete with competent bowmen, blacksmiths, masons, tapestry weavers, list goes on. A small percentage of the population survives, just enough to have a hundred or so to kill in random scenes. Armored personnel carriers not only do not have bullet proof glass windows, but they don't have shatter proof glass windows. Crazy bloodlusting cannibal psychos in big ole steel trucks and roadsters are scared of tiny 2008 bentleys running into them, but the same psychos are not scared of taking on guys in full high-tech military armor with big huge automatic weapons when they themselves wield boards with nails in them. This movie was just too stupid for digestion. I wanted to like it, I wanted to believe it was camp, I wanted to just enjoy the action, but there was no way possible that I could even start to get into it. Not to mention the adhd quality of the plot, it's appallingly derivative nature or the complete lack of resolution. This was vomit on cellulose and I want that hour and 45 min of my life back. If anyone else would like to start a class action suit with me for damages and vitality wasted let me know. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE.

Anme-Marie M. gave it a9:
Loved this film. Gory but satisfying. Mad Max meets 28 Weeks Later. Absolutely loved Rhona Mitra - she has it all over Lara Croft as posh birth who kicks butt. A great surprise.

[Anonymous] gave it a0:
I am ashamed. I showed a friend this movie. Now he is dead from banging his head repeatedly against a wall. Terrible movie, show it to people you hate.

David H gave it a2:
Very bad!!!!!!!!!!!! i can't believe this was the guy who did the descent, that is such a good film! this is terrible! awful dialogue, script, acting...EVERYTYHING! it isn't even remotely scary! and i can't believe they played that 80's song when that punk guy was on stage! what was the song again? ne one? thatscene was awful! where as in the descent it was suspensful, intense, exciting and realistic or the similar movie 28 days later, which deeply taps into our fears of 'what would we do if this happened?' thanks to it's amazing direction, making it incredibly realistic and all the more fearful! here, the best attempt at tapping itno our deepest fears is a stereotypically cheesy punk guy on stage singing some cheesy 80's song while screaming and a mosh-pit crowd! ooh, how scary-80'S CHEESY POP SONG! DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE! it will be a complete waste of your time!

Brandon L gave it a7:
This movie did what it was supposed to do, entertain. It had more holes in the plot than any movie I have seen in the past 5 years but still managed to have great action, over the top characters, over the top gore, hot chicks with guns, car chases and explosions. For a guy looking to be entertained, you could only add gratuitous nudity and you have a future cult classic. The only other movie that I laughed at more, because of how outrageous it was, was Rambo. Both highly entertaining, but dumb as a bag of rocks.

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