A futuristic action thriller where a team of people work to prevent a disaster threatening the future of the human race.A futuristic action thriller where a team of people work to prevent a disaster threatening the future of the human race.A futuristic action thriller where a team of people work to prevent a disaster threatening the future of the human race.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe car featured in the chase scene is a 2008 Bentley Continental GT Speed. Bentley does not participate in product placement, so the film's producers purchased three of the cars for approximately $150,000 each. One car was mistakenly driven into a gorge; the second was used for the lion's share of the stunt shots. The filmmakers were astonished at how durable the car was despite the punishment it took; by the time filming concluded, the car only needed a cosmetic refit. Its frame and engine were all intact.
- GoofsApparently the Bentley was stored for over 30 years. It is extremely unlikely it would run after this much time. Petrol is good for about six months (volatile compounds destabilize), the battery would be dead, and the tires would likely become harder/brittle.
- Quotes
Dr. Ben Stirling: Jesus. What've they got in here, the lost ark?
- Alternate versionsGerman DVD release is heavily censored for violence. Approximately six minutes of footage were removed to secure a "Not under 18" rating from the FSK.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Bad Movie Beatdown: Doomsday (2012)
- SoundtracksDog Eat Dog
Written by Adam Ant and Marco Pirroni
Performed by Adam and the Ants
Courtesy of Epic Records and Sony BMG Music Entertainment (UK) Ltd.
by arrangement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Featured review
Don't forget Excalibur when you Escape from New York 28 Days Later
A bubble of such near-impenetrable critical praise surrounded "The Descent" back in 2006 that any argument of its greatness became moot, and for good reason: not since "The Blair Witch Project" had a horror film been given such unanimous praise. And while I don't hold "The Descent" on a master's level (I think the claustrophobic horror bests the creature-driven stuff), I still think it was a confident effort from Neil Marshall, who bucked the torture-porn trend to deliver something tense and effective. Even its winks toward genre favorites like "Alien" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" seemed like fitting Valentines from one film-making generation to another.
"Doomsday," on the other hand, is a film so saturated in homage that the overall experience can be labeled a fun rip-off at best, and a derivative, migraine-inducing mess at worst (leaning more toward the latter as it wears on). The film begins as a semi-serious, semi-playful riff on "Escape from New York" (most of the UK becomes a walled-in quarantine zone...) and "28 Days Later" (...containing a population stricken by plague), as bureaucrats enlist Eden Sinclair (Kate Beckinsa...er, Rhona Mitra), a cop with a traumatic past (and one false eye) to lead a group of cops into a London given over to anarchy and ostentatiously-pierced scumbags to find a cure.
What's most stunning--and disheartening--about "Doomsday" is how it never feels like Marshall's own vision at work. Instead of filtering his influences through an individualistic perspective, putting a new spin on old conventions, he is complacent to shift from one stylistic imitation to the next (that Marshall has a higher budget than his forefathers only underlines his lack of ingenuity and creativity here). At one moment he'll invoke Ridley Scott (during a Medieval-tinged gladiator showdown), the anti-authoritarian diatribes of John Carpenter, and the gross-out humor of early Sam Raimi or "Dead Alive"-era Peter Jackson (I'll admit I enjoyed a pitch-black gag involving a hand/retinal scan), to name a few glaring instances. By the end, he's devolved into Michael Bay--rapid cuts and zooms that make the climactic chase look like an apocalyptic sports-car commercial.
Needless to say, a film this obsessed with surface attributes pushes the characters to the back burner. Malcolm McDowell (as a rogue scientist/Ren Faire leader), Bob Hoskins, and Mitra deliver dialog that is (much in the vein of Bay) mostly relegated to the occasionally-quirky one-liner. The supporting cast is so ill-defined that I'd challenge anyone to care about their fates, let alone remember their names.
Marshall's decision to indulge a plethora of "auteur" hats also means he frequently succumbs to the overblown, in-your-face gore that has become the tiresome staple of current horror. The relative subtlety and restraint of "The Descent" has been given a 180-degree turn toward the blood-sick sadism of the "Hostel" and "Saw" flicks. Mining humor from pitch-black situations and morally repugnant characters takes a carefully trained director, but Marshall is merely content to sling tastelessness at the audience with reckless abandon, hoping something will stick. But since the characters are one-dimensional ciphers propelled along by the slim story, "Doomsday" comes closer to the dreck of an Eli Roth film than the inspired absurdity of a Monty Python sketch.
"Doomsday," on the other hand, is a film so saturated in homage that the overall experience can be labeled a fun rip-off at best, and a derivative, migraine-inducing mess at worst (leaning more toward the latter as it wears on). The film begins as a semi-serious, semi-playful riff on "Escape from New York" (most of the UK becomes a walled-in quarantine zone...) and "28 Days Later" (...containing a population stricken by plague), as bureaucrats enlist Eden Sinclair (Kate Beckinsa...er, Rhona Mitra), a cop with a traumatic past (and one false eye) to lead a group of cops into a London given over to anarchy and ostentatiously-pierced scumbags to find a cure.
What's most stunning--and disheartening--about "Doomsday" is how it never feels like Marshall's own vision at work. Instead of filtering his influences through an individualistic perspective, putting a new spin on old conventions, he is complacent to shift from one stylistic imitation to the next (that Marshall has a higher budget than his forefathers only underlines his lack of ingenuity and creativity here). At one moment he'll invoke Ridley Scott (during a Medieval-tinged gladiator showdown), the anti-authoritarian diatribes of John Carpenter, and the gross-out humor of early Sam Raimi or "Dead Alive"-era Peter Jackson (I'll admit I enjoyed a pitch-black gag involving a hand/retinal scan), to name a few glaring instances. By the end, he's devolved into Michael Bay--rapid cuts and zooms that make the climactic chase look like an apocalyptic sports-car commercial.
Needless to say, a film this obsessed with surface attributes pushes the characters to the back burner. Malcolm McDowell (as a rogue scientist/Ren Faire leader), Bob Hoskins, and Mitra deliver dialog that is (much in the vein of Bay) mostly relegated to the occasionally-quirky one-liner. The supporting cast is so ill-defined that I'd challenge anyone to care about their fates, let alone remember their names.
Marshall's decision to indulge a plethora of "auteur" hats also means he frequently succumbs to the overblown, in-your-face gore that has become the tiresome staple of current horror. The relative subtlety and restraint of "The Descent" has been given a 180-degree turn toward the blood-sick sadism of the "Hostel" and "Saw" flicks. Mining humor from pitch-black situations and morally repugnant characters takes a carefully trained director, but Marshall is merely content to sling tastelessness at the audience with reckless abandon, hoping something will stick. But since the characters are one-dimensional ciphers propelled along by the slim story, "Doomsday" comes closer to the dreck of an Eli Roth film than the inspired absurdity of a Monty Python sketch.
helpful•3931
- Jonny_Numb
- Mar 18, 2008
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Ngày Diệt Vong
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $30,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $11,008,770
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $4,926,565
- Mar 16, 2008
- Gross worldwide
- $22,472,631
- Runtime1 hour 45 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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