92 out of 94 people found the following review helpful:

Mad Max on Irn Bru

KateW from , 26th May, 2008

This is ridiculous, indulgent, derivative, and oh so much fun. What happens, do you think, when you rebuild Hadrian's Wall to contain a killer virus epidemic in Glasgow? Well, 30 years later Glasgow has become crumbled and overgrown, and the surviving population have reverted to barbarism... think Saturday night on Sauchihall St with cannibalism thrown in. Other factions have retreated to the highlands and holed up in old Historic Scotland castles and are recreating a new form of vicious feudalism. The small touches are the best here, like the fact you can still catch glimpses of the old Historic Scotland interpretative plaques and fire exit signs in the castles, or the way the Mad Max-style auto convoy of the Glasgow punk cannibals is made up of Glasgow cabs, delivery vans and buses (with the words 'out of f*cking service' scrawled on the front). There's lots of attention to detail that folk living in Scotland will really get a kick out of, if they can forgive the initial premise that all it takes is a apocalyptic disaster for the Scots to return to their natural savage state. I loved this so much because it was like a 'best of' of all my favourite films and characters. Don't go expecting anything startling, challenging or original, but if you want chuckles and entertainment... enjoy.

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42 out of 44 people found the following review helpful:

Escape from Mad Max II

citizenk from , 26th May, 2008

An absolute travesty of a film,which plunders unashamedly,and without irony from several well known genre favourites. How on earth did Neil Marshall get this one past the money men? Even the high body count and the totally over the top gore won't save this from the bargain bin hell it deserves. I haven't bothered mentioning the storyline or the plot because if you've seen any 'Mad Max' film,'Aliens', 'Escape from New York' etc you'll have seen this dud too.

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32 out of 32 people found the following review helpful:

*** May contain spoilers ***

Nothing new...but utter fun!

Meako from , 7th May, 2008

Neil Marshall continues his exploration of the letter D with this, his third film (his last two being Dog Soldiers and Descent). This time inspiration for the film came to him when journeying back and forth to Scotland, passing the remains of Hadrian's Wall. Wondering what would ever lead to another wall being built like that, he then imagined a knight in armour battling a biker. Thus was lain the seeds for Doomsday! In the first quarter of 2008 an outbreak of a disease began in Scotland. Deadly fatal, and extremely contagious, no cure could be developed fast enough and so the whole country was placed under quarantine. A huge wall was built, and those inside were simply left to die. Now, in the year 2035 a new outbreak of the disease has struck inner-city London. Satellite surveillance shows signs of survivors in Scotland, and so a team is sent in to find a cure. What they find there is a society that has broken down into two distinct factions, one violent and brutal punk natured, the other medieval in nature.... Doomsday feels like Marshall is simply plundering his favourite films of his youth, and crafting a 'best of' movie. The film lifts heavily from films such as Mad Max, Aliens, Escape From New York, and even The Last Boy Scout (well, one small scene at least). If you feel that you may have seen it before, then you probably have, as we see a team of soldiers suddenly attacked and 'falling back to the APC', or a chase sequence on a long stretch of road with punked-up vehicles chasing a sleek black car. Aye, there is little in here that is original, but that doesn't matter too much as it is the melding of all the elements into one story which makes it almost fresh. Marshall wastes no time in dragging you into the madness of the film, with the opening scenes of riots and carnage as Scotland is closed laying the foundation of blood and gore that the rest of the film will follow. The gloriously over-the-top nature of the action and blood is reminiscent of Marshall's excellent Dog Soldiers, and the level of humour is also similar. Forget the seriously over-rated Descent - this is what Marshall does best, and it makes for a slick ride of a film at under 2 hours running time. This is one of those films that I will enjoy watching again and again, reveling in the carnage and mayhem throughout, much as I do with the primary influence, Mad Max. Bloody and brilliant.

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30 out of 30 people found the following review helpful:

Derivative junk

A Customer from Barnet, 13th May, 2008

Nothing wrong with bering derivative if you're also being entertaining, but this is just boring. As others have said - starts off like Aliens with the assault vehicles, then turns into the Beyond Thunderdome Mad Max movie. Save your time and watch something else.

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excellent brit flick

willowangel from , 18th March, 2010

at last a british film about an epidemic! (maybe there are others, but i havent seen them). starring Bob Hoskins, Malcolm McDowell and Rhona Mitra (me and hubby debated as to wether it was Kate Bekinsale or not. I won, cos it wasnt!). This film is full of disease, cannibals, high octane chases, kick ass stunts, knights and castles. Sounds unrealistic I know, but they've blended it together very well. I give it 4 out of 5

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Mad Max lookalike

Steve Hatton from Cornwall, UK, 12th March, 2010

Tries so hard to be a Mad Max film, but just doesn't quite make it. It has a fairly box-standard story, and the special effects, whilst adequate are not spectacular. Couple of reasonable name actors who probably wish they had passed this one by, Still worth a watch - just don't expect too much.

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Doomsdisc more like !!!

Summerhill from , 4th March, 2010

Appaling transfer to Blu Ray sounded awful speech indistinct . Disc copy also dodgy stuck and went blocky in a couple of places. I love the film for what it is a good mindless entertaining romp. Rent it but beware.

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Do yourself a good turn

bigAL1978 from , 3rd March, 2010

and do something else. Good production, performances ok, the worst delivery of a predictable idea possible and surely insulting to Scotland. Don't do it. Watch an old movie you haven't seen for a while.

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