Doomsday (2008 film)
Doomsday | |
---|---|
Directed by | Neil Marshall |
Written by | Neil Marshall |
Produced by | Benedict Carver Steven Paul |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Sam McCurdy |
Edited by | Andrew MacRitchie |
Music by | Tyler Bates |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures (International)[1] Concorde Filmverleih (Germany)[2] Ster-Kinekor (South Africa)[2] |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 105 minutes (United States) 108 minutes (United Kingdom) |
Countries |
|
Language | English |
Budget | £17 million[4] |
Box office | $22.5 million |
Doomsday is a 2008
Marshall had a budget three times the size of his previous two films, The Descent and Dog Soldiers, and the director filmed the larger-scale Doomsday in Scotland and South Africa. The film was released in the United States and Canada on 14 March 2008 and in the United Kingdom on 9 May 2008. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the casting, pacing, narrative, and homage to previous films, but criticized the plot holes, character development, confusing editing, and overloaded gore. The film grossed $22 million worldwide, making it a box office bomb.
Plot
In 2008, the Reaper Virus ravaged Scotland, infecting its entire population. Unable to contain the outbreak or cure the infected, the British government erected a 30-foot wall isolating Scotland. The quarantine was a success, but the extreme method destroyed diplomatic and economic relations between the UK and the rest of the world, turning it into a pariah state.
In 2035, authorities discovered several people in London infected with Reaper.
The team crosses the wall to
In London, the Reaper epidemic continues to spread. As he is being evacuated from the city, Hatcher is infected by an attempted assassin. Michael Canaris, Hatcher's Machiavellian advisor, uses it as an excuse to quarantine Hatcher and take command as the de facto Prime Minister. Hatcher commits suicide rather than succumbing to the virus.
After leaving the train, Sinclair's group is kidnapped by soldiers armed with archaic weapons and armor. They are taken to a medieval castle and imprisoned by Kane, who reveals that there is no cure - only people with natural immunity. After being left behind during the Scottish quarantine and losing his wife, Kane became a twisted and sadistic feudal lord who blamed science for the downfall of civilization. He sentences Sinclair, Cally, Norton, and Stirling to death. Sinclair is pitted against Telamon, Kane's executioner, in an arena-style battle. Sinclair wins, killing Telamon before escaping with the others.
They find an underground facility in the forest that contains an intact 2007 Bentley Continental GT. Before they can escape, Kane's knights arrive and kill Norton. Sinclair, Cally, and Stirling manage to escape the facility but are soon intercepted by Sol and his gang. After a high-speed chase, Sol and many of his men are killed.
Sinclair calls Canaris and tells him she has the cure. Canaris arrives via helicopter, and Sinclair bargains with him to take Cally and Stirling back to London, where Stirling can use samples of Cally's blood to manufacture a vaccine. Canaris admits to Sinclair that he plans to hold back any cure until Reaper successfully eliminates much of the underclass in the form of social cleansing. Unbeknownst to Canaris, Sinclair secretly records his admission.
Rather than return to London, Sinclair goes to Glasgow in search of her mother but discovers she died during the quarantine. Nelson arrives, and Sinclair gives him the recording of Canaris. Sinclair elects to remain in Scotland and uses Sol's dismembered head as a means to assume leadership over his band of marauders.
Cast
- Rhona Mitra as Eden Sinclair, a Major of the Department of Domestic Security, was selected to lead a team to find a cure.[6] The heroine was inspired by the character Snake Plissken.[7] Mitra worked out and fight trained for eleven weeks for the film. Marshall described Mitra's character as a soldier who has been rendered cold from her military indoctrination and her journey to find the cure for the virus is one of redemption.[8] The character was originally written to have "funny" lines, but the director scaled back on the humor to depict Sinclair as more "hardcore".[9]
- Bob Hoskins as Bill Nelson, Eden Sinclair's boss. Marshall sought to have Hoskins emulate his "bulldog" role from the 1980 film The Long Good Friday.[9]
- David O'Hara as Michael Canaris, a corrupt senior official within the British government whose position is never stated, who acts as Hatcher's puppeteer. Canaris was depicted to have a fascist background, speaking lines that paralleled Adolf Hitler's mindset of cleansing.[9]
- Malcolm McDowell as Marcus Kane, a former scientist who now lives as a feudal lord in an abandoned castle, having medieval army under his command and controlling parts of the country.[10] McDowell described his character as a King Lear.[11] According to Marshall, Kane is based on Kurtz from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The director originally sought to bring Sean Connery out of retirement to play Kane but was unsuccessful.[10] McDowell is the maternal-uncle of Alexander Siddig.
- Alexander Siddig as Prime Minister John Hatcher. Marshall originally wrote Hatcher as a sympathetic character misguided by Canaris, but revised the character to be more like Canaris in embracing political manipulation.[9] Siddig is the maternal-nephew of Malcolm McDowell.
- Adrian Lester as Sergeant Norton, a member of Sinclair's team
- Craig Conway as Sol, Kane's son and the leader of the marauders. He has a biohazard sign tattooed on his back and a large scar across his chest. Even though he is Kane's son, he distanced himself from him and formed his own army. He was a young child in the original 2008 quarantine.[9]
In addition,
Production
Conception
Director Neil Marshall lived near the ruins of Hadrian's Wall, a Roman fortification built to defend England against Scotland's tribes. The director fantasised about what conditions would cause the Wall to be rebuilt and imagined a lethal virus would work. Marshall had also visualised a mixture of medieval and futuristic elements: "I had this vision of these futuristic soldiers with high-tech weaponry and body armour and helmets—clearly from the future—facing a medieval knight on horseback." The director favoured the English/Scottish border as the location for a rebuilt wall, finding the location more plausible than a lengthy boundary between the United States and Canada. Additionally, Scotland is the home to multiple castles, which fit Marshall's medieval aspect.[13]
The lethal virus in Doomsday differs from contemporary films like 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later by being an authentic plague that actually devastates the population, instead of infecting people so they become aggressive cannibals or zombies. Marshall intended the virus as the backdrop to the story, having survivors scavenge for themselves and set up a primitive society. The director drew from tribal history around the world to design the society. Though the survivors are depicted as brutal, Marshall sought to have "shades of gray" by characterising some people in England as selfishly manipulative.[13]
The director intended Doomsday as a tribute to post-apocalyptic films from the 1970s and 1980s, explaining, "Right from the start, I wanted my film to be an homage to these sorts of movies, and deliberately so. I wanted to make a movie for a new generation of audience that hadn't seen those movies in the cinema—hadn't seen them at all maybe—and to give them the same thrill that I got from watching them. But kind of contemporise it, pump up the action and the blood and guts." Cinematic influences on Doomsday include:[14]
- Mad Max (1979), Mad Max 2 (1981), and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985): Marshall drew inspiration from the punk style of the films and also shaped Rhona Mitra's character after Max Rockatansky as a police officer with a troubled history.[14]
- Escape from New York (1981): The director drew from the concepts of gang warfare and the experience of being walled-in. Rhona Mitra's character has an eye patch like Snake Plissken, though the director sought to create a plot point for the eye of Mitra's character to reinforce its inclusion.[14]
- Excalibur (1981): Marshall enjoyed John Boorman's artistry in the film and sought to include its medieval aspects in Doomsday.[14]
- Walter Hill, including the "visual style of the gang warfare" in The Warriors.[14]During the scene where Sol addresses the crowd in Glasgow, a Baseball Furies gang member can be seen in the crowd.
- No Blade of Grass (1970): Marshall perceived the film as a predecessor to 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later, though he sought to make Doomsday less straight-faced.[14]
- The Omega Man (1971): The director was inspired by the "empty city" notion of the film and drew upon its dark and gritty nature.[14]
- A Boy and His Dog (1974): Marshall created a homage to the 1974 film's ending by including a scene of a human being cooked.[14]
- Waterworld (1995): The director was inspired by the gritty atmosphere and how people scavenge to survive and adapt in their new world.[14]
- Gladiator (2000): As with the Russell Crowe character in the Ridley Scott film, Marshall sought to put Mitra's character through a trial by combat.[14]
- Children of Men (2006): With this film coming out during the development of Doomsday, the director realised the similarity of the premises and sought to make his film "more bloody and more fun".[14]
Marshall also cited
Filming
Rogue Pictures signed Marshall to direct Doomsday in October 2005,[19] and in November 2006, actress Rhona Mitra was signed to star in Doomsday as the leader of the elite team.[6] Production was budgeted at £17 million,[4] an amount that was triple the combined total of Marshall's previous two films, Dog Soldiers (2002) and The Descent (2005).[18] The increase in scale was a challenge to the director, who had been accustomed to small casts and limited locations. Marshall described the broader experience: "There's fifty or more speaking parts; I'm dealing with thousands of extras, logistical action sequences, explosions, car chases — the works."[13]
Production began in February 2007 in South Africa,[20] where the majority of filming took place.[4] South Africa was chosen as a primary filming location for economic reasons, costing a third of estimated production in the United Kingdom.[21] Shooting in South Africa lasted 56 days out of 66 days, with the remaining ten taking place in Scotland. Marshall said of South Africa's appeal, "The landscape, the rock formations, I thought it was about as close to Scotland as you're likely to get, outside of Ireland or Wales."[22] In Scotland, secondary filming took place in the city of Glasgow, including Haghill in the city's East End, and at Blackness Castle in West Lothian,[23] the latter chosen when filmmakers were unable to shoot at Doune Castle.[22] The entire shoot, involving thousands of extras, included a series of complex fight scenes and pyrotechnical displays.[18] The director sought to minimise the use of computer-generated elements in Doomsday, preferring to subscribe to "old-school filmmaking".[13] In the course of production, several sequences were dropped due to budgetary concerns, including a scene in which helicopter gunships attacked a medieval castle.[24]
A massive car chase scene was filmed for Doomsday, described by Marshall to be one part Mad Max, one part
Visual effects
The visual effects for Doomsday stemmed from the 1980s stunt-based films, involving approximately 275 visual effects shots. While filmmakers did not seek innovative visual effects, they worked with budget restrictions by creating set extensions. With most shots taking place in daylight, the extensions involved matte paint and 2D and 3D solutions. The visual effects crew visited Scotland to take reference photos so scenes that were filmed in Cape Town, South Africa could instead have Scottish backgrounds. Several challenges for the visual effects crew included the illustration of cow overpopulation in line with a decimated human population and the convincing creation of the rebuilt Hadrian Wall in different lights and from different distances. The most challenging visual effects shot in Doomsday was the close-up in which a main character is burned alive. The shot required multiple enhancements and implementations of burning wardrobe, burning pigskin, and smoke and fire elements to look authentic.[27]
Neil Marshall's car chase sequence also involved the use of visual effects. A scene in which the Bentley crashes through a bus was intended to implement pyrotechnics, but fire marshals in the South African nature reserve, the filming location for the scene, forbade their use due to dry conditions. A miniature mock-up was created and visual effects were applied so the filming of the mock-up would overlay the filming of the actual scene without pyrotechnics. Other visual effects that were created were the Thames flood plain and a remote Scottish castle. A popular effect with the visual effects crew was the "rabbit explosion" scene, depicting a rabbit being shot by guns on automatic sensors. The crew sought to expand the singular shot, but Neil Marshall sought to focus on one shot to emphasise its comic nature and avoid drawing unnecessary sympathy from audiences.[27]
Music
Marshall originally intended to include 1980s synth music in his film, but he found it difficult to combine the music with the intense action. Instead, composer Tyler Bates composed a score using heavy orchestra music.[24] The film also included songs from the bands Adam and the Ants, Fine Young Cannibals, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and Kasabian.[12] The song "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood was the only song to remain in the film from the first draft of the screenplay. "Spellbound" by Siouxsie and the Banshees was a favourite song of the director, who sought to include it. Marshall also hoped to include the song "Into the Light" by the Banshees, but it was left out due to the producer disliking it and the cost being too high to license it.[28]
Release
Theatrical run
For its theatrical run, the film was originally intended to be distributed by
Critical response
"The director of top horror flicks The Descent and Dog Soldiers was given more money for his latest effort, but many thought he wasted it on a collection of flashy set pieces without much interlinking plot in between."
Rotten Tomatoes editorial on UK's general consensus[33]
Doomsday was not screened for critics in advance of its commercial opening in cinemas.
Alison Rowat of The Herald perceived Doomsday as "decidedly everyday" for a thriller, with Marshall's script having too many unanswered questions and characters not fully developed despite a decent cast. Rowat said, "In his previous films, Marshall made something out of nothing. Here he does the opposite". The critic acknowledged the attempted homages and the B-movie approach but thought that "there has to be something more".[38] Steve Pratt of The Northern Echo weighed in, "As a writer, Marshall leaves gaping holes in the plot while as a director he knows how to extract maximum punch from car chases, beatings and fights without stinting on the gore as body parts are lopped off with alarming frequency and bodies squashed to a bloody pulp."[39] Philip Key of the Liverpool Daily Post described the film, "Doomsday is a badly thought-out science fiction saga which leaves more questions than answers."[40]
Alonso Duralde of MSNBC described Doomsday: "It's ridiculous, derivative, confusingly edited and laden with gore, but it's the kind of over-the-top grindhouse epic that wears down your defenses and eventually makes you just go with it." Duralde believed that Mitra's character would have qualified as a "memorable fierce chick" if the film was not so silly.[41] David Hiltbrand of The Philadelphia Inquirer rated Doomsday at 2.5 out of 4 stars and thought that the film was better paced than most fantasy-action films, patiently building up its action scenes to the major "fireworks" where other films would normally be exhausted early on.[42]
Reviewer James Berardinelli found the production of Doomsday to be a mess, complaining, "The action sequences might be more tense if they weren't obfuscated by rapid-fire editing, and the backstory is muddled and not all that interesting." Berardinelli also believed the attempted development of parallel storylines to be too much for the film, weakening the eventual payoff.[43] Dennis Harvey of Variety said Neil Marshall's "flair for visceral action" made up for Doomsday's lack of originality and that the film barely had a dull moment. He added, "There's no question that Doomsday does what it does with vigor, high technical prowess and just enough humor to avoid turning ridiculous." Harvey considered the conclusion relatively weak, and found the quality of the acting satisfactory for the genre, while reserving praise for the "stellar" work of the stunt personnel.[44] Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle also praised the film's stunts, noting that it was reminiscent of "the beauty of the exploitation film era". Hartlaub said of the effect, "Hire a couple of great stuntmen and a halfway sober cinematographer, and you didn't even need a screenwriter."[45]
Matt Zoller Seitz of The New York Times saw Rhona Mitra's character as a mere impersonation of Snake Plissken and considered the film's major supporting characters to be "lifeless". Seitz described his discontent over the lack of innovation in the director's attempted homages of older films: "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."[46]
Scottish response
Scotland's tourism agency
In contrast, several parties have expressed concern that Doomsday presents negativity in England's latent view of Scotland based on their history. Angus MacNeil, member of the Scottish National Party, said of the film's impact: "The complimentary part is that people are thinking about Scotland as we are moving more and more towards independence. But the film depicts a country that is still the plaything of London. It is decisions made in London that has led to it becoming a quarantine zone."[47]
Doomsday was not nominated or considered as a possible contender at the BAFTA Scotland awards despite being one of the largest film productions in Scotland in years; £2 million was spent on local services. Director Neil Marshall applied for membership with the organisation to add "fresh blood", but Doomsday was not mentioned during jury deliberations. According to a spokesperson from the organisation, the film was not formally submitted for consideration, and no one directly invited the filmmakers to discuss a possible entry. Several of BAFTA Scotland's jury members believed that the criteria and procedures for a Scottish film were unclear and could have been more formalised.[48]
Haunted house
Doomsday was used as inspiration in building a haunted house for
Home media
Doomsday was the first
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Doomsday (2008)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
- ^ a b Doomsday at Box Office Mojo
- ^ "Doomsday". London: British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 16 August 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
- ^ a b c Ford, Coreena (10 June 2007). "From Doomsday to Hollywood". Sunday Sun. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
- ^ "Doomsday (2008) - Neil Marshall". AllMovie.
- ^ Nielsen Company. Archived from the originalon 17 November 2006. Retrieved 19 November 2006.
- Daily News. Archived from the originalon 5 October 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
- ^ "Neil Marshall Interview, Doomsday". Movies Online. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
- ^ Universal Pictures.
Feature commentary with director Neil Marshall and cast members Sean Pertwee, Darren Morfitt, Rick Warden and Les Simpson.
- ^ a b Pendreigh, Brian (6 May 2007). "Clockwork Orange star enters Scotland's Doomsday scenario". The Scotsman. Johnston Press. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
- ^ Carroll, Larry (27 August 2007). "Malcolm McDowell Delivers 'Doomsday' Details". MTV Movies Blog. MTV. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
- ^ a b Listed in the film's credits.
- ^ a b c d Biodrowski, Steve. "Interview: Neil Marshall Directs "Doomsday"". Cinefantastique.com. Archived from the original on 9 March 2008. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cline, Rich (6 May 2008). "Neil Marshall's 10 Post-Apocalyptic Picks". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Archived from the original on 24 May 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
- ^ Sci Fi Wire. Sci Fi Channel. Archived from the originalon 11 May 2008. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
- Daily News. Archived from the originalon 28 March 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
- ^ Turek, Ryan (14 August 2007). "Exclusive Interview: Neil Marshall". ComingSoon. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
- ^ a b c d Piccalo, Gina (13 March 2008). "Neil Marshall imagines a wild 'Doomsday'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 18 March 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
- ^ Dawtrey, Adam (6 October 2005). "'Doomsday' at Rogue". Variety. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
- ^ "Bob Hoskins Joins Marshall's Doomsday". ComingSoon.net. 29 January 2007. Retrieved 30 January 2007.
- ^ Pratt, Steve (10 May 2008). "Wall of death". The Northern Echo. Newsquest. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
- ^ a b Black, Claire (3 May 2008). "Killer location". The Scotsman. Johnston Press. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
- ^ Roden, Alan (2 May 2007). "Action film shot in Blackness". The Scotsman. Johnston Press. Retrieved 2 May 2007.
- ^ a b Turek, Ryan (10 March 2008). "EXCL: Doom-Sayer Neil Marshall". ComingSoon. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
- ^ Billington, Alex (28 July 2007). "Neil Marshall's Doomsday Trailer Debut at Comic-Con + Posters". FirstShowing.net. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
- ^ "Doomsday director's gory vision". BBC News. 23 August 2007. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
- ^ a b McLean, Thomas J. (14 March 2008). "Doomsday: A VFX Cure for the Reaper Virus". VFXWorld.com. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
- ^ Masters, Tim (9 May 2008). "Talking Shop: Neil Marshall". BBC News. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
- ^ Hayes, Dade (15 October 2007). "Rogue marketing moves to Universal". Variety. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
- ^ a b c "Doomsday (2008)". Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo, LLC. Retrieved 3 July 2008.
- ^ Gray, Brandon (17 March 2008). "'Horton' Hits It Big". Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo, LLC. Retrieved 3 July 2008.
- ^ "Doomsday (2008) - United Kingdom Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo, LLC. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
- ^ a b Parfitt, Orlando (14 May 2008). "UK Box Office Breakdown: Speed Racer Tanks". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 21 June 2008. Retrieved 3 July 2008.
- Nielsen Company. Archived from the originalon 13 September 2008. Retrieved 13 October 2008.
- ^ Ratliff, Larry (14 March 2008). "Latest virus film put in quarantine". San Antonio Express-News.
- ^ "Doomsday". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 24 May 2008. Retrieved 30 July 2008.
- ^ "Doomsday (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 30 July 2008. Retrieved 30 July 2008.
- ^ Rowat, Alison (8 May 2008). "A hackneyed horror hits the wall Seeing Glasgow on the big screen is Doomsday's only thrill". The Herald. Newsquest. Archived from the original on 15 May 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
- ^ Pratt, Steve (8 May 2008). "Enjoyable doom and gloom". The Northern Echo. Newsquest.
- ^ Key, Philip (9 May 2008). "Doomed to fail". Liverpool Daily Post. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
- Today.com. Retrieved 14 March 2008.
- Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC. Archived from the originalon 4 April 2008. Retrieved 14 March 2008.
- ^ Berardinelli, James (2008). "Doomsday". ReelViews.net. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
- ^ Harvey, Dennis (14 March 2008). "Doomsday Review". Variety. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
- ^ Hartlaub, Peter (21 May 2008). "Stuntmen — accept no substitutes". San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Communications. Archived from the original on 14 August 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
- ^ Seitz, Matt Zoller (15 March 2008). "Confronting a Killer Epidemic That Wouldn't Die". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 9 September 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
- ^ a b Quinn, Thomas (27 April 2008). "Cannibal tale set to boost tourist trade". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 April 2008.
- ^ Pendreigh, Brian (18 October 2008). "Filmed in Scotland, loved by fans ... snubbed by BAFTA". Sunday Herald. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
- ^ "Event Report: Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights 18". dreadcentral.com. 28 September 2008. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
- ^ "Universal joining Blu-ray bandwagon in the summer". Reuters. 17 April 2008. Retrieved 28 April 2008.
- ^ McCutcheon, David (15 May 2008). "Doomsday Infects Blu-ray". IGN. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
- ^ Carle, Chris; Monfette, Christopher (10 July 2008). "Doomsday (Unrated) DVD Review". dvd.ign.com. IGN. Retrieved 30 July 2008.
External links
- Doomsday at IMDb
- Doomsday at Box Office Mojo