Doomsday DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Adventure Arrives on DVD

Doomsday is a sloppily-edited rehash of sci-fi clichés which looks like it was thoughtlessly slapped together by Edward Scissorhands. Furthermore, this soulless rip-off shamelessly recreates a host of memorable scenes from a host of popular, post-apocalyptic adventures like Resident Evil, Mad Max, 28 Days, Escape from New York and I Am Legend.
The story is set in 2035, after a deadly virus has contaminated Scotland and turned most of its citizens into a race of cannibalistic zombies. This led to the country’s being quarantined behind a giant wall, a precaution which was thought to have worked, at least until the new outbreak that has just been discovered in London.
Urgently in need of an antidote, Prime Minister Hatcher (Alexander Siddiq) decides to dispatch a rescue squad over the wall to retrieve Dr. Kane (Malcolm McDowell), a scientist rumored to have successfully developed a vaccine. When ordered to send in his best man for the job, Police Chief Nelson (Bob Hoskins) taps a woman, Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), a cool, calm and collected gunslinger every bit as attractive, as she is fearless.
She proceeds to lead a hand-picked team of crack commandos into an unrecognizable environment which has degenerated into lawlessness. The landscape is swarming with aggressive adversaries ranging from ghouls feasting on barbecued human flesh to a gang of big-breasted biker chicks with major attitudes to skull-and-cross boned creeps who look like they wandered in from an Oakland Raider tailgate party.
How these foreign groups have invaded, formed and flourished in the of absence of any infrastructure is never adequately explained, since there’s no time for anything but slaughtering wave after wave of each successive thundering herd. Forget about trying to follow the preposterous plotline of this insult to the intelligence, unless you want to laugh out loud.

Poor (0 stars)
Rated R for profanity, nudity, sexuality and graphic violence.
Running time: 109 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: Unrated version, feature commentary by the director and four cast members, plus two featurettes.

To see a trailer of Doomsday, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJMjiCxHLdg