Product Description Directed by Neil Marshall. Starring Alexander Siddig, Adrian Lester, Bob Hoskins. From Amazon.co.uk Loud, violent, and proudly derivative, the post-apocalyptic action-thriller Doomsday is the latest from UK cult director Neil Marshall, who impressed horror fans with his previous efforts, Dog Soldiers and The Descent. Both pictures established Marshall as a director with a knack for reinventing well-worn genre pictures, but here, he seems more interested in stitching together favourite scenes and elements from established horror and science-fiction films. Escape from New York is the main source for Doomsday, though there are plenty of nods to The Road Warrior and its multitude of Italian-made carbon copies, as well as the zombie/plague subgenre; the lovely but impassive Rhona Mitra is the Snake Plissken-esque loner sent by police (represented by Bob Hoskins) to infiltrate Scotland, which has descended into anarchy following a viral outbreak. The disease has surfaced in London (now a walled city), and Mitra is dispatched to find a scientist who may possess a cure. Marshall's vision of Scotland in ruins brings together the punk/modern primitive costume design of George Miller's Mad Max trilogy with some eclectic homegrown elements (knights on horseback defending a gang leader's castle), and while these touches are novel, the picture as a whole should ring overly familiar to any viewer who's spent time in the exploitation trenches during the past 25 years. Younger and less discerning audience members will undoubtedly enjoy the plentiful violence and gore, as well as the unbridled performances of the supporting cast, especially stuntwoman/actress Lee-Ann Liebenberg as the heavily tattooed Viper. -- Paul Gaita Synopsis Writer/director Neil Marshall earned the respect of horror devotees with his first two features, Dog Soldiers and The Descent, refreshing and scary twists on the werewolf and expedition-gone-wrong genres. Where those works exemplified a respect for pure horror, devoid of the tension-spoiling comedy that infects most fright films, Doomsday is Marshall's love letter to the post-apocalyptic action-exploitation films of the 1980s. Bubbling over with action, gore, and dark humour, his third film has all the bases covered for a fun and knowing viewing experience. After a deadly plague results in the quarantine of Scotland (in a scene reminiscent of I Am Legend), a wall is built around the country preventing anyone from going in or out. Thirty years later, the British government believes everyone within the wall to be dead, but when they find signs of life and learn of the possibility of a cure, a team of specially trained agents led by Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) become the first outsiders to venture inside the country since the epidemic. They discover that there are plenty of survivors who have splintered into fierce, warlike tribes, living in a lawless society where cannibalism and murder are the order of the day. Astute viewers will have a blast playing 'spot the influence', with loving nods to Escape From New York, Aliens, 28 Days Later, and the Mad Max films. At the film's halfway point, Marshall switches gears, transforming the film from a punk-informed futuristic action film into a medieval-style chase film, utilising Scotland's castles and sumptuous green landscapes to the fullest. Mitra is an exciting physical presence as Eden, a female version of Escape From New York's Snake Plissken, and the great supporting cast includes Bob Hoskins and Malcolm McDowell.

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