Movie Review: Doomsday

Synopsis: Authorities brutally quarantine a country as it succumbs to fear and chaos when a virus strikes. The literal walling-off works for three decades - until the dreaded 'Reaper' virus violently resurfaces in a major city. An elite group of specialists, captained by Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), is urgently dispatched into the still-quarantined country to obtain a cure by any means necessary. Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare.

Verdict: In a nutshell, this movie is non-stop action, full of blood-spattering violence and delightfully filled with dark elements.

In terms of character development, there isn't really much here, even for the heroine herself. But anyway, who needs it? This movie is mostly about no-holds barred action with generous amounts of gore and copious amounts of swearing (enough for too much of awkward censorship from our Malaysian board, so bear with it if you're watching in the cinemas). The only thing we get to see is how our heroine ended up on the other side of the wall safely but [Spoiler Alert!] lost one of her eyes. Rhona Mitra handled her character skillfully, effectively portraying the heroine as a tough-as-nails, no-nonsense and unshakable leader. And MY GOD, that girl is FIT AS HELL in this movie.

As for the cinematography, the area of quarantine is very well done to reflect what a long abandoned town/city would look like; full of decay everywhere, derelict buildings plagued by vandalism and years of neglect, and the street littered with bones and rotting corpses. The whole setting is basically reminiscent to movies like Resident Evil and 28 Weeks Later.

In terms of the plot, there are some gaping holes big enough to swallow a whale, but it can be forgiven, due to the aforementioned abundance in great action scenes above. Some loopholes in beginning of the movie was left answered, like:

How could the world just sit by and allow this to happen without any protest?

How could the world not even try to look for a cure in those 30 years?

How could ANY government permit such merciless quarantine, abandonment and even killing of its own civilians (infected or otherwise)?

[Spoiler Alert!] How could they possibly have erected such a tall, thick steel wall covering the entire land boundary of the COUNTRY in a only a matter of weeks?

Well, I guess it's not important enough and this IS just a movie, so I didn't let it bother me that much.

In the quarantined zone, the outcome of three decades of total abandonment from the outside world, utter moral decay, collapse of all administrative systems, total descent into anarchy and untold desperation; is two different factions formed among the remaining survivors. Both cultures are sworn enemies, but in twist, you will find out that they are more related than you think.

[Spoiler Alert!] One side developed more of a punk culture:

[Spoiler Alert!] Whilst the other followed a medieval path:


I find the first to be more believable, since it doesn't take much to become a punk. But to fully adopt a medieval culture in ONLY three decades? Kinda hard to swallow there. One of the loopholes that needs more justification I believe.

Use of camera angles and shots were excellent as well, especially in the action and chase scenes, providing enough tension to excite and rattle your nerves for a week.

All in all, would I watch is again? Hell yeah, that's for sure!

Rating: 4 out of 5

Other: Because I'm nice, here's the trailer to get you excited! =D