Movie Review: Doomsday
Mad Max: Beyond the Sex Change.
So, in a future Great Britain where all of
Scotland has been walled off due to a highly infectious virus, one woman steps
forward to lead a police military raid into Glasgow to find a cure for the virus
which has now spread into London. She and her team open up the wall and enter in
two large armored personnel carriers that would almost make the Land Masters from
Damnation
Alley jealous.
Almost.
So, the opening sequences are gruesome images of plague victims and innocent victims being shot at the wall. Lots of blood. Mandy would not like it. Then, it is 25 years later and we meet the girl who escaped in the opening sequence. She has a false eye... long story... which is a camera. That becomes important at the end. She's a police officer in the police state of London. Pretty high up. She is given the job of going into Scotland to find the cure.
OK, Scotland. Divided by two factions, father and son. We meet the son first, Saul. He's just nuts. Very Road Warrior. He is the leader of the savage survivors of Glasgow. They are all young and pretty and tattooed and, oh, yes, cannibals. They eat one of her men, while she escapes on a train. Yeah, they have no power, no way to manufacture anything, but they have petrol coming form somewhere, and, instead of using it to run the generators, they drive around beating people up. Like Major One-Eye. Although, there is one scene in Glasgow that is awesomely hilarious to someone who grew up with the Art of Noise... one of the savages is on top of the APC and, as the APC drives into the hospital parking garage for a pickup, he is run smack dab into a sign that reads, and I tease you not, "Max Headroom." If you are not laughing out loud right now, do a Google search for ol' Max.
So, the girl gets away from the bad guys with the help of Saul's sister, who also happens to be the daughter of the doctor they are looking for. together, they find the good doctor, who isn't really all that good. Whereas Saul has become a Road Warrior freak of the future, dad, played by Malcolm McDowell, has regressed his society into knights in armor on horseback, with gladiatorial games designed to keep the masses at bay. Wait, no, his son did that, too... very Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. So, maybe his son took the dark ages and brought them into the future.
Anyway, the girl escapes from them and finds a Bentley in pristine condition in a vault hidden in a mountain. Now she has a car. And there is the predictable chase scene with the Road Warrior heathen. There's even a guy chained to the front of one of the cars, just like in Road Warrior. And, our girl wins the chase only to lose to the bad guy who has taken over London. But, she has a surprise for him. She records his final arrogant gloating speech as he leaves her behind in the zone. She stays, but is found by her boss, who takes the disk from her and has it broadcast on CNN. The bad guy doesn;t get away with anything. She takes the head of Saul and throws it at his minions and says, "If you're hungry, have a piece of your friend." Which was something said to her while she was captive in the first part of the movie. And she becomes ruler of the savages. And the credits run.
One redeeming feature... Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Two Tribes is the background music for the big car chase. It's awesome!
The final word? Eh. I give it 5 out of 10... an even 50%. Die hard fans of the first two Mad Max movies (Mad Max and Road Warrior) will like this as a dirtier, grittier, darker, bloodier, more violent version of the same post-apocalyptic story. The average viewer will find it too violent, too graphic in its realism. Innocent viewers need to leave. Quickly. Before the opening credits end. Yeah, really.
So, the opening sequences are gruesome images of plague victims and innocent victims being shot at the wall. Lots of blood. Mandy would not like it. Then, it is 25 years later and we meet the girl who escaped in the opening sequence. She has a false eye... long story... which is a camera. That becomes important at the end. She's a police officer in the police state of London. Pretty high up. She is given the job of going into Scotland to find the cure.
OK, Scotland. Divided by two factions, father and son. We meet the son first, Saul. He's just nuts. Very Road Warrior. He is the leader of the savage survivors of Glasgow. They are all young and pretty and tattooed and, oh, yes, cannibals. They eat one of her men, while she escapes on a train. Yeah, they have no power, no way to manufacture anything, but they have petrol coming form somewhere, and, instead of using it to run the generators, they drive around beating people up. Like Major One-Eye. Although, there is one scene in Glasgow that is awesomely hilarious to someone who grew up with the Art of Noise... one of the savages is on top of the APC and, as the APC drives into the hospital parking garage for a pickup, he is run smack dab into a sign that reads, and I tease you not, "Max Headroom." If you are not laughing out loud right now, do a Google search for ol' Max.
So, the girl gets away from the bad guys with the help of Saul's sister, who also happens to be the daughter of the doctor they are looking for. together, they find the good doctor, who isn't really all that good. Whereas Saul has become a Road Warrior freak of the future, dad, played by Malcolm McDowell, has regressed his society into knights in armor on horseback, with gladiatorial games designed to keep the masses at bay. Wait, no, his son did that, too... very Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. So, maybe his son took the dark ages and brought them into the future.
Anyway, the girl escapes from them and finds a Bentley in pristine condition in a vault hidden in a mountain. Now she has a car. And there is the predictable chase scene with the Road Warrior heathen. There's even a guy chained to the front of one of the cars, just like in Road Warrior. And, our girl wins the chase only to lose to the bad guy who has taken over London. But, she has a surprise for him. She records his final arrogant gloating speech as he leaves her behind in the zone. She stays, but is found by her boss, who takes the disk from her and has it broadcast on CNN. The bad guy doesn;t get away with anything. She takes the head of Saul and throws it at his minions and says, "If you're hungry, have a piece of your friend." Which was something said to her while she was captive in the first part of the movie. And she becomes ruler of the savages. And the credits run.
One redeeming feature... Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Two Tribes is the background music for the big car chase. It's awesome!
The final word? Eh. I give it 5 out of 10... an even 50%. Die hard fans of the first two Mad Max movies (Mad Max and Road Warrior) will like this as a dirtier, grittier, darker, bloodier, more violent version of the same post-apocalyptic story. The average viewer will find it too violent, too graphic in its realism. Innocent viewers need to leave. Quickly. Before the opening credits end. Yeah, really.
Posted: Sun - March 16, 2008 at 10:41 PM
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Published On: Mar 16, 2008 10:41 PM
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Published On: Mar 16, 2008 10:41 PM