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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Doomsday (2008)

Doomsday (2008)

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Released 1-Oct-2008

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Action Main Menu Audio & Animation
Audio Commentary-Director and Cast
Featurette-Making Of-Anatomy of Catastrophe: Civilization on the Brink
Featurette-The Visual Effects and Wizardry of Doomsday
Featurette-Devices of Death: Guns, Gadgets and Vehicles of Destruction
Rating Rated R
Year Of Production 2008
Running Time 105:00
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (7:00) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Neil Marshall
Studio
Distributor

Universal Pictures Home Video
Starring Rhona Mitra
Bob Hoskins
Emma Cleasby
Alexander Siddig
Adrian Lester
Nora-Jane Noone
Lee-Anne Liebenberg
MyAnna Buring
Craig Conway
Malcolm McDowell
Sean Pertwee
Ryan Kruger
Nathan Wheatley
Case ?
RPI ? Music Tyler Bates


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    In late 2007, an incurable, deadly virus spread through Scotland. The government only managed to prevent the spread of the disease by walling off the northern British nation and leaving its inhabitants for dead. Now, some thirty years later, the virus has reemerged - this time in London.

    Grizzled combat veteran Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), who as a child was one of the last people airlifted from Scotland, is let in on a well kept state secret by her handler (Bob Hoskins). The wall is still protected by heavily armed soldiers and combat robots because a small fraction of the infected were naturally immune to the disease and are believed to still be living within the walls. For obvious reasons, the government can't let the survivors out while they are still infected. Worse still, the government, led by prime minister John Hatcher (Alexander Siddig), realise that to acknowledge there are still survivors in Scotland would be political suicide.

    The illustrious Dr. Marcus Kane (Malcolm McDowell) led the research to find a cure from within the confines of the wall, but his communications ceased more than two decades earlier. Along with a team of crack commandos/cannon fodder Sinclair leads a covert mission to hunt for the good Dr. Kane and his potential cure. Alas, she soon discovers that what remains of society has devolved into feudal chaos.

    Doomsday writer/director Neil Marshall found significant cult success with his action/horror independent films Dog Soldiers and The Descent. Both were rightfully critically hailed and achieved both a modest degree of box office success and significant success on DVD. Doomsday is Marshall's first movie with a studio and studio budget behind him and, for better and worse, it shows. Marshall has cobbled Doomsday together like a kid let loose in a candy story. There are some great bits in the film, but none of them really mesh and this leaves the film awfully disjointed even if it is quite fun at times.

    Doomsday openly pays homage to all manner of classic sci-fi action flicks. Think of Escape From New York, Mad Max, Westworld, Aliens and 1984 all put in a blender and you will more or less have a good picture of Doomsday. It would be easy to argue that the film blatantly rips off the flicks it borrows from, if not for the fact that it clearly displays a genuine respect for those classics in its own way. If the whole thing hung together just a little better this could have been a classic homage to cult genre films of the 1980s. In fact, the problems here are very similar to those with 1970s homage Grindhouse. As it stands Doomsday is fun, but entirely forgettable.

    Anyone looking for something in the vein of Dog Soldiers and The Descent will be both bewildered and disappointed by Doomsday. Put simply, it's a very different beast. Sci-fi and action geeks will get a kick out of Doomsday (myself included), but it really doesn't work as more than a geek-fest. Hopefully Marshall has got all that fawning out of his system and will make a movie for everyone else next time.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The film is presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The video looks very good. The image is sharp and features only a very mild level of grain. There is an excellent level of detail in the frequent dark and shadowy scenes. There is no noticeable low-level noise in the video.

    The film features bold, vivid colours that are reflected well in the transfer.

    There are no signs of MPEG compression artefacts or film artefacts in the transfer.

    English subtitles are present for the feature. Based on the portion I sampled they appear to be accurate to the spoken word and well timed.

    This is a RSDL disc. The layer break occurs at 7:00 but was not noticeable on my equipment.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    An English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 Kbps) audio track is present for the film.

    Dialogue is at a good level in the mix and clearly audible throughout the film. The audio appears to be well synchronised to the video.

    The film features a decent post-rock score, as has become standard for this sort of post-apocalyptic affair ever since 28 Days Later..., by Tyler Bates. The music does suit the film and is well mixed into the soundtrack.

    The film makes excellent use of the surrounds, particularly as a device to build tension. The LFE channel gives the subwoofer an excellent, and reasonably dynamic, workout. Aside from the expected explosions and such the sub does a good job with machinery noise and the like.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Anatomy of Catastrophe: Civilization on the Brink Featurette ()

    A comprehensive and surprisingly informative 'making of' featurette, rather than the promotional fodder usually found in these sort of featurettes. Amidst a minimum of watching actors talk about character motivations and how wonderful everybody was, this featurette plays out almost like a 'how to' guide to sets, costumes, effects, making the most of limited space available on location and all manner other tidbits. This featurette, along with the other couple on this disc, were definitely produced with the geek fan base in mind and are all the much better for it.

The Visual Effects and Wizardry of Doomsday Featurette ()

    More or less an extension to the main 'making of' featurette, with a focus on the visual efects used in the film. There are some great comparisons between the prosthetics and miniatures used, and keeping in fine 1980s style there were a lot of them, and the modest CGI overlaid to tart them up. Also of note is a complete breakdown of the layers of CGI used to transform flyover shots of London and Scotland into crowded post apocalyptic urban sprawl.

Devices of Death: Guns, Gadgets and Vehicles of Destruction Featurette ()

    Again, more or less an extension to the main 'making of' featurette, with a focus on the props, weapons and vehicles in the film.

Audio Commentary with Neil Marshall, Sean Pertwee, Darren Morfitt, Rick Warden and Les Simpson

    Director Neil Marshall and a wide array of cast members, Sean Pertwee, Darren Morfitt, Rick Warden and Les Simpson, provide an informative and entertaining commentary.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Region 1 edition of Doomsday is identical to the Region 4 edition, save for the usual PAL/NTSC differences, but features an additional Spanish audio track. Unless you require tha extra audio track, this one is a draw.

Summary

    Doomsday fancies itself as a high octane homage to action genre films of the 1980s. Whilst it misses the mark, there is more than enough in it to make a good night in for 80s action fans and cult film geeks alike. An interesting failure from cult writer/director Neil Marshall.

    The extras package is decent in size and perfectly tailored to the film's intended audience. The audio and video presentation on this disc are excellent.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Adam Gould (Totally Biolicious!)
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Review Equipment
DVDSony Playstation 3, using HDMI output
Display Samsung 116cm LA46M81BD. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL).
Audio DecoderPioneer VSX2016AVS. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials.
AmplificationPioneer VSX2016AVS
Speakers150W DTX front speakers, 100W centre and 4 surround/rear speakers, 12 inch PSB Image 6i powered sub

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