Doomsday, mad max, neil marshall, post-apocalyptic

Girl-On-Girl Swordfight In The Plague Lands

First director Neil Marshall had to go around telling everybody Doomsday isn't a zombie movie, and now after you watch this new clip, he'll have to explain it's not a swords-and-barbarians flick either. But judging from a slew of newly released stills from the quarantined-country movie, Doomsday doesn't have any problem mashing up tons of genres. The movie looks like a dollop of Mad Max stirred in with a dash of medical thriller. Click through for a gallery and synopsis.

In Doomsday, the lethal Reaper virus nearly wipes out a small country (I think it's England, but the synopses don't make that clear), so the rest of the world walls off that country to keep the virus in. (As far as I can tell, the virus doesn't make you savage or mean, it just kills you, unless you're lucky.) Three decades pass, and the rest of the world remains virus-free. Until one day, the virus turns up in a major city. The authorities send Rhona Mitra into the quarantined country to try and retrieve a cure to the virus by any means necessary. But you just know that if two women enter this country, only one woman will leave. It's that sort of country. Doomsday, directed by Marshall (The Descent, Dog Soldiers) opens March 14 from Universal Pictures.

6:30 AM on Wed Feb 27 2008
By Charlie Jane Anders
2,750 views
17 comments

Comments

ggodo at 06:55 AM on 02/27/08
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The country is Scotland, and that clip had such poor video quality I can't even make a sword joke about it.
codydog at 07:02 AM on 02/27/08
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Saw the trailer in the theater. On the list. Might even pay full price. Looks good.
Jim_in_Buffalo at 07:24 AM on 02/27/08
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Rhona Mitra should have played Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider movies, but then again I'm kind of glad that she didn't. Let Angelina Jolie have that stain on her career. I'm glad to see Mitra having a starring role in something, especially something SF or fantasy-related.
Seth L at 07:47 AM on 02/27/08
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@ggodo:

I can!

"Thong! Fish is ready!"

I was looking forward to this but the cuts in the fight scene are already giving me a headache.
Rick Chandler at 08:01 AM on 02/27/08
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Connectedness Index: 74

After Kill Bill II, all girl-on-girl swordfights are pale and lacking.
codydog at 08:18 AM on 02/27/08
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@Jim_in_Buffalo: Yeah, that was bad.. What ever happened to her, anyway?
SeanOHara at 08:24 AM on 02/27/08
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No, no, it's not a zombie movie. It just looks like a remake of Land of the Dead by the guys who made Resident Evil.
grimmtooth at 08:29 AM on 02/27/08
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So - B5: Crusader meets World of Warcraft? I like both. Can't lose.

Seriously - the word "Plaguelands" is actually used?
aspiringexpatriate at 08:51 AM on 02/27/08
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Connectedness Index: 167

It's quite simply Escape From New York + Road Warrior + a non-zombie form of "escaping the disease" + willingness to make campy jokes + hot chick (who happens to be a good actress). Which quite simply, all of those ingredients should = awesome.

I was surprised to find out that the line "We're gonna find them, cook them, and eat them!" is a paraphrased line from Die Hard- Willis says it to the big unkillable German as he's pounding his face in.

Also, the trailer makes it pretty obvious that they quarantine Scotland. Not sure where the outbreak happens, but one would assume the same place.
CmdrHunt at 09:05 AM on 02/27/08
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Hey, let's not forget about Malcolm McDowell... any sci-fi movie that he's in is sure to be good! ::cringes:: (Tank Girl) Lori Petty + Ice T + Mutant kangaroos = 90 minutes I wish I was paid for.
nutbastard at 09:07 AM on 02/27/08
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Connectedness Index: 629

you had me at "girl on girl"

it could have been a girl on girl chess match, and i'd still have clicked through.
Charlie Jane Anders at 09:18 AM on 02/27/08
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Connectedness Index: 235

@grimmtooth: The word "Plaguelands" is used by me... in trying to think up a headline for this post at 2 in the morning.
jabber at 09:46 AM on 02/27/08
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You know the law: Two men enter, one man leaves.
jabber at 09:47 AM on 02/27/08
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or like Charlie said "two women enter this country, only one woman will leave."
AmishJohn at 09:50 AM on 02/27/08
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@CmdrHunt: Mmmmm. Naomi Watts' Jet Girl = yummy.
Plague at 09:50 AM on 02/27/08
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Quit using my name in headers.

This looks quite bad- aspiringexpatriate points out the main cliches that Marshall is tossing into the blender here- but it's the kind of bad that I could watch and get a smirk on about such as Starship Troopers 3 and not the kind of bad The Fall or 10,000 BC are, because it's not trying to do anything but make killing some time pleasurable.

On another note: Mitra would have made a better Sarah Connor.
Sian at 09:59 AM on 02/27/08
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Christ, can't he hire a real fight choreographer so ther aren't 3 cuts per second? this is painful.