Doomsday (2008)

What if Scotland had a viral epidemic and none of the circus punks or medieval historical recreationists died? That is the question that Doomsday boldy sets out to answer. And also this one: what would Resident Evil be like if Mill Jovovich could pull her eye out and use it like a remote camera?

In the "hot chick mows down wave after wave of bad guys while showing little or no personality" genre, this movie has it all: decapitations, recapitations, explosions, cannibalism, the Fine Young Cannibals, car crashes, and more decapitations. Oh yeah, and Doctor Bashir from Deep Space Nine.

It starts out pretty poorly, in fact, with a cliche-ridden introduction showing Scotland consumed by this killer disease, followed by yet another cliched police operation sequence (the kind every cop movie in the 90's started with) introducing the tough-ass protagonist. Really things only start getting good once the movie stops doing everything you expect it to, and let's the crazyness blossom. Right around the time that the circus punk cannibals start rocking out to "Good Thing," actually. And you realize that there's no way the irony of cannibals listening to Cannibals is just coincidental.

It's a pretty wild ride from there, but most of the actors unfortunately lack the comic flair to really make the most of things. Unfortunately, once the movie really starts playing with your expectations and proves itself capable of giving you a nice jolt, it's almost too late. Things are set up for a sequel near the end, as expected, but it's unlikely that Doomsday will get another shot, given how poorly it seemed to do at the box office. A half worthy attempt that only brings the goods in the second half.