Doomsday (Universal Pictures)
Rhona Revs It Up
Rhona Mitra has been on the verge of stardom for quite a few years now. Her biggest break came when she was cast as a Tara on The Practice/Boston Legal. After that she disappeared for a while but now is back as the lead in a sci fi thriller titled Doomsday. I am not big on that kind of movie but if it has Rhona count me in!
In Doomsday she plays Eden Sinclair, a member of the Scottish Army of the future. Half of the country has been wiped out by a virus but recent surveillance photos have shown signs of life. Edens job is to take a team into the quarantined area and find out if there is a cure for the virus. For whatever reason she agrees to go.
Her boss on the outside is Bill Nelson (Bob Hoskins), a man who appears to know and respect her. He gives her a pep talk before she leaves and says he will be awaiting her return. She seems to respond well to that kind of positive pep talk.
Once inside the forbidden area she finds there are many, many people who survived the plague. The only trouble is they are all crazy, blood-thirsty killers. Eden and company have one close call after another. Eventually they make their way to a castle in which resides Dr. Kane (Malcolm McDowell). He is supposed to be the head guru over here and also the key to the cure. The only problem is he wont cooperate and wants to kill Eden and company.
All of this plays out in a pretty fast-paced fashion. There is a lot of blood and gore and everyone is expendable in this cast. You can be sure the entire team is not going to make it back home alive.
The film is rated R for profanity, violence and nudity.
Mitra is quite good in her wonder woman type role. She has her smolder cooking and she looks physically fit. I could have watched her for a couple of more hours. The problem is that everyone else in the film is forgettable, including McDowell. He has grown into a caricature of himself and hasnt turned in a good performance in years.
If you like doomsday/sci fi thrillers this one is okay. It doesnt show us anything really new in this genre but having Mitra on board was enough for me. She manages to keep the whole thing interesting.
I scored Doomsday a finalized 5 out of 10.
