Having just watched Doomsday, I think it’s safe to say that no director in England has the same pedigree of imagination as Neil Marshall.

Taking it’s influences from a variety of classics from from the 70s and 80s, Doomsday is very much a love letter from Neil Marshall, to the likes of Sam Raimi, John Carpenter, George Romero and George Miller.

Set in the near future, the story begins with an outbreak of a deadly virus in Scotland. With no cure and no idea on how to handle it, England cuts Scotland off and builds a 30ft wall across the border in an attempt to prevent the virus from spreading.

25 years later, the virus is erupts in London – just as it is revealed that there are some people still alive, north of Hadrian’s Wall mk2.

The government enlists the deadly, beautiful and impossibly named, Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), to head up to Scotland with an elite team and bring back a cure.

Your Local Guardian: Trash Talk: Doomsday

Played by Rhona Mitra, Eden Sinclair is a special forces Major who spends most of her time fighting crime lords whilst oozing sex appeal and wearing a skin tight outfit. She is also equipped with a detachable remote control eye, which proves very handy for looking round corners.

After a random act of violence against a rabbit (courtesy of a sentry gun demonstration), our heroes head out and into the overgrown city of Glasgow, only to be welcomed by a bunch of violent cannibal savages.

Whilst watching this bit, I must admit I wondered where all these savages get all their tattoos and mohawk hair-dos done. It’s the same with every post-apocalyptic world in every post-apocalyptic film I’ve seen… Anyway, I digress.

Doomsday features quite a bit of gore, but given the directors credentials this is to be expected. The effects work is very competent and film makes use of just the right amount of computer generated imagery to not distract the viewer.

Neil Marshall has come a long way since his debut, Dog Soldiers, and his efforts here must be acknowledged. However, at times the film does runaway with it’s ambitions leaving the viewer a bit confused. One moment it feels like you are watching Madmax, the next it feels like Excalibur.

The second half is also lacking the tension and atmosphere that is built up during the first half. Once we know who the savages are, there is literally nothing left to the imagination and the films pace very much goes into fifth gear, barely stopping to gather itself.

There’s also very little character development, with quite a few of the relationships hinted at, but never unexplored. It would of also been nice to of seen a bit more of the likes of Terrence Stamp and Bob Hoskins.

None the less, the film is still a lot of fun to watch and providing that you don’t take things too seriously, it is quite enjoyable.