rated R

“Doomsday” could have easily been billed as “Grindhouse 2.” A mishmash of bits from the last 25 years worth of post-apocalyptic flicks, “Doomsday” is derivative, but fun. Part “Mad Max” and part “Escape from New York” with a dash of “28 Days Later,” “Doomsday” is like downing a dozen Twinkies and drinking a gallon of Mountain Dew. It’s a momentary indulgence in excess that’s thrilling but not necessary to repeat.

The end is nigh in “Doomsday,” and, this time around, a killer virus is the agent of the apocalypse. First showing up in present-day Scotland, the virus ravages the country and kills hundreds of thousands of people. With no cure in sight, Great Britain decides the best way to contain the virus is to wall off Scotland and leave any survivors to fend for themselves. Three decades later, the virus surfaces again in London—along with evidence that some unlucky souls are still alive and kicking in Glasgow. Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), who, as a child, got out of Scotland just before it was walled off, is assigned to accompany a crack military team into the blasted country and retrieve one of the survivors in order to find a cure for the virus.
As is usual with an impending apocalypse, complications arise for Sinclair and her team, this time in the form of a pair of warring, barbaric societies. Sol (Craig Conway), a mohawked maniac who wants to lead his people over the wall and into England, leads one group. Meanwhile, Kane (Malcolm McDowell), a former physician who tried to cure the virus, keeps his group holed up in an old castle in the countryside, intent on repelling “impure” invaders from beyond the wall.

Writer-director Marshall’s love for B-movie excess is infectious, and even though he’s clearly cribbing heavily from other movies, his full-throttle enthusiasm makes it forgivable. It’s a restless sort of movie, with Marshall jumping from scenario to scenario fairly quickly, all the while hacking off as many body parts as possible and throwing them against the wall to see what sticks. Unfortunate victims are blown up, grilled, run over, stabbed, shot full of arrows and so on, and, every 15 minutes or so, it seems like someone gets decapitated. And, in a fit of absolute gratuitousness, a cute bunny rabbit gets pulped.

While all that excessive gore is exciting in the moment, it’s ultimately forgettable. As the sword-swinging, sharp-shooting, spandex-clad Eden Sinclair, Rhona Mitra is easily the most memorable figure in “Doomsday,” and her performance here is sure to make her an object of nerd lust, alongside Kate Beckinsale from the “Underworld” films and Milla Jovovich from the “Resident Evil” series.

“Doomsday” has its share of funny, off-beat bits. After capturing Sinclair and her team, Sol stages a bacchanalia featuring some gothed-up pole dancers and a giant grill for barbecuing prisoners, all while a Fine Young Cannibals song booms across the soundtrack. Sinclair’s robotic eye, which she can pop in and out at will and use to peek around corners and spy on her targets, is pretty cool, too, though admittedly not as cool as Rose McGowan’s machine-gun leg in “Grindhouse.” There are plenty of lapses of logic, too. For instance, how do you set up a stage and sound system for a prisoner barbecue when there’s no power in the city? And where did Kane’s people get all that authentic-looking medieval garb? But all that is forgotten amidst the continuous fountains of arterial spray and lopped-off heads.

“Doomsday” is by no means a classic, and Marshall’s earlier films—“The Descent” and “Dog Soldiers”—are far more suspenseful, original and better. But there’s something undeniably awesome about watching Mitra hack and slash her way through punked-out cannibals and rejects from the Society of Creative Anachronisms. “Doomsday” is a sweet treat, but let’s hope Marshall gets back to making movies that are just as bloody but a little more unique.