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Movie Review: Doom
Written: 03/25/06
It's gonna be like f#%king Doom man - after the bombs explode. Tick, tick, tick, tick... Haa! That f#*king shotgun [he kisses his gun] straight out of Doom.
-Eric Harris
On April 20, 1999 Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold made history by unleasing their rage upon Columbine High School in the form of a violent shooting spree.
In the weeks that followed, idiots across the nation concluded that violence in television, movies, and video games made Eric and Dylan kill their classmates,
teachers, and eventually, themselves. A videogame called Doom was at the center of the controversy, as Eric and Dylan were quite fond of the game.
After six years, people forgot about the victims and their families, jumped off their soap boxes, and made a movie about Doom. The following is my review
of the movie.
Before I go any further, let it be known that there may be some very minor spoilers in this review, as it would be difficult for me to explain some significant
scenes without giving away a few details. I will not, however, give away any major spoilers such as the ending The Rock dies.
Plot Synopsis
The movie begins with chaos on Mars, as something appears to be killing people in a research facility on the planet. The place is locked down into quarantine to protect
the people in areas where the "creatures" have not yet reached. To resolve the situation, marines are called in from Earth via a teleportation device located
in Nevada. As the marines search the hostile areas of the facility, they find some injured people who appear to be out of their minds. Hilarity ensues when
these people turn into zombies and try to attack the marines. Wait, I thought Doom was about a war between humans and aliens, not zombies? Are you sure this isn't
Resident Evil? It turns out there are no aliens in the movie. The zombie cliche is in full effect, as the creatures were originally humans who got
bit by these creatures. These creatures resulted from genetic experimentation in an attempt to create super-humans. Given this, the movie does not stay true
to the video game at all. I believe this game might be based on Doom 3, a PC game for fag0ts, of which I have only played the fist part on my brother's PC.
Graphics
The graphics in this movie are quite stunning at times. If you like violence, this movie is for you. This movie contains excessive blood, multiple dismemberments,
exploding bodies, etc. I laughed frequently throughout the movie. Doom contains lush environments that transform the audience to another place and time.
It is obvious that a good portion of the film's budget went to creating the environments, and take it from me, it was money well spent. Let us not forget
the special effects. The movie is chalk full of beautiful computer generated creatuers, explosions, and gunfire, including a one "big f@#king gun" that does some serious
damage.
Hey now, don't you go and get high expectations about the visuals just yet, as Doom has some major problems in the visuals department. It happens to be the same
problem with the game Doom 3. The entire movie is dark - too dark. The power and/or lighting system at the research facility is down throughout the
whole movie, so the marines walk around with flashlights, just like in Doom 3. These flashlights don't even work that good. In fact, the very first marine death in the movie
happens right after his flashlight goes out, so you don't get to see the killing! How gay is that?! I found watching a movie for 1hr 45min without being
able to see anything very annoying.
Sound
If you have a surround system hooked up in your house, dorm room, or shag waggon, you are in for a treat. There were times when the creatures made noises
that sounded like they were taken right from the original game, and it brought memories back from 1996. In addition to all the gunfire and explosions, the
actors also do a good deal of yelling and screaming when they experience pain. The cries are a bit excessive at time, but always hilarious. There's also
a chick in the movie who screams her head off all the time for no reason. Priceless. As far as the spoken word goes, every other word in the movie contains
four letters, so be sure to crank up the volume and open your windows so your neighbours can hear, especially if they have small children.
Gameplay
The gameplay in the movie Doom is similar to that of most other movies. You use the play button on your VCR or DVD player to play the movie. Then you sit and
watch it. If you need to use the restroom at any point, you can use the pause button to stop your progress and continue at a later time. There is also
the ability to rewind if you want to see something again, or you can fast forward through some of the boring scenes. I found these controls a bit awkward, but you get use to them in no time at all. The movie is in 3rd person like 99.9999% of all movies out there, but there is a point in
the movie where they switch to a first person view as the hero of the story goes on a violent killing spree, much like the one Eric and Dylan performed.
This first person movie perspective is original and I really enjoyed it. It will revolutionize the movie industry, similar to way in which the insanity
meter in Eternal Darkness revolutionized the video game industry.
There is one major flaw with the gameplay in this movie. The movie is short - very short. You can easiliy beat the movie in one hour and forty five minutes.
If you want to go back and look at all the extra features, that will add some more game time, but it's not worth it.
Replay
This is a movie, so the replay value is little to none. You know the entire plot after seeing it the first time, so watching it a second time probably
isn't very entertaining. This is definitely a rental.
Final Score
79%
Joshua W. Hardin, Staff Writer
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