The Rock leads a team of U.S. marines – all your
clichéd cronies are here from the religious nut to the slimiest
slimeball of slimeballs - from the year 2026 to journey to Mars to
battle murderous mutants. And, well, people die. People mutate. The
Rock inherits a big gun. It’s official. The Rock is the best thing in action movies today. He still hasn’t made his Terminator or True Lies, but he’s definitely on his way to inheriting the throne previously occupied by Governor Schwarzenegger. Whilst Doom
isn’t going to get him elected to action king presidency any
quicker, it’s still a good move for the former wrestler. The film
is slick, brimming with incessant action, but most of all, its Predator (1987), one of Schwarzenegger’s earliest and most popular actioners. OK,
so there’s a different monster, some slightly different
characters and a nice twist at the end of this one (One that might
surprise some Rock fans) – but for all intents and purposes,
it’s a Xerox of Johnny McTiernan’s commando’s vs.
toothy monster gem. Is it as good? No. But being half the movie Predator is is a lot better than being the counterpart of a – to use another example of a video game turned movie - Resident Evil. Doom runs rings around Resident Evil
– you at least give a damn about the characters here, and though
clichéd for the most part, this film does – to an extent
– offer a unique and fresh twist on the genre (Game fans will
love the part where the film transforms into the game). Not that
it couldn’t have used a few more bucks spent on the monster, or
that it’s New Zealand-born hero (That’s Karl Urban, not The
Rock – not giving anything away) couldn’t have used an
extra semester in ‘Perfecting American-nglish’ classes. But
if we start picking away the film’s bones, we’re going to
need to call in an archaeology party – cos it could take a while. Doom
is going to send your girlfriend or wife heading for the nearest Sleepy
Sams to get some shuteye, but the lads will lap it up – and then
run home to play the game again. DVD
Extras If you loved the movie, or in particular, loved the game, you’ll get a kick out of the extras component here. What I most enjoyed was the featurette on the games origins. The earliest first-person shooter game, Doom
was a real revelation when it was released in the early 90’s – and had
many of us wearing dark rings under our peeps for days on end. The
featurette examines the craze of the game, as well as its sequels – the
latest, with all its amazing effects, released only a couple of years
back. Other featurettes on the disc include one of how they did
the amazing ‘first-person shooter’ sequence, another on the training
the actors had to go through before filming started, a bit on how they
made The Rock into [spoiler] the monster he becomes by the end of the
film, a featurette on the different monsters and creatures created for
the film, and finally, for X-Box buffs, a chance to demo the game.
(Without an X-Box, I couldn’t try this out). Best of all though,
the audio and video – despite some macro blocking in parts – looks
rather sweet, and your home theatre will thankyou afterwards for
spinning it on its turnstile. Conclusion:
Movie 60% Extras: 55% 
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