Hey folks, Harry here... and I hope to god this guy is a red blooded straight shooter and not some sort of photo-synthesis bullshit pot-soil munching leaf blower. I want DOOM to be a fucking blast. And his next to the last sentence is a string of "like these" movies that if that sentence were to hold true - then get ready for a real ooga booga good time. If not, then prepare for a chainsaw treatment to this sucker, cuz I love DOOM - it's part of why I first got a computer that led to this site being created. And of all the video game properties - this is the one that I want a fun as hell movie of.
Hey Harry,
Never sent you anything before, but here's my review of "Doom" from tonight's premiere at Universal. If you use it, you can call me Johnny Dark.
So I found myself at Universal Studios tonight walking the red carpet behind the cast and crew of "DOOM". What a surreal experience that was: all these photographers and Hollywood hangers-on hanging on the sidelines. Even the rare California rain hadn't stopped them.
So, after being shuffled in and out of several theaters, we eventually got seated in the biggest theater, which was a lot better than the first theater.
We opened on the Universal Logo, which quickly turned into Mars. We power-zoomed down to the surface and went right into the story. Nice. After something mysterious dispatches a bunch of hurling scientists, one escapes and begins recording something into a computer. The creature smashes through the door and we are in.
Sarge (The Rock) breaks the bad news to his crew of space marines that their break isn't quite over. They're headed out to the scene of the crime.
So, I'm not going to give you a story blow by blow. That'd ruin it. But I am going to tell you that if you are familiar with the games, well, the movie brings it up a notch or seven. There's lots of extreme violence. They certainly didn't shy away from blood or gore. Great! I am so f'in sick of PG-13 flicks that cut on the frame right as something connects. ZZZ. I don't go to movies to use my imagination. I go to become immersed in what I can't see in reality.
Speaking of immersion, a huge cheer went up through the audience when the action shifted to honest to God FPS for the first successful time in cinema history. We won't count Uwe Boll's horrific screenshot-stealing. He was an ancient Zoetrope to Doom's Apocalypse Now to make a comparison. That five minutes was one of the best parts of "Doom" for me. To experience the sheer joy everyone had at that sequence...last time a movie was that new was "Matrix" -
And as far as other "Doom" -isms: a lot of what's in the game is on the screen: the BFG, the creatures! (finally some good monsters again!) The characters, the set design, and a lot of little things, like the slats on the windows peering out at Mars, the guns, the comm devices, the sound design, the music - all translated with a lot of respect to it's source.
So, is "Doom" the best movie ever made? Nah. I mean, it's like any of the Space Marines vs. Alien enemy movies: there comes a point where you're just waiting for the plot to roll out, kill of the second-tier players and get to the big ol' end fight with good vs. evil. So, yeah, on that level, it wasn't anything new or revolutionary. Just big, messy, loud fun. Think "Aliens" meets "The Thing" meets "Terminator 2" meets "Dawn of the Dead" on the "Total Recall" set and you'll get the idea. Not a bad bunch of movies to hybrid from, though, eh?
Pretty cool.
JP:LA
