Doom Studio: Universal Studios Home Video Year: 2005 (2006 Release) Rated: Not Rated Aspect Ratio: 2.35x1, enhanced for 16x9 displays Audio: English, French, Spanish DD 5.1 Captions/Subtitles: English SDH; French and Spanish Subtitles Time: 1:53 Disc Format: Unknown Case Style: Keep Case The Feature: I wrote this review on Valentine's Day, and held off posting it because it was so negative. In this time of roses and chocolates, there is one sure-fired way you can get rid of your significant other: force them to sit through Doom. This movie is not just bad, it is awful. It is an exercise in pointless and graphic violence, with a story that is insulting not only to Marines, but to science fiction fans, and to the video game players that the movie was (apparently) made to entertain. Avoid this movie like the plague. I have played Doom and Doom II. I never got into Doom 3, although I might after getting my Xbox 360. I always liked Halo and Halo 2 over the basic first-person-shooter because it had a story. The point of the most basic first-person shooter game is to go through a maze of rooms and to blast anything that comes out at you. If the weapon is a chainsaw, bonus. Minutes can turn into hours when you are immersed in an "involving" video game--I am reluctant to say "good" here because I am about to draw some analogies. Minutes seemed like hours when I watched the movie Doom. A science station on a Mars outpost has had a security breach, and a so-called group of Marines, let by Sarge (The Rock) are summoned to help recover company property, rescue the scientists, and secure the settlers--pretty much in that order. When the marines finally make it to the inside of the facility, the scientists are turning into zombie-like creatures with a penchant for blood. There is a side story about the lead female scientist and her marine brother, and some nonsense about genetic engineering, but not enough to detract from The Rock going boom, boom, boom, boom on the bad zombies. And the people who are about to turn into bad zombies. And on good people who are not zombies. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Oh, his troops are special, too. One of them is a cutter--as in cutting on his own skin. One is a drug addict. One is inexperienced. They are all stereotypes. Yawn. What were the producers and director thinking? When I think about good movies set in a similar atmosphere, I think of Aliens or Predator (pretty much in that order). With Doom, I had the finger poised on the remote control. When it got too violent, I skipped to the next chapter. The upshot? It made the movie shorter. I feel for anyone who endured this movie in the theater. As one of my friends put it, he saw it in a dollar theater, and wanted his dollar back. I hate writing reviews that are so negative, but there is nothing good I can say about this movie. The Rock is headed down a career path started by Brian Bosworth. Maybe he should consider going back to pro-wrestling. Meanwhile, I have suggestions for movies made from video games. They can't be any worse than Doom: Space Invaders: The Movie - an unemployed actor (Brian Bosworth, possibly The Rock) race against time to defend their town as aliens descend from above, moving in formation across the night sky. Pac Man: The Movie - Pac Man (P. Diddy) has a problem of compulsively eating dots until he meets Ms. Pac Man (Queen Latifa), who tries to show the undying power of love, and the benefits of adding fruit to the diet. The Pacs are haunted by a group of ghosts, led by Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, and in a historic first, CGI characters based on Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor. You get the idea. In my opinion, the video game movie genre is dead, thanks to Doom. Fear Halo: The Movie. Fear it. The Feature: Not Rated / 5 Not Rated Video: The screener provided was watermarked on DVD-R. To quote the letter that accompanied the disc: Please note that the viewing quality of the disc may be affected by the watermarking process and is in no way representative of the picture and sound quality of actual final product. I can not judge video quality based on this, sorry. Video: Not Rated / 5 Not Rated Sound: See above. Sound: Not Rated / 5 Not Rated Extras: The extras are a saving grace, if anything can be said in positive light for Doom. However, when I got to my computer to spin them up for timing and viewing, the DVD-R provided as a screener wouldn't play. I have a high-end Power Mac G5. I make DVD's. And despite Universal's apparent concern that all reviewers are pirates, I don't copy them. Grrr. Of what I recall when I had this in the real DVD player, there was an interesting documentary on the history of Doom, from its origins as a video game, to the new-and improved Doom 3 game on Xbox. There is a playable demo of Doom 3 for Xbox. There is a strategy video for playing Doom 3. There was behind-the-scenes footage of the "marines" in training, and the Rock getting make-up. There is also a feature on the making of Stan Winston's creatures. Extras: 3 / 5 In Conclusion: I have so many problems with Doom that I hate to post this review. You deserve better. Universal deserves better. So with that in mind, going forward, I am going to only review final product. I am not going to put compromised video and audio on a reference system and tell you if it is good or bad. That is a waste of your time and mine. So is Doom. Overall Rating: Not Rated / 5 Not Rated Display calibrated by Steve Martin at http://www.lionav.com/