Hot-buttered opinion on the latest flicks

Doom

Fri., Oct. 21, 2005 12:00 AM PDT

C-

Even for a movie based on a splatterrific shoot-'em-up videogame, Doom is doomed. In the bloody vein of Starship Troopers (or, jeez, Ghosts of Mars), an ethically diverse group of elite soldiers with personality quirks and nicknames are sent on a mission to a faraway planet when an unidentified threat quickly puts them in way over their heads. Then people start losing their heads. It's like that when the Rock leads these poor suckers (skimming over the science and story) to blow up a bunch of beasts. The dialogue will make you cringe, but blood-lusting boys will dig the supersize carnage. There's even a lengthy scene shot from the shaky first-person-shooter perspective--just like the game! Which, depending on your game-playing ability, will either totally thrill you or leave you with one beast of a headache.