Doom – The Possessed Re-Cut

December 27, 2010

This is masterfully done, hands down. While there are still things that are a bit cringe worthy, the source material cannot be overcome with that aspect… and that’s fine. However, the overall ambient theme of this edition is far superior to the original.

10 out of 10.

November 16, 2010

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

August 4, 2010

Doom… The shooter everyone loves, the film everyone loves to hate.
When I first read about a Doom film being released, I couldn’t help but feel both ways: excitement, and pre-emptive disappointment.
Films like that are bound to be shot down before they can even take flight properly. Especially if they star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.

The original film had its moment but was an annoying action film with horror twists, at best.
Johnson was seriously overacting as the film progressed, and Richard Brake’s character Portman was annoying more than anything else.
Although I don’t always blame the actors –Brake’s actually a good actor himself– it was obvious that he wasn’t really trying to come off as convincing.
Either that, or he was having too much fun being obnoxious.
Having said that, there were two things I thought the film could have done without:
1. Portman’s antics
2. Sarge’s swearing

* CBB’s edit takes away much, if not everything, of the previous, but sadly leaves the latter intact.
I would have liked to have seen an edit that would cut out most of Sarge’s early swearing, to have him start swearing as the film progressed,
somewhat displaying his growing anger and disappointment on not having the situation under control.
* Portman’s white golf shoes and ‘level 5 quarantine frisk search’ perversities were about all could take the first fifteen minutes.
(Although Duke trying to hit on Samantha came in a seriously close second.)
* Karl Urban obviously carried what little was left of this film, and did a more than okay job.
* Pinky (what’s in a name?) wasn’t much of an addition either, and I wouldn’t have cared if CBB had just cut him out completely after everyone else overheard him being attacked in the com room. The part where Portman is yanked off the toilet always seemed very weird to me, in that sense. Portman is dangling upside down, which always made me feel as if that was the director’s attempt at being funny, with Pinky giving the screen a quick glimpse, and chuckling.
It’s quite embarrassing to admit, but I never quite got the meaning of that scene, until I started contemplating it after having seen CBB’s edit.
The slight chuckle was needed to show Pinky was actually enjoying seeing Portman die, thus confirming his psychotic side.
Cutting out Pinky completely after the attack would be difficult, but it would also allow the editor to get rid of both Portman hanging upside down, and Pinky laughing about it. That way, Portman’s death could be confirmed only via the screaming they hear on their coms. Which would have been a nice edit.

Anyway, since I’m drifting off… Here’s the final showdown:

TECHNICAL ASPECTS

VIDEO:
Couldn’t notice a single glitch, hiccup, hard cut or anything of the kind (not that I was looking for them).
The Ego shooter sequence could have been dropped completely in my opinion but, as mentioned before, was somewhat pivotal to move the story along.
That said, I didn’t really like the way the first person view blended in with the emergency light. It kind of seemed forced, not having another window to do a better edit.
Overall: 5 out of 5 stars

AUDIO:
Again, no flaws here. Everything was fine.

Overall:
5 out of 5 stars

PRESENTATION:
Compared to other CBB edits, the menu seemed kind of dull to me, and rather disappointed me. I was really expecting another CBB gem here.

Overall: 3 out of 5 stars


FINAL SCORE: 4 out of 5 stars

For what the edit is worth, it receives 4 stars. It remains a rather bad film, but the edit makes it more bearable.

May 26, 2010

An entertaining cut, I enjoyed it, the editing was seamless and high quality

Highly recommended

April 12, 2010
*This rating was given before reviews were required*