Lately, I’ve been suspicious of movies that have the word Annihilation in the title. For instance DOOM Annihilation. Yes, Mortal Kombat Annihilation is another. I thought that Alex Garland’s Annihilation would be a let-down but I was thankfully wrong.
And yes, Doom Eternal brought me to Doom Annihilation. No, the title is not a cheap click-bait exploit (although it may appear as such). It’s merely a simple and logical statement about two different projects. The first being a video game, while the second a movie. Scroll down for more details on both.
DOOM Eternal Brought Me To DOOM Annihilation
Why you might ask? Well because for two reasons. First and foremost, we currently have Doom Eternal on sale here at IndieGala. In fact, we have plenty of Bethesda Softworks, Intellectual properties currently on sale, so you can definitely feel free and scoop around. Who knows you might find something you fancy. That is if you’re not fancying DOOM Eternal at the moment.
And secondly, I already did a post on the first DOOM movie. You know, the one with The Rock and Karl Urban in the lead roles from the early 2000s, that was a waste of my time. And of course, I thought it would be a good idea to follow up on the first DOOM post with another quite similar post. However, before I do that I must take you through the game itself. DOOM Eternal.
And What’s Doom Eternal All About You Ask?
In essence, DOOM Eternal is an action-packed, first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Bethesda Softworks. It’s also a sequel to 2016’s DOOM and the fifth main game in the beloved Doom series.
Not to mention, the story follows the DOOM Slayer once again (aka YOU), on a mission to end Hell’s consumption of Earth and foil the alien Maykrs’ plans to exterminate humanity. In DOOM Eternal, you get to experience the ultimate combination of speed and power. As you battle your way across dimensions with the next leap in push-forward, first-person combat of course.
But Is DOOM Annihilation Better Than The Predecessor?
Well, no would be a short answer. For the longer one, please keep reading. Based on my research, DOOM Annihilation has quite the similarities with Mortal Kombat Annihilation. Most notably it has the misfortune of having a tiny minuscule budget, and well for being a sequel that goes straight to video. Not to mention it’s yet another failed video game adaptation that’s basically made just for the studio to keep the rights of the IP. Among other things.
The movie looks cheap because, frankly it is. However, you can clearly see that it had quite the potential. I mean you can clearly find more visual nods to the games (yes, that’s plural) even with the limited resources. And don’t hate me for this, but at times the movie does feel like a video game. Brief as those times may be. Sure you get to see the same dark hallways in several scenes. And the DOOM-Esque set pieces (limited as they are) are very few and between. But they’re reminiscent of the games for sure. And yes, the biggest splurge is in the second half of the movie, where it’s the most of the action. But, yeah. Given the proper funding, this could have been decent.
What’s Deal With DOOM Annihilation?
Well, you can probably tell if you’re fans of the franchise, the movie is about a group of UAC Marines that are sent as security to a top-secret base on Phobos, a moon around Mars. However, once they get there they’ll discover something far more sinister than some dodgy experiments. A true Hell, that they’ll need to get out of. Preferably alive.
The leader of that group is Lt. Joan Dark (Amy Manson) but she’s not on good terms with the rest of her crew, and well, we find out very little about her later on. The word subordination is thrown somewhere at the start, and we get some confusing flash-back scenes with her, but not much else. And that’s the same with the rest of the characters. There’s very little info (if any) about the characters that we suppose to watch for the rest of the movie. There’s no character development, and it’s a crying shame. They deserve better.
The plot however is not doing much better either. Yes, the plot is underdeveloped early on in the movie’s runtime, and unnecessary complicated afterwards. There are some obvious Alien influences in some of the scenes which is nice, but yeah. The lazy and underdeveloped script can really take you so far, even with the Alien homage… On the other hand I was looking for some DOOM stuff. Not Alien stuff.
Even with a 90 minutes long movie, I found myself way too uninterested in any of the characters. Or the movie as a whole. I simply couldn’t care less about anybody, either because the acting was bad, or because the characters were poorly developed. Or both to be honest. But I don’t particularly remember any of the characters in this movie, and it’s all the script’s fault. Oh, and for making this movie to feel way longer than it is, but I digress.
Some Of The Game Moments Are A Nice Touch
Although the game-related moments were scarce, I did pick up on them. I liked the mini-maps on the helmets, the colored key-cards and the dark hallways taking you to another section of the facility. Or another zombie, another imp…. And honestly even those are „Slim Pickens“ here. I expected a lot more killing, a lot more fire throwing Imps and a lot less talking. Oh my goodness, the amount of exposition that this movie has. Seriously, the role of Bennett Stone was created for solely one purpose. To explain the next scene for us. In FULL details.
And speaking of the guns, and the killing, the iconic BFG does make an appearance at the end of the movie. But you get to see it for like a 2-3 minutes in total, and well… That’s underwhelming too. Hell, even it fires it’s disappointing, which is not the feeling you should be experiencing. I mean the look of the BFG is menacing alone, let alone the function.
A Female Lead In The DOOM Franchise
Unlike the first DOOM movie, the 2019 DOOM Annihilation has a female lead. Personally, I don’t mind, but I am female so I might be biased. However, I haven’t seen Amy Manson in any of her previous work, and to be honest she didn’t impress me with her performance here. She seems bored and uninterested to be here, and I doubt that she even heard about the franchise before. But then again, pretty much everyone (except maybe Dominic Mafham) seem bored. Can’t really blame them. It’s a pretty boring movie, even with some of the decent direction and editing. Heck, even the final hell-based, demons-filled, showdown can’t really save the movie for being a letdown.
Did You Like DOOM Annihilation?
Tell me all about your impressions of the DOOM Annihilation movie. And on the Doom Eternal as well. Which one you enjoyed more and why? Hit the comment section. We’d love to know.
