S.S. Doomtrooper

Another bag of Brain Fritos from the maestros of Grade Z cable television. A Nazi mad scientist (Cross) uses "atomic radiation" (as opposed to chocolate radiation) to turn a SS soldier into a mindless, invulnerable killing monster. Learning of Herr Krankendocktor's lab, the Americans recruit Captain America--er, Malloy (Nemic)--to assemble a team & go on an Alistair MacLean Mission to destroy the lab. Usually, when Heroes take on Mad Scientists in their Mad Labs, there's some mixture of action, suspense, tragedy, maybe even wonder or romance. Unfortunately, but as usual in Sci-Fi Channel Originals, the monster is revealed in the VERY FIRST SCENE, guaranteeing a complete absence of surprises. Nevertheless this film is outstanding in a few ways, not all good by any means. Nemic & a few others are better actors than this turkey deserves and they occasionally get it aloft for a few minutes. The special effects are cheap but mostly well done, a fine but somewhat wasted quality of most Sci-Fi productions, considering the lame scripts. What makes "Doomtrooper" interesting is how astonishingly bad it is in so many ways, especially its unabashed--nay, determined--method of ripping off other films. The monster is an amalgamation of the Hulk, Godzilla, "Resident Evil's" Nemesis & the Predator. The team is made up of attitudinal Army convicts, a "Dirty Half-Dozen," although some of its actors had better hope that John Cassevetes never finds them in the afterlife. Cross may have the dubious distinction of being the first actor to emulate Bela Lugosi's Ed Wood period (Lugosi's accent was more convincing). Trivia buffs, watch this with friends & see who can accurately pinpoint the most ripoffs. Then watch it again & see who can point out the most factual errors--there are so many that it's pointless to even begin to list them here. I still can't believe that Sci-Fi bailed on the last season of "Farscape" yet still pushes these embarrassing "originals" that are a letdown on every level (there isn't even any sex, the one easy exploitation that has a chance of rescuing a lame science fiction story). Strange are the ways of cable television! But, if that's how it has to be, let's play along. How about some sequels called "Frankenfuhrer," or "Germanzilla," or maybe "Resident Nazi?" Or...not?

This is possibly one of the worst films I have ever been unfortunate enough to see.

Colin Nemec confirmed his placement as a "C List" actor with a truly wooden performance. The accents in this film were over done, this resulting in the already cheesy dialogue being laughable.

The special effects in this film comprised of poor pyrotechnics and even worse CGI effects. The creature was totally unbelievable, and didn't leave footprints in the snow, nor did it cast its own shadows.

The plot was tiresome and extremely predictable, and based very loosely on the genre of the FPS game Wolfenstein by ID Software (circa 1980).

All in all not worth watching AT ALL.

I'm used to a certain amount of cheese from "Sci-Fi Original" movies. I'm used to unreasonable premises, less than ILM-quality visual effects, and "mammoth" plot holes.

And yet I was STILL disappointed by "SS Doomtrooper." Most of my displeasure is reserved for the rendering of the Doomtrooper itself. If this had been the villain on a Playstation One game ten years ago, it would have been OK. In 2006, though, with the myriad of talented CG artists available, it's unforgivable.

Then there's the writing. From having a character named Parker Lewis (see Corin Nemec's filmography,) to the selectively deaf demolitions expert, to characters who can survive what should be fatal gunshots and never see the inside of a hospital, to having a villainous monster who can shrug off being shot point blank by a tank, yet can have a hand lopped off by a bayonet, the writing was bad. Just bad.

Corin Nemec and Ben Cross are MUCH better than this...

This film had enough budget to have some good actors, almost accurate uniforms, good lighting, cinematographer and story outline...... but there are clearly serious problems with this production: Underwhelming CGI, careless authenticity, wooden direction and the music score which tries too hard to sound like a cross between "The Great Escape" and "Star Wars".

The main problem for me is the dialog. EVERYONE in this film speaks in sentences that are way too lengthy. I can almost forgive the words that are way too modern for 1945, but it seems like everything is over-explained in this film, yet the characters very little. They are also monotone in their delivery with horrid accents. This gives the production an almost robotic and lifeless feel and we end up not caring about what happens to any of the characters. The "Pink Hulk" is so lumbering and clumsy, I am not sure why he is a menace to more than a couple of soldiers at a time.

Finally, I really like Corin Nemic as an actor, but he was directed to be more of a Bruce Willis type of "Die Hard" hero in this film and it just doesn't work for him. He neither has the stature or the presence to pull it off. He ends up looking tense, angry and overwhelmed.

An incomprehensible mess that attempts both a WW2 battle story and a sci-fi creature story. It achieves neither.

Weird science performed by a loony Nazi scientist (an embarrassed Ben Cross) turns a WW2 Nazi soldier into Hulk's blue cheap-fx cousin. His veins are neon, his face contorted. He growls and grunts a lot. He croaks everybody he sees: French Resistance, Americans, British, Nazis, lousy actors, mad scientists, bad scriptwriters, SCI-FI channel fans, and anybody else he can find. Soldiers futilely shoot the thing until it kills them. One idiot punches the creature after seeing how invincible it is.

The CGI technology used to animate the creature is about equal to the 1970's "Ping Pong" video game. The battle scene choreography looks like "Saving Private Ryan" meets "Saved by the Bell." The acting is atrocious, the script disjointed and aimless.

WW2 action and sci-fi fail to blend in this story, and both elements suffer. So does the audience.