Doom Review!

[horrorview]

From Horrorview.com (my site, duh!! )

Doom (2005)
Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak
Starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike

I can count the number of quality videogame-to-movie adaptations on an amputee’s shiny nub, but that doesn’t stop Hollywood from dutifully churning them out, nor does it stop audiences -hopeful that the next film will be the one to buck the trend- from doling out the bucks to see them. But seriously, folks, what do we expect? Did anyone truly think that Mario Bros. would make a good movie? Who played Tomb Raider and thought “wow, I can’t wait for the motion picture!”? I mean, sure, if a highly skilled writer and director, with an A-list roster of talented actors, get a hold of the right property then yeah, they could probably make a movie about Tetris seem interesting. Sadly, these projects don’t attract this sort of talent. They attract people like Paul Anderson, Uwe Boll, and, in the most recent attempt at bringing a gaming franchise to the silver screen, Andrzej Bartkowiak, a man perhaps best known for teaming up aging martial arts personalities (Jet Li, Steven Seagal) with rapper DMX (Exit Wounds/Cradle 2 the Grave).

Doom opens with a calamitous event in remote research station on one of the more isolated and picturesque moons of Mars. Contact is lost with the station, so a group of space marines are called (actually, sort of beamed) into duty, led by Sarge (Johnson). His squad all has equally macho/silly names like Goat, Mac, Duke, Portman, and The Kid, but none sillier than The Reaper (Urban). Reaper’s real name is John Grimm, ergo Grimm Reaper. Get it? Good. That’s about as close to witty as the script gets.

Anyway, the station is now overrun with all manner of beasties that dispatch our crack team of super-marines at an alarming rate, sucking them into the shadows with lots of wet sounds and bone snaps. The remains of team find a survivor in Dr. Samantha Grimm (Pike), John’s twin sister, whose soul purpose here is to tell us what went wrong, why it happened, and how it can be stopped (if at all). There’s some sort of techno-babble about a 24th chromosome that…well…you’ll see. Suffice it to say, things soon go from bad to worse, and, eventually, it becomes a one-man battle to save humanity that includes an admittedly fun first person perspective killing spree straight out of the game itself.

I truly expected to hate Doom, and, for the first thirty minutes or so, I really did. However, after awhile, the silly script and stereotypical characters became little more than background noise for lots of gory deaths, some pretty effective scares, and a lot of loud-as-**** action that won me over in the end. This is by no means a classic, but, in terms of Aliens rip-offs, Doom does a solid job of keeping the viewer entertained if only on the most basic of levels. The film starts a bit slow, fraught with seriously painful dialogue, but once it gets rolling I have to admit that it’s all a bit of a hoot. If you like the game, you’ll find a lot to like here. However fans may find themselves puzzled as to why the filmmakers opted for a “biological” origin for the creatures rather than the more nefarious demonic origins from the game. This new origin is not just bad science-fiction, it’s bad science period.

Doom is more of an action film than a horror film, but it still delivers a few solid jolts, an abundance of gore (although, to be fair, most of it is monster gore), and a lot of solid CGI that, in this context, is entirely appropriate. The script is the stuff of bad B-movies, and the performances barely rise above it (save for The Rock, who, as a former wrestler, is intimate with such banality, and seems to relish it), but this isn’t Shakespeare- hell, it’s not even Starship Troopers; this is freakin’ Doom, people. If you like your action movies fun, dumb, and full of guns, then lock and load, ‘cause this one’s for you.


MOVIE- C+

[darkfusion]

Good review, I had a feeling this movie wasnt goin to be ground breaking. I still want to go see it just because doom is one of my favorite games .

[DonJefe]

Always look forward to your reviews!! I think I'll wait for the DVD on this one.

[carbonbased_al]

Have yet to see it. My brother had less than encouraging words for it, but i'll probably go see it. Was a big fan of the Doom videogame back in the day.

[colgate]

I've never been the same about action movies since they did a special on one of them (Jurrasic ParK?) showing the actors feigning terror in front of a blue screen. Kind of ruined it for me. This one looks like the mother of all contrived reactions. Basically they ran the game and put actors in front of blue screens with big weapons. Pass.

Oh and I hope they at least paid homage to the original Doom ending. the cubes coming out of the oblisks turning into monsters. I liked that ending. This is a game that entertained me for hours on a 286 box with no sound. I can hear the imps beep now.

[mels95yj]

As usual, great review. I've been excited to see this movie. Not girl-on-girl **** excited, but maybe finding money in your jeans excited. I loved the game, and it's sequels, back in the day. We had it installed on our network in the military, and we'd spend lunch everyday fighting each other. So, did they keep most of the weapons from the movie? From the previews, I've seen the chainsaw and the photon gun. What about the BFG2000? I'll probably wait for DVD though.

Man, I've re-read this and I sound like such a geek!

Mel

[horrorview]

Originally Posted by mels95yj

Man, I've re-read this and I sound like such a geek!

Mel

LOL!! No worries man, all men are basically big immature geeks. Some of us just grow beards and stuff hide it (like me!!)

[LasciviousXXX]

Saw it this past weekend and have to say that I was entertained and extremely disappointed at the same time.

I was expecting them to use the regular "Doom" open the portal to hell and creatures come loose plot but instead they come up with this resident evil rip off crap where the "Dr.s" have accidentally created these monsters. Jeez, what a let down. I was full expecting to see visions of hell and have the movie be HALF as scary as the DOOM 3 video game, damn now that made me jump. Alas though it was not to be.

It was entertaining but hardly worth even a rental. The only cool part was when the movie went into First Person Shooter mode and emulated the video game (chainsaw included) That was fun.

Overall, a real letdown. If the movie followed the script of the game it would have been much better.

XXX

[Spagg]

Great review! I am torn with this one because I love the video games. I will probably go on and see it.

[miki]

Went to see it last Friday and after the first 45 minutes there was a problem with the movie and the theatre gave us 2 free passes to see other movies. Thank God!!! Even though I have to admit the plot was tight and had no holes in it. Just joking of course. Save your money...

[cigar no baka]

I am one of the many who can just enjoy a cheesy horror movie as long as it is entertaining (2003 Dawn of the Dead, for example). But I just saw Doom today and it was gawdawful. The only good part was at the end with the first person shooter scenes. I was horribly disappointed in the origin of the monsters, and the paucity of the monsters. They had so many possibilities and only used three, and mostly only one. Sigh...

[ComicBookFreak]

I wonder how long before the Rock returns to the WWE. His movies seem to get worse every time now.


CBF

[horrorview]

LOL!!! Damn, seems I'm the only one who had a little bit of fun with this one! I mean, don't get me wrong; I didn't LOVE it, but it was better than I thought it was going to be (then again, after weeks of hearing how much it sucked, well, it damned well couldn't have been any worse!).

I, too, thought the change of origin for the monsters was pretty strange and pointless (I mean, it's okay to use Hell, isn't it??? It is an R-rated movie, after all!!).

[illuminatus]

Nice review, I mostly enjoyed the movie, but then, I'm naught but an adolescent boy... I'll agree though, the origin of the monsters sucked, I would have preferred they stick with the original doom storyline... I, personally find Rosamund Pike to be very attractive, especially in Bond: Die Another Day.. just my

[mobsix]

Nice review,
I agree the begining was weak but I think that allowed the movie to grow in the second act. I especially liked the first person shooter view the movie assumed in the third act. THAT was the Doom I remember. I actually laughed out loud when I figured out that they were throwing those who played the game for hours on end a bone there. It was a big dumb movie but thats about all I was expecting so I was pleasantly surprised by it. I would not want to have seen it for full price but I attended a matinee with a buddy on a rainy Sunday afternoon so I was just fine with the results.

Again, nice review horrorview and nice website by the way.
-Matthew