Year:
2005
Studio:
Warner Brothers, Universal Studios
Feature:
3/5
Doom is based on
the video game franchise from Id Software that cemented the First
Person Shooter as a gaming genre. It's an action/horror movie, with the
first half being more horror and the last half being more action.
Sometime in the future. Mars is sort of explored. Martian ruins have
been found and scientists are studying it. A Martian portal system has
been discovered which allows people and not huge things to travel
between Mars and Earth quite quickly.
And then there's an accident at the Martian base. The lower levels have
been locked down. A Marine Rapid Response Tactical Squad is sent to
investigate. Their orders are to rescue the scientists, retrieve the
information, make sure the gate remains secure.
The RRTS is led by Sarge (The Rock) and includes the usual assortment
of misfits and tough guys, perhaps a bit more depraved and unstable
than The Dirty Dozen but still in the same spirit. The other major
character is John Grimm (Karl Urban), a member of the RRTS with an
apparently painful past in the Martian colony.
We get that back story slowly. First when they arrive in Mars and meet
Samantha Grimm (Rosamund Pike). In a refreshing change, Samantha is not
a former flame but John's sister who followed in their parents'
footsteps and became a scientist studying the Martian artifacts.
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The RRTS
explores the labs. Finds a few victims and some weird monsters. And
starts piecing together what really happened. Things escalate and end
in a bloodbath of killing and destruction. But naturally it's all good
in the end.
I came in expecting a bad action/horror movie and came away pleasently
surprised. There is a plot in the movie, there are subplots, there is
characterization. Sure, the RRTS is going to die bloodily but it's
spaced out and they die in different ways, some of them getting their
shots in before getting offed.
As an adaptation I also thought it did well. I think most if not all of
the Doom weapons were wielded by the RRTS. There is even a BFG behind a
locked door and a chainsaw. The monsters are more like the Doom 3
monsters and although I don't think all of them were seen, there were
definitely several types.
There is even a sequence where we see things through one of the
Marine's eyes as he goes around blowing away monsters. It's almost like
playing the video game and drew lots of chuckles from my group. Overall
there were a lot of little details from the game that weren't pointed
out and explained as that would have slown down the movie.
The movie didn't do well at the box office. In fact it dropped
amazingly fast. I can understand some of the criticisms. It's a bit
unfriendly for people who are not familiar with the game and the FPS
sequence is too much "for the Doom fans". But given that, if you have
played Doom then the movie is quite enjoyable and I recommend it.
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