DOOM
*** out of *****

Genres
Action
Sci Fi

2005
Directed by
Andrzej Bartkowiak
Written by
David Callaham and Wesley Strick (screenplay)
David Callaham (story)
Cast
Karl Urban .... John Grimm
The Rock .... Sarge
Rosamund Pike .... Samantha Grimm
Dexter Fletcher .... Pinky
Ben Daniels .... Goat
Al Weaver .... The Kid
Richard Brake .... Corporal Dean Portman
Yao Chin .... Mac
Raz Adoti .... Duke
DeObia Oparei .... Destroyer
Brian Steele .... Hell Knight/Curtis Stahl
Robert Russell .... Dr. Carmack
Daniel York .... Lt. Huengs
Ian Hughes .... Sandford Crosby

Let's face it, video game movies have a bad reputation. They’re generally fraught with bad scripting, filled with even worse performances, and running at the seams with one cheesy CGI sequence after the next. Uwe Boll hasn't help the matter either. I can only think of two video game movies that have actually fared well and they are Resident Evil (2002) and its sequel Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) and they were only average movies. They weren't great but they weren't exactly shit either. So as you could imagine I had a few reservations before I put Doom into my DVD player. Plus, I haven't really thought much of director Andrzej Bartkowiak's previous efforts, so it had two strikes against it before I even saw the film. But the promise of an "Unrated Extended Movie Too Intense for Theatres" tempted me a little (damn marketing gimmicks!). However, no matter how 'intense' it was didn't change the fact that just like Resident Evil before it, it wasn't a great movie. But it was far from the worst.

Doom is a fairly straight forward shoot 'em up popcorn movie, it has no brain (even though it tries a few times to disprove that, and fails). If you aren't expecting much you'll likely enjoy this sci-fi action opus, however if you take it seriously then you'll sadly be very disappointed. I'm not sure what avid fans of the game would really think of this; I suppose there must be a few on the fence. It translates many elements from the game which would likely put a smile on some people's faces, however big guns and The Rock couldn't escape the lame script that, as we covered in a previous review of House on Haunted Hill, falls into the trap that a lot of b-grade haunted house films from back in the day fell into - a lot of people walking down hallways (although futuristic looking hallways) talking about stuff that isn't really interesting. It's plot filler that propels a thin narrative which provides a reason for the characters actually being there on Mars doing what they are doing.

A distress call is sent from an archeological expedition on Mars, in response a Rapid Response Tactical Squad (RRTS) unit of Space Marines is sent to neutralize the problem. Led by Sarge (The Rock) and John Grimm (Karl Urban), though I'm not exactly sure who really was the squad commander, although Sarge gave the orders, John ignored a few and never got flack for it, so I assume he's a higher rank. It's that or Sarge has an obvious character weakness. Anyway, during their mission they discover that something has happened to the scientists, which causes them to turn into ferocious monsters on a rampage. The big guns do eventually come out and carnage ensues, but we get there at a steadily meandering pace, which at times gets a bit boring. However, once the action kicks in we're in for some gore-filled moments of high adrenaline.

I was rather pleased the filmmakers didn't take a 'PG-13' approach to this film and went loose on the violence. If only there was more of it, this film is called Doom after all. Speaking of which, although there was a good helping of violence I never really felt that these characters were 'doomed'. They had the capabilities of killing these creatures, several of the Marines did go the way of the dinosaur but this only made the monsters appear a little bit more dangerous. A few well aimed shots into a monster’s upper torso or head usually does the trick. For a trained Marine that shouldn't be too difficult.

The film's creatures are also realistic looking freaks, something that also came as a pleasant surprise. There was hardly a CG creature in sight (although the first person shooter sequence did have some CGI elements), and further investigation shows that the filmmakers chose to create these monsters the old school way, with make-up effects and animatronics. Nice, indeed for once a video game adaptation that didn't look fake, am I dreaming? Enhancing these monsters and the futuristic backdrops is the film's slick photography. Which, comes as no surprise, considering the director was once a cinematographer therefore his vision would not be too difficult to communicate.

The characters in the film are formulaic and cliché at best, it would have been nice to see what experienced character actors would have brought to this film, however I realize how absurd that statement is, how many high brow actors would sign onto a video game movie? (Ben Kingsley in Bloodrayne (2005) is an exception, maybe he needed the money).

Back to the script itself. As for a storyline it's fairly simple, however the screenwriters try to be intelligent by throwing in some scientific mumbo jumbo, the problem is if you teach a dog how to read that would be amazing, however it still doesn't detract from the fact that it's still a dog. I also felt that near end of the film, the character or Sarge suddenly turns into an asshole and has to fight with John Grimm. Where did this come from? Throughout the film there was no real indication that this guy was a jerk, no character traits that came out and made me say "hey you know what? This guy could be a real jerk", this sudden turn didn't feel right and appeared as though the filmmakers ran out of ideas and required some kind of challenge/crisis for Grimm to overcome. Perhaps that, and a need to write in a hand-to-hand combat scene, which is a requirement for any action film. This turned out to be far too contrived and by that point in the film why were they even focusing on this? There are far more interesting scenarios they could have explored, how about an all out melee for survival amongst a horde of freakish kick ass monsters? Just when they think they've killed them all, they encounter a new level of nightmarish proportions. Now that's something I would have liked to see at the end.

Despite these obvious and sometimes annoying flaws the film was actually enjoyable to watch, I especially found the first person shooter sequence to be by far the best part of the movie. There's just something so satisfying about that whole scene, especially since they got the movements down to a tee, I thought it would look clunky but there was a fluidity that was straight out of the game. The film also has a sense of humor, although a few moments were funny for unintentional reasons, there were a few lines of dialogue in the film that put a smile on my face and reminded me what kind of movie I was watching.

The most important thing to remember is that if you are planning on watching this film or perhaps even purchasing a copy, don't expect Fellini, sit back and enjoy some good ol’ fashioned carnage, oh yeah did I also mention the big fucking guns! Yeah there's plenty of that and Rosamund Pike is also pretty cute.

Finger_Of_DOOM's reviews also appear on DVD Compare, where they include details of the DVD release. For this review click here.

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