Doom: The Movie

Released: October 2005

Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak

Run Time: 113 Minutes

Rated R

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Genre: Action, Science Fiction

Cast:
Karl Urban: John Grimm
Rosamund Pike: Samantha Grimm
Deobia Oparei: Destroyer
Razaaq Adoti: Duke
Dwayne Johnson: Sarge
Richard Brake: Portman

Movies based on video games have a reputation for being absolute garbage.  Why?  The answer is not as simple as saying that the film-makers have zero understanding of the source material.  Video games and movies are two completely different mediums and need to be treated as such.  A movie is a static experience which everybody experiences the same way.  A video game is an interactive experience that relies on the player him/herself to advance the story or whatever the game is presenting.  When you try to take a story or a game and try to make that experience into a movie, things get lost in translation every single time.  It’s the same thing with adapting a book into a movie, you can’t bring it all into a 2-hour movie.  The length of time for a movie pretty much makes that impossible.  That’s not to say that there aren’t video game movies that are terrible.  On the contrary, there are some that are more than decent.  Mortal Kombat is one of them, just don’t bother with the second movie.  Doom, surprisingly, is another.  I won’t go into a spiel about how the video game of Doom changed everything and whatnot, I’ll save that for another post.  Meanwhile, I’m going to discuss Doom: The Movie.

Doom begins as we see a bunch of scientists running from something on a base on Mars.  One of the scientists successfully barricades himself inside a room and sends out a distress signal.  The signal is picked up by the “Rapid Response Tactical Squad” or “RRTS” for short.  The RRTS is lead by a tough-as-nails commander, Sarge.  After canceling leave, the squad heads to a facility that houses an ancient teleportation device called the Arc.  Stepping through the Arc, the team ends up at the Olduvai Research Facility on Mars.  After establishing quarantine, the team realizes that they got more than they bargained for when they run into some pretty nasty critters.  Story was never a real priority for games back in the early 90’s.  When Doom came out, nobody cared that you got to shoot things, that’s what the game was all about.  No overly complicated story-line, just a straight-up fight against the demons of Hell.  It was glorious.  The story in the film is it’s biggest and most significant failing.  The essence of Doom was going up against Hell itself, and the film cuts that out entirely.  The creatures in the film are not demons, but genetic mutations.  That was a major mistake and is the MAIN reason why people hated the movie.

Let’s talk about what DID work:  The creature effects are simply amazing, and with the exception of one, they’re practical.  They’re men in suits, and the gore effects are also practical.  That’s another thing that the movie got right.  They went for an R rating and it shows.  It’s bloody, brutal and violent.  Just how a Doom movie should be.  It’s also dark, which the game also was, and it’s extremely intense, even though it was predictable.  Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays the leader of the elite squad with gusto.  Every time Dwayne Johnson is on screen he steals the show.  I don’t necessarily think that he’s the greatest actor, but boy he’s got real presence and charisma.  He’s absolutely fun to watch.  Karl Urban is the second-in-command as John Grimm.  While his earlier stuff isn’t particularly great, Urban has since become a phenomenal actor in his own right starring in movies like Dredd.  Richard Brake plays the resident pervert, Portman.  Rosamund Pike plays Grimm’s sister, Samantha.  Overall, the acting is serviceable if nothing else.

The action is where it’s at, and the movie definitely delivers on that front.  It’s dark and you can barely see what’s going on, but the same could be said about the game.  The film really nails the atmosphere.  At one point, Sarge ends up getting infected with a virus and becomes the main villain.  The fight between Grimm and Sarge is phenomenal.  But the real big draw for the film is the first-person sequence that takes place towards the end of the film.  For a good 6-7 minutes the action takes place Doom-style in the first-person perspective.  I loved it.  That was definitely fan-service right there, and they did good.

Unfortunately, the film strips out the one thing that really could have made the movie more than just generic:  Hell.  I can’t state this enough:  Taking Hell out of Doom was one of the dumbest moves that the screen-writers pulled.  If they had left that in, Doom: The Movie could have been one of the best, if not the best video game film ever.  Instead, the film-makers opted for a more generic, Resident Evil-style film that, despite all the good things, fails to even come close to being faithful to the game.  It’s a damn shame, too.  I really enjoyed this one.  But for the Doom purists, this one is a failure.  Ultimately, I don’t think it’s a bad movie.  It gets enough right to get a pass from me, but it does get a few marks against it for taking away the one thing that made Doom…well….Doom.  My final verdict is a 7/10.  Would I still recommend it?  Not to the hardcore fans of the game, no.  If you’re looking for a fairly decent sci-fi romp, this will fit the bill.

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