Released: October 2019
Director: Tony Giglio
Rated R
Run Time: 95 Minutes
Distributor: Universal Home Entertainment
Genre: Action/Horror
Cast:
Amy Manson: Joan Dark
Nina Bergman: Private Carly Corbin
Louis Mandylor: Chaplain
Dominic Mafham: Dr. Malcolm Betruger
Luke Allen-Gale: Dr. Bennett Stone
James Weber Brown: Captain Hector Savage
As a youngster, I grew up playing video games on the PC. I played games like Pac-Man and Frogger, but then I was introduced to a little game called Wolfenstein 3-d. This game changed everything I knew at that point about video games. It was a first-person shooter that had you going around levels shooting Nazis. Pardon the pun, but Wolfenstein 3-d was a game-changer in so many different ways. Over the years, we’ve gotten games like Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Halo, and Half-Life, just to name a few. But the one game that really ushered in a new era of PC gaming was a little id Software title called Doom. The game took what Wolfenstein 3-d offered and amped it up to 11. Better graphics with better lighting and elevated platforms, demons from Hell, and a completely insane run-and-gun mentality. Doom took the world by storm and has since become a legend of sorts. I’ve been playing that game since it was released back in 1993. 26 years. While graphics have gotten better and immersion has taken on a new life of its own with virtual reality, there’s nothing more satisfying than turning on the original game and just blasting things. That’s what it was for and the rest is history. In the early 2000’s, it was announced that Universal Studios had acquired the film rights to Doom. In 2005, Universal unleashed the film on audiences to…..mixed reactions. It starred Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Karl Urban. It was a full-on rated R affair with blood and gore. It wasn’t quite the film that people were expecting though. 14 years later, we get a new film in the franchise: Doom: Annihilation
The film opens on a science facility on one of the moons of Mars as Dr. Malcolm Betruger walks through a teleporter when things go wrong. Meanwhile, a group of UAC(Union Aerospace Corporation)Marines are en route to the facility as punishment for what Lt. Joan Dark had done in the past. Upon arriving at the facility, the marines discover that the facility isn’t responding and when they enter the building, all hell breaks loose. Nobody who knows anything about Doom is going to go into a film like this expecting Shakespeare. No, like the game, you come for the carnage. I don’t necessarily mind how the film sets up some of the main characters like Joan, Savage and Betruger, but the first 15-20 minutes of the film are a bit of a slog to get through. It certainly doesn’t help that the film kind of has a bit of an Aliens-knockoff vibe about the whole thing. For those that are big fans of the 2016 video game, this one ain’t for you. It’s more or less based on the 2003 Doom 3 than anything else. That being said, some of the elements that were missing from the 2005 film are here. Namely, the demonic and supernatural aspects of the game are present. You’ve got the imps that shoot fireballs, which is pretty cool, and then the film actually takes you to Hell itself. It’s actually pretty cool. But yeah, don’t come in to Doom: Annihilation expecting something profound.
For the cast of characters, we’ve got Amy Manson as Lt. Joan Dark, Dominic Mafham as Dr. Malcom Betruger, and Louis Mandylor as the Chaplain. These three are the main standouts of the film. Amy Manson is not bad as Joan, even though the character is about as thin as a cheap piece of paper. She gives it her all, though, and she comes across as pretty bad-ass. Dominic Mafham plays the mad scientist Betruger, and if you are at all familiar with Doom 3, then you know that he’s responsible for everything going wrong here. Louis Mandylor is one of those actors that is incredibly underrated. He’s done fantastic work in recent films like Avengement and The Debt Collector. It’s just a shame that he wasn’t really given more to do here. Everyone else is pretty much cannon fodder….or demon fodder in this case. So, yeah, no Oscar-worthy performances here, ladies and gentleman.
Let’s get this out of the way: Doom: Annihilation is a very low budget film, and as such, the look of the film is not on the same level as the original film. Because of the film’s low budget nature, I tend to adjust my expectations a bit, and as a result, I tend to give films like this a bit more leeway in how the final product ends up. That being said, I’m rather impressed with how the film looks and how it’s shot. Yeah, some of it looks very cheap, but that’s to be expected for a direct-to-video film. I will admit, however, that some of the prop designs are…..less than impressive. When Joan picks up the BFG 9000 weapon, it looks extremely cheap. I wasn’t expecting something from the 2016 game or even Doom 3, but I was hoping for something that looked less like a toy and more like an actual weapon. Some of the set designs are pretty good and some of the make-up and creature effects are pretty damned amazing for the budget. The demon designs are pretty cool and they still use a man in a rubber suit, so it actually looks like it’s there. The look of the Hell dimension is pretty cool, if lacking in certain aspects, but I’m just happy that film actually took us there.
There’s definitely stuff to like here. There’s a lot of fan service thrown in that fans of id Software’s earlier games will absolutely pick up on, and that’s cool. However, I can’t escape the feeling that Doom: Annihilation just wasn’t as good as it should have been. Tony Giglio does the best he can with what he’s given as a director, but considering that we’re getting a new Doom game in the next few months, the film feels like it’s being rushed to market in time for the new game. I’m not going to lie: Movies based on video games have always been sub-standard, at least in the eyes of the fans, and Doom: Annihilation isn’t going to change that. It IS a movie based on one of the most legendary and controversial video games ever released, but it doesn’t do much to differentiate itself from the rest of its ilk. If you hate movies based on video games, this sucker ain’t going to change your mind. While it’s trying to be for fans of the games, it falls short in enough areas to keep it from being memorable. The ending to the film is going to piss people off, though. I really hate cliffhanger endings. I don’t mind when a film sets up for another film, but Doom: Annihilation is extremely blatant in its sequel-baiting. It wouldn’t have been as bad if we knew for a fact that a follow-up film was coming, but we don’t. I do expect one to show up, because this is a direct-to-video feature, but there’s a better way of setting up a new film than this.
Do I recommend this film, though? On first viewing, no. Not unless you’re a die-hard fan of the original film and the games. Even then, I find myself hard-pressed to give this film a glowing recommendation. I think it gets enough right to warrant a viewing at least, but would I tell people to go out and buy this film? That’s going to be up to them. I bought it, because it was a 15 dollar purchase on Blu-Ray, but I don’t necessarily think that it’s worth the 15 bucks. Sorry. There’s a reason why id Software and Bethesda distanced themselves from this film. While I don’t think it’s all bad, it just feels very generic with the Doom name slapped on it. It certainly doesn’t help that the title includes Annihilation in the title. The last video game movie that had Annihilation in the title, had Mortal Kombat in front of it, and we all know how that one turned out.
My Final Recommendation: This film franchise feels doomed. Yes. I went there, and yes, the pun was intended. 6/10.