Doom - Movie
Review
On my work trip to Frankfurt I was bar-hopping with my brother
in law when we decided to go to the movies. Accidentally Doom
had just started in the cinemas the day before and so I
convinced him to watch that movie. With very low expectations we
entered the cinema and after a lot of stupid and misplaced movie
advertisements it finally started.
If you need a story, well eat this: Since mankind has discovered
the "ARK" a portal that is capable if interplanetary
transportation, it builds a research lab on Mars. The movie
starts off when something terrible happens in that research
station, you see scientists running for their lives and get
slaughtered one by one. Of course one of the scientists manages
to send a message to earth and a Rapid Response Tactical Squad
lead by "The Rock" is called to sort out things. The tough guys
were preparing for some days off, when the call comes in.
Needless to say that the vacation is cancelled and everybody is
gearing up to travel to Mars instead to set up a quarantine zone
and investigate what has happened.
The marines which are used to victory are faced with something
they have never seen before; slowly they begin to realize what
they are up too. There are a few moves and decisions of the
characters in the movie which are not very logical. For example
when everybody suggests calling in reinforcements, Sarge just
keeps telling "we are the reinforcements" which seems to be very
stupid. Also splitting up and walking alone doesn't seem to be
one of the brightest ideas if you have witnessed some of your
fellows die in some horrible ways before. However I don't want
to spoil the story so I will better focus on something else, for
example on how far the game is covered in the movie.
Fans will find lots of resemblances with the Doom games but also
some differences and perhaps errors if you take it too
seriously. For example you will find a few of the classic Doom
weapons in the movie, like the pistol, the chainsaw ;), the
minigun and the BFG but others are missing, especially the
double barrelled shotgun which could have been used to create
some serious splatter effects. Also some characters (e.g.
"Sarge") have been taken from "Quake 3 Arena" instead of Doom
which is no big deal since the whole story needed to be made up
and why not lend ideas from another ID product instead of making
up something completely unrelated? Well, maybe it's homage to
"Master Sergeant Thomas Kelly", the main character from the game
"Doom 3", who knows and who cares? :) Anyway since we are
talking about the differences between the game and the movie
already, we might want to mention the travelling to the planet
mars, which is done by some portal called "ARK" in the movie but
was done by space ships in the game ("Doom 3"). Also it wasn't
"Dr. Carmack" who discovered the entrance to hell but "Dr.
Betruger" in "Doom 3", which is a prequel to the other Doom
games. Well at least it's a nice homage for the inventor or Doom
and perhaps the whole 1st person shooter genre. Other
differences are there as well but if I would tell them here I
could spoil the story for you, so I better go on with my
personal rating.
If you manage to get rid of comparing the movie to the game, you
can enjoy a very nice action movie with a bit of splatter and
suspense elements. Of course it could have been done better and
some goofs could have been avoided, for example when the topic
of the human genome appears, and the scientists in the movie
always tell you something about 23 chromosomes, cough, cough.
Actually we have 23 PAIRS of chromosomes which totals in 46
single chromosomes. However you didn't expect a scientific
documentation when you watch this movie :). Besides I believe
the movie would have also worked quite well without the famous
title.
Despite my low expectations the movie is quite cool most of the
time. It cleverly builds up suspense and also has lots of these
thrilling moments where you don't know if there is a monster
around the next corner or not. I also like the fact that you
don't see what the heroes are facing for quite a while, you just
see the damage the thing causes but not what it is, this helps
building up some tension. Shortly before the final showdown you
will also get some serious 1st person "Berzerk mode" splatter
action, which was quite funny to me, but might be distasteful to
people who are not into splatter movies.
Overall I would watch the movie again, and I will surely buy the
DVD if it is below 15 EUR, which is just my personal purchase
limit for any DVD ;)
Cyclone / X-Troll for Alive, 2005-11-06
Appendix A
Additional
Information
Title: Doom
Produced: USA 2005
Length: 104 min
Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Actors:
Karl Urban ....................... John Grimm
Rosamund Pike .................... Samantha Grimm
Razaag Adoti ..................... Duke
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson ........ Sarge
DeObia Oparei .................... Destroyer
Ben Daniels ...................... Goat
Richard Brake .................... Portman
Al Weaver ........................ The Kid
Dexter Fletcher .................. Pinky
Brian Steele ..................... Hell Knight
Yao Chin ......................... Mac
Robert Russell ................... Dr. Carmack
Daniel York ...................... Lt. Huengs
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