Review of Doom

Introduction

Doom is one of those computer games that changed the games industry, and also started of the whole First Person Shooter (FPS) genre that has such a hold on the games market today. As a not so hard core gamer, I have a passing acquaintance with some of the more popular FPS`, but I only tried Doom itself a couple of times. The early days of Doom were marked with a propensity for the game environment to make you feel nauseous, and this put me right off something that was supposed to be fun. Kind of how some films make you too though, eh?

Ha, I know what you`re thinking now…

The Rock and Karl Urban (Eomer in LOTR) play colleagues `Sarge` and `Reaper` in the Special Forces team named Rapid Response Tactical Squad. Along with a few colleagues with other butch gamer names like `Destroyer`, `Duke`, `The Kid` and `Portman` (huh?), the RRTS have their imminent leave cancelled so they can travel through a Stargate-like portal called The Ark to some distant planet called Olduvai where something has gotten loose and apparently killed everyone.

The lads have orders to search and destroy with extreme prejudice, which in gamespeak effectively means we`re going to see a load of ammunition expended.

As usual with sci-fi flicks of a certain genre, there`s a Scientific organisation involved with important research data to protect/recover. So we see scientist Samantha Grimm (Rosamund Pike) attach herself to the military squad and team up with her brother Reaper (Oh yeah. Subtle, eh?). Reaper wasn`t always a grunt, he was once a scientist too on Olduvai with his sister, until some accident killed his parents and he went to find himself and kill things.

Well, that`s it in terms of plot…

Video

It`s dark, very dark. Probably a much like the game, and you know from the Alien franchise (urgh…horrible word…) that genre film producers believe that dark is better as it scares you more and they can cover up the cracks more. Sometimes, things can be just too darn dark though…

Audio

DTS track that puts you right in the thick of it, spoiled only by the usual cod-metal soundtrack that films of this genre insist on.

Features

Basic Training - yep, actors go to firearms school again…

Rock Formation - exploring the high concept world of adding prosthetics to the face of our Dwayne…

Master Monster Makers -ooh, ooh, Miss… Yep, an examination of the cool dudes that design the monsters.

First Person Shooter Sequence - a look at the five minute FPS sequence that appears in the film.

Doom Nation - a nice history of the Doom games franchise, neatly done although glosses over a lot of stuff (like how it made me farkin` sick for a start…).

Game On! - some geek walks you through Doom 3 with useful hints like `Duck!`, `use your flashlight` (duh! It`s dark…).

Conclusion

So yet another game conversion arrives from Hollywood, following in the footsteps of such luminaries as Resident Evil, Alone In The Dark, Tomb Raider and Street Fighter. Hardly a list to inspire, eh? Still it doesn`t do too badly. Just think of Doom as Resident Evil with Space Marines and you`re laughing.

The original Doom game is about demons sprouting forth from Hell via a portal, in much the same way as happens in Buffy the TV series. This movie takes the Resident Evil approach though in that the mutations you see are actually science running amok, only this time via research based on an archaeological dig (which also links in with the really bad Alone In The Dark). Plot and dialogue-wise, there isn`t much here and to be honest for a film of this ilk, that`s probably its saving grace. This film knows its audience (which clearly isn`t hard-core Doom geeks based on the feedback I`ve seen on the net) and gives them what it thinks they want. It`s a slow starter, but from about 40 minutes in to the end there`s action galore with the usual stereotypical false alarms and telegraphing.

Not really much to say about the acting as this genre rarely needs one. Urban is quite good, although Reaper is clearly a long way from Eomer, whilst Pike is a more sympathetic character than critics have so far suggested. Dwayne is OK but was much much better in Walking Tall. You don`t really need to know much about the other characters (although it`s good to see Dexter Fletcher again…) as they are effectively cannon fodder. The script acknowledges this to a degree and character development is cursory at best.

The look and feel of Doom is just way too dark. I used to enjoy this in The X-Files but this started to get on my nerves very quickly here, especially when the characters clearly demonstrated that the lights in the facility worked. Why then would you wander around in the dark with a tiny torch on the end of your rifle not knowing where the monsters were?

In one very miscalculated step, the makers decided that basing the movie on the game wasn`t quite enough and added in a continuous five minute scene that takes the viewer into the traditional FPS view of the action. So we see the gun come up, enemies pop up and get obliterated and plaintiff cries from the protagonist as he searches for his sister. The only part that made me laugh was the part where he ran out of ammunition and tries to reload while a monster is advancing on him. The only problem is that this is nowhere near as tense as when this happens when playing an FPS so looses a lot of the impact.

Ah well, its not that bad. It IS Resident Evil in space and does deliver what it promises. One thing is certain though, I won`t feel the need to watch this again.