| Product: |
Doom (Extended Edition, DVD) |
| Date: |
21/08/06 (229 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Good twist, good performances from the leads, lots of gore and the wonderful FPS sequence.
Disadvantages: Seen it all before - very little difference to Aliens, except Doom is not as good.
DOOM
It’s official! Computer game conversions to the big screen suck the hairy scrotum of Satan’s plums. Yep, it’s a dire genre of film, filled with an abundance of poorly conceived computer generated monstrosities, shockingly designed plots that bare little resemblance to the original computer games intent, acting of the “can’t find my way out of a paper-bag” variety and shoddy direction from an MTV generation of movie-makers suffering from severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Still, it keeps the kids happy; their short attention spans finding the directors mangled perception of their favourite Playstation games somewhat accessible and entertaining. Obviously, they’ve all been duped by the films otherwise well-known title, that it’s manipulated their fragile little minds. How anyone can rate Resident Evil as a five star must see flick is pretty much beyond comprehension, given that the material from the game could have produced a far superior zombie-flick in the hands of someone more competent than Paul W S Anderson. So, forgive me for embracing the big screen interpretation of Doom, one of the most recognised PC titles of all-time and the game that breathed life into the first person shooter (FPS) genre of gaming, with such palpable negative thoughts on the commencing of watching.
The year is 2056. A government research base on Mars is examining the archaeological ruins of a lost city, when a key team of scientists are locked down in their laboratory after a bloody and horrific disturbance. Following a video message sent out by the lead scientist (with lots of screaming and roaring in the background) a team of hardened Marines, led by Sarge (The Rock), are sent to Mars via a portal/gateway on Earth to investigate what’s behind the disturbance, eliminate any hostiles and recover any of the science team still alive and their otherwise important research data. However, amidst lots of darkened corridors and reveals on the research the scientists have been conducting (the silly bugger type of research that always results in dying slowly with sharp things in your head), the Sarge’s team are slowly picked off by a fast, often unseen malevolent creature intent on escaping the laboratories quarantine and running amok the otherwise well-populated Mars complex to create further bloody carnage. With a dwindling team consisting of the troubled Reaper (Karl Urban), who has a mysterious past with the Mars facility, and his sister Samantha (Rosamund Pike), one of the archaeological research scientists on the planet, can Sarge prevent the ensuing monster rampage from turning into a rather significant holocaust?
I can hear what you’re all thinking – “so, Doom is actually a cliché-ridden Aliens rip-off?” Well, yeah, what else were you expecting? After all, the original game has more than it’s fair share of knowing nods to James Cameron’s action masterpiece. Doom also happens to rip-off numerous aspects of Predator, Blade 2, Split Second and Resident Evil throughout its running time. Indeed it borrows so much from the already over-flowing barrels of sci-fi staples that it’s about as original as Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. So you pretty much know what to expect. A squad of marines, complete with the usual suspects of grunts (a fresh-faced inexperienced kid, a mini-gun carrying heavy, the mean-spirited chicken, a god-fearing preacher type) stalk about samey looking corridors and interiors whilst slowly depleting in number as a mostly shadowy enemy offs the team in often similar circumstances to previous flicks (see the being dragged under the floor boards death for more), before concluding in one largely orchestrated action-filled, fun-fest.
Unfortunately this is a rather huge problem with Doom. For the most part, the content has been seen and done better in many a film previously that it’s already ice-skating up a hill for the audience’s affection. It’s certainly not a patch on the atmosphere of Aliens, missing out on that essential tension building quality between frantic sorties of action that James Cameron makes look so easy, and the squad dynamics aren't as interesting as Dutch, Blaine, Poncho, Billy and company in Predator, mostly due to the lack of characterisation and quality dialogue featured in Doom. Indeed, after a few failed one-liners in the opening twenty minutes the dialogue edges more closely to standard military rhetoric – a rather appreciated blessing. Furthermore a lack of imagination in the numerous set pieces makes it all seem rather dull, with such unoriginality veering on the side of tedium at times. Add to this a rather poor performance by Rosamund Pike and some shoddy creature effects in places and things aren’t looking too good for Doom…
Yet, even though I should know better, I kind of found myself enjoying this otherwise slight sci-fi romp. Whilst it sounds like an endearingly close relative to the god-awful Aliens Vs Predator, Doom is actually all right (making it vastly superior to AVP). Now, please don’t confuse “all right” with “excellent,” as these are two differing countries separated by a very large expanse of water. Its capital is just above the town of Mediocre, which helps to highlight the general averageness of Doom. But still, it has some decent things going for it. The opening sequence, including a severed arm lopped off by a closing door, sets things up nicely for some future gore laden-antics and whilst the introduction to the troops and the by-the-numbers marine surveillance of the research lab is rather ponderous, it builds up some half-decent atmosphere. Already the MTV director styling is missing, opting for tension and character building instead, and even though it’s not brilliantly successful with either it is a pleasant surprise. As is the plot! Whilst having very little to do with the computer games “fighting the demons of hell” premise, the marines still end up battling against a number of rampaging demons, but in a more comprehendible way. Additionally, the concluding third of the film more than provides a fitting finale as the gore and violence gradually increase to a rather impressive massacre, although the demons seem oddly replaced with a rampaging horde of zombies. For an “all right” film, praise must certainly be given to Andrzej Bartkowiak for not being a complete hack like Paul W S Anderson or Uwe Boll and for directing Doom in a more restrained way than many of his contemporaries perhaps would have.
However, there are three main reasons for possibly catching Doom. Firstly, an unlikely twist (given the advertising of the film) provides a slightly more than the by-the–numbers feel the rest of the film has. It’s a genuine surprise and indeed, rather welcome. Secondly, the two leads do an admirable job without ever really stretching themselves. Karl Urban’s woe is me persona gets a little irritating after a while (although not as irritating as Rosamund Pike’s science boffin) but his hard-as-nails act nearing the finale reminds you that he once played the hard-as-nails Eomer in Lord of the Rings. The Rock is, well, The Rock albeit in a rather restrained role (which compliments the direction) giving as much screen-time to Urban, Pike and the remainder of the marines, rather than simply chewing up the screen in his more typical WWE persona. With no eyebrow raising shenanigans, he very much plays second fiddle to Urban’s Reaper despite being the named star of the film, which is, again, surprising but welcome. In some ways it’s another string to The Rock’s bow, as he slowly carves out a niche as the next Arnie, but with a greater range, despite not yet appearing in anything that can be considered an essential watch.
Finally, the third main reason for catching Doom is one particular sequence that remains true to the FPS nature of the original game. After being injected with a super-drug to make him super-human, Reaper takes on a horde of demons in a full FPS mode styled sequence, just like the game. With the gun in the right hand corner of the screen, magazine changes occurring once every while and the viewer essentially viewing the action from the position Reaper would, it’s a rather cool and technically excellent segment that just gives the film that little extra. Sure it’s a gimmick, but it’s a gimmick that works rather well, thanks to the adrenaline pumping nature of the scene, and you’re certainly not going to see it anywhere else. I’ll repeat; it’s very cool.
With all this in mind, Doom can be well regarded as the best computer game to film conversion created thus far, but there’s still that nagging thought that it could have been so much better. Maybe it’s part of the cyclical nature of many computer games often being replicas of films in the first place (GTA is Scarface, Resident Evil is Dawn of the Dead) that it will always be a case of seen it all before, because the audience pretty much have, and without the interactive nature that the game will always hold for the player (because you’re the one blowing the crap out of everything), the film conversion will always struggle to hold ones attention. Doom is probably great stuff if you haven’t seen this particular type of movie before, but slightly tiresome to audiences that pretty much know what to expect - a patch-work quilt of previous sci-fi movies sewn together producing an often insignificant and uninspired hybrid of the genres most obvious patterns. Indeed, Doom adds very little to the genre other than a wonderfully crafted FPS sequence, which will have fans of the game peeing in their pants, and a decent twist, but lacks the punch that both Cameron and John McTiernan managed to enthuse within both Aliens and Predator. The high-octane finish more than makes up for the otherwise meandering and slow opening half of the film and Doom certainly appeals to that small portion of the brain that wants some simple gung-ho action. It pleasantly features quite a bit of gore as well, which often goes missing in similar styled travesties like Aliens Vs Predator (which was embarrassingly low on the blood and guts quota), yet despite all these positives, one can’t help feeling that this is still a missed opportunity.
Overall – Doom doesn’t out stay its welcome, features a couple of decent stylish scenes and despite a clichéd script, clichéd characters and not much originality, you could do much worse. Certainly this is much better than the similarly styled Aliens Vs Predator and is one of the better computer game conversions yet released - although that’s still not say much!
Director - Andrzej Bartkowiak
Screenplay - Dave Callaham and Wesley Strick
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
Razaaq Adoti.... Duke
Deobia Oparei.... Destroyer
Brian Steele.... Hell Knight
Robert Russell.... Dr. Carmack
Rating - 15
Running Time - 100 Minutes
Genre - Action/Horror/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Summary: Fun action flick, although limited as it's no different to a great many of similar action flicks.
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