Doom (2005)

Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak

Writer: Dave Callaham, Wesley Strick

Tagline: Hell Breaks Loose

Actors: Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike, Ben Daniels, Razaaq Adoti, Richard Brake, Al Weaver, Dexter Fletcher, Brian Steele, Deobia Oparei, The Rock, Yao Chin, Robert Russell

Runtime: 1h 40m

Category: Creature, Sci-Fi, Video Game, Zombie

Synopsis: After a security breach at an archeological dig on Mars, a Special Forces unit of seven Marines is deployed to clean up the mess and secure the compound. Once briefed by Pinky, the “receptionist”, they head out into the tunnels to find survivors and save any research. But there is a problem…the bodies of the deceased are reanimating and attacking our heroes; not to mention the enormous creature that seems to be following them. Dr. Grimm, a research scientist on duty at the dig, discovers a dirty secret of her former mentor…that these creatures are the mutated remains of prisoners experimented on by Dr. Carmack. They have been introduced with a twenty-fourth chromosome that has shown to give some people super-human-like abilities…while others develop into hideous creatures with a taste for blood. Can our heroes make it out in time? Will there even be anyone left?

Review: I had some high hopes for this flick, but most of them were shot down due to its low receptivity. Some research of my own enlightened me; the opening weekend, box-office sales were 15.3 million dollars (that’s over 393.2 million rubles!), whereas the rest of the week totaled only 4.2 million dollars, or 110,508,779.38 rubles. So, what does this research tell me? That people who love the video game were so ecstatic about its cinematic release that everyone and their ugly step-brother went and saw it…and 87% of those people didn’t like it. That’s not good news! But…I have a surprise for you. Just pay attention.

The story is what really turned people off about the movie. The original story from the video game followed a rogue Marine deported to Mars for talking back to a superior officer. There he finds out that a gateway to Hell has been opened and evil is pouring in. It is up to him, cozily called “Doomguy” by avid gamers, to single-handedly defeat the legions of Hell and save humanity. Wow…no pressure, eh? This story took a different route by stating that the creatures hunting them were not demons from Hell, but mutated humans. I kinda like both stories equally, although the latter has been a bit over-played. But overall I would say that this explosive story will at least entertain, if not make you a bit tingly inside.

The acting was the one thing that worried me the most. If you don’t have convincing actors then you’re not gonna sell the script, therefore you have a crappy movie. But the acting here was not as bad as I had anticipated. I’m still not too fond of The Rock as an actor, but I’m the same way with Kane in See No Evil (2006), and Triple H in Blade: Trinity (2004). I’m having a hard time getting over their satirical “day-job”. But I thought he did a good job. I also liked Karl Urban in this flick. I’m happy to finally see him in a major role instead of a sidekick or a filler character. I think we can expect more good things from him, at least.

The gore and effects were what saved this thing from being a flop. The director and writers really put their heads together and made a very visually intense film. From what I understand, Id Software sold the actual blueprints for the scenery of the game to Universal Pictures, thus, the corridors and hallways seen in the movie are exact replicas of what you would see in the game itself. That…my friends…is cool. And the gore didn’t disappoint either. I have seen less gore in torture flicks claiming to be “more disturbing” and “grotesque”. I’m telling you right now…top-notch gore!

The creatures in the movie are a bit different from those in the game. The imps in the movie don’t shoot fireballs from their hands or mouth or anything like that. This is a more real-life type creature developed by Stan Winston himself. That makes the movie even better; that all of the creatures were guys in suits, not that CGI crap. One of the major CGI scenes involves the audience being thrust into FPS (first person shooter) mode, making it almost seem like you are more “right there” in the movie than ever before. I personally thought that that was kinda hoaky at first. But then I got to thinking (which hurts by the way); when was the last time you got that kind of camera shot? The only other one I can think of was in House of the Dead (2003), and that one was god-awful. I’m very, very impressed by the graphics and gore here, all of it makes me smile.

Rating: 20. One thing you have to remember while watching this movie is that, even though the director and writers did a lot of homework regarding scenery and gore, and even though the story is completely different, this movie was made to entertain. It wasn’t made to be an exact replica of the video game, although that would’ve been sweet too. It’s just for entertainment; sit back, grab some corn, and get lost in a world of guns, monsters, blood, more blood, and the ever-popular…BFG. (20of25).