Doom

One of the biggest successes and breakthroughs in video games in the 1990s as new systems and higher technology games became available was the first-person shooter. These games put the player right in the game. What you saw on the game was the game. You traveled through levels and worlds, taking out bad guys, goons, zombies, monsters, and any other imaginable opponent. Nintendo 64 had Goldeneye, PC platforms had Wolfenstein, but the most popular and probably the most well-known was Doom and its many incarnations. It was only a matter of time before a movie version was made so while 2005's Doom isn't exactly a case of striking while the iron is hot, it's a good example of a video game turned into a movie...semi-successfully at least.

Just to get this out of the way, I should say I never played Doom as a video game and have little background knowledge on the game or its sequels.  I knew the basic background but went into the movie with no preconceived notions of what this movie had to be about, what it had to get right. So I started it, enjoyed it, and read up about it.  I can't say I was surprised to see the decidedly negative response from both critics and movie-going audiences.  This is not a movie made to impress the critics. It's a stupid shoot 'em up action flick that tries to deliver some sort of adrenaline rush while also giving some scares and surprises along the way.  Many of the negative fan reviews seem to stem from a personal background in the game. "Oh, they changed this...they didn't do that...that's stupid." You get the idea, usual fan complaints. I liked it for what the movie was, mindless action with a cool cast and some very cool, unique action sequences.

Far in the future in the year 2046 on Mars, a scientific archaeological dig site sends out a transmission claiming something strange is happening, something is attacking the staff.  Sent to investigate and hopefully save the staff on-site is a Marine response team, a Rapid Response Tactical Team, headed by veteran soldier Sarge (Dwayne Johnson) and Reaper (Karl Urban). Leading a six-man team, the Marines find out that the remaining staff isn't telling them everything they know.  Reaper's estranged sister, Samantha (Rosamund Pike), is one of the scientists on Mars, but her motives may be more for the company than for the survivors. Investigating exactly what caused the distress call, the bodies start to mount.  Waiting in the long stretches of vacant hallways and underground sewer system is something that threatens to kill all of Sarge's men, and possibly, get back to Earth and unleash Hell there too.

A mix of science fiction, horror, and action, Doom is at home with the men on a mission sub-genre....I should say men on a mission on steroids.  Everything is amped up here. Early on in his efforts to make the jump from pro wrestling star to the big screen, Johnson -- AKA The Rock -- is quite a presence in the lead.  His Sarge is tougher than nails, ready to sacrifice anything and everything if it helps him accomplish his mission.  He's driven to the point of obsession, even more so as he sees some of his men start to get picked off.  Another rising star in the action genre, Urban is the real star here, or at least I thought so. His John Grimm -- call sign Reaper -- is a prototypical action here, the loner with a checkered past dealing with his fair share of inner demons.  The team of Marines include Destroyer (Deobia Oparei), armed with an immense mini-gun, Duke (Razaaq Adoti), Destroyer's best friend and a ladies man, Portman (Richard Brake), the sex freak and smart-ass, the Kid (Al Weaver), the newbie trying to prove himself, Goat (Ben Daniels), the religious fanatic, and Mac (Yao Chin), the guy fated to be monster bait. With so many characters, much of the focus is placed on Sarge and Reaper, but the remaining six members do a good job bringing their characters to life with limited screen-time.  It is a sci-fi men on a mission movie though, and it's always interesting to see who makes it, and how the others are dispatched in typically gruesome fashion. Also worth mentioning is Pinky (Dexter Fleming), a tech expert working with the team.

Using that mix of sci-fi, horror and action elements, Doom doesn't waste much time with any unnecessary storylines or characters. Those other story lines are there, but the focus is on the mysterious creature(s) terrorizing the station. Director Andrzej Bartkowiak doesn't go overboard with attempts to shock or surprise you, things jumping out of the darkness at the screen. The tension is there naturally, playing on your fears of what could be in the dark, what's waiting there to strike.  The obvious negative of that feature is that the movie is incredibly dark visually. Watching Sarge and his men weave through the sterile hallways and claustrophobic sewers, it's hard to see anything, much less distinguish between good guys and bad guys.  The look of the movie is pretty cool though when you can actually make things out.  If this makes sense, it has the look of a video game, the generally empty hallways with their robotic, empty walls, the expanses of the meeting places and conference rooms.  If you're going to make a video game movie, do it right, like this one.

Now this is a video game movie so one thing it just can't mess up is the action sequences.  Thankfully, it doesn't as Doom can hang its hat on some well-handled, exciting and nerve-wracking action.  There aren't many in the way of extended shootouts, more so quick firefights that are over as quick as they started.  It is a movie based off a first person shooter, and in one of those scenes that just had to be made, one character has a shootout as if the viewer was the character. It's a video game turned into a movie, the viewer seeing what the character sees as he maneuvers his way through a zombie/monster infested grid of hallways.  You know it's coming, but a video game that revolutionized the first person shooter genre had to have this scene and do it well. Wisely though, this camera technique isn't overused or overdone. It's used exactly once toward the end of the movie for maybe three or four minutes all told.  Definitely a cool way to liven things up in the action department, a department always looking for something new and exciting to keep audiences interested.

More than the action though, the actual storytelling steps to the forefront in the last 45 minutes.  With no background in the Doom world, I wasn't sure how everything was going to be explained, how it would all come together.  For a sci-fi/horror flick that isn't exactly taxing on the brain, the explanation is pretty cool.  No spoilers here though, but the explanation did provide some groans judging from the reviews I read.  Good and bad natures in individuals end up playing a key role, and I'll leave it at that.  The last 45 minutes though try and throw you off though, playing with some action genre and character conventions that as fans we often take for granted.  It produces one great line (I'm not supposed to die!) and generally keeps the finale on an upward arc, always making you guess what's coming next.  Nothing flashy, but the effort was appreciated. A sequel was in the works early on, but this first movie struggled at the box office so video game afficionados and Doom fans will have to enjoy this one for now.

Doom <---trailer (2005): ***/****