Doom - Der Film

Doom is not a masterpiece. However for what it is, a video game to movie franchise, it does a decent job. I was watching this film when suddenly my parents came in. They immediately sat down and watched the last 50 minutes with me. Surely that's an indication that the film itself wasn't too bad. My favourite part of the movie was the FPS scene. It showed a level of originality which has been absent in other Video game movies, such as the Resident Evil franchise. Another Pro was the casting of the Rock as Sarge and Karl Urban as Reaper. Both made decent performances in the movie.

The level of action was decent and I was happy that the film branched out a bit further than the 90 minute restriction. Furthermore I particularly enjoyed the fact that the makers decided to use models and suits, similar to Alien rather than rely on CGI. It again shows a level of originality that implies the makers wanted the film to stand out and was not there just to make money.

The cons were that overall the acting was not great. The other marines for example, other than The Rock and Urban, did not put in great performances and Rosamund Pike, I think was particularly bad. They seemed an ordinary group of guys thrust into battle. They just didn't seem to act like a group of elite, disciplined soldiers. It just didn't feel realistic.

Another con is that the film was not particularly scary. The actual game is deemed to be one of the scariest games out there to play. So it feels an opportunity missed that the film was not a terrifying roller-coaster ride filled with suspense and was more like a variety of action sequences containing grim monsters.

All in all Doom is a movie which is by no means perfect, is a decent film for what it is. A video game.

And I don't mean that in a bad way. If you wanna watch Aliens but you last watched it a bit too recently, then watch Doom. Firstly, it will satisfy your xeno-bloodlust. Secondly, the next time you wanna watch Aliens, you will REALLY wanna watch Aliens. And that's a good thing right? Damn right!

*Warning* This review contains mild spoilers to the GAME, but not the movie.

A dig in the nevada desert have found a portal to an ancient city on mars. Since then, scientists have struggled 20 years to find out more about the civilization that built the city and why they disappeared.

Apparently they found something. In an emergency transmission sent from the science facility on mars a head scientist explains that there is a "level 5 breach" and quarantine procedures must be implemented immediately. A squad of elite soldiers are sent to the science facility on Mars to protect and retrieve property and make sure quarantine is kept. What they find is naturally more than they are trained and equipped for.

This is another game that made it into the silver screen, and the DOOM franchise isn't exactly known for it's multi-depth story lines. This made me seek out and watch this movie with plenty of ice in my stomach, ready to forgive the producers for mistakes they made.

And mistakes were made. The greatest one was of course to change the entire plot. As a gamer who put more value in story than the action, I would personally say that the DOOM3 storyline was better than the movies (completely changed) storyline. In the game the city plays a central role. In the movie you never leave the work areas, you never get to see the old ruins. The city isn't even mentioned beyond the intro. Beyond 2 <10 second scenes, you do not see the Mars exterior. You barely register that these events take place on Mars, not on earth. The artifacts that played a central role in the game is not mentioned or present in the movie. The entire "Hell is loose" plot was completely cut away, the events of the movie blamed onto something *COMPLETELY* different. The theme "one man against hell" became "a few men and their issues". The ghost of the little girl (one of the games scarier parts) did not make it to the move.

DOOM3 was also a horror experience playing both on achluophobia (fear of darkness) and Monophobia (fear of being alone), this was an aspect missing in the movie where areas was lit and the characters was always going at least two and two. I almost think the movie could have been better if they hired less actors and put more money on storywriters.

Another aspect completely gone is the ambient red tone of being on mars, something that could have added a more artistic flavor to the movie. Except for very short moments in the beginning of the movie you never see that these events in fact take place on mars.

I was not happy to see the storyline almost completely changed and the horror downscaled to almost not scary at all with nothing better added to it. There are no deep questions asked here, no philosophical submessage to the audience to go home thinking about. This is a lighthearted actionmovie and that's it.

The most faithful part (to the game) is the labs and the monsters. he developers who made the game gave the areas/monsters/weapons an unique design that wouldn't have been right to move away from. If you care zero about the plot, then yes this is DOOM.

There's also the first person sequence in which we get to follow a series of events through the eyes of a soldier when he runs around and shoot monsters in corridors. It was fun, although I would say that it failed to capture me. I was mostly annoyed with the choice of music and it could have been more scary.

I see some ways this movie could have been made better with the material it's based on, but I did not expect it. At least the action is well done. If you want 2 hours of entertainment that wont change your world, DOOM offers just that. If you do not watch many movies and want some extra quality when spending time on one, you can jump this one.

Game-movies so far are between "awful" and "ok". This one was "ok".

As a fan of both Ultraviolet and the Resident Evil Series, this film falls nicely in between. While a bit more plot and less polish than Ultraviolet, Doom entertains but fails to reach the balance of action/plot as found in Resident Evil. Where it does succeed is when it tries to entertain and reference the game (many here) in a tongue-in-cheek fashion, rather than try and elevate the plot to a social commentary.

Sarge (The Rock) is the leader of a Marines unit which is sent to research facility on Mars to investigate missing scientists. They soon realize that the research facility is doing more than an archaeological dig, and that the scientists aren't missing - they're transformed.

The Rock does a fine job of an alpha-male, cocky Marine with swagger. The supporting cast comes off as a "wish we could've gotten Actor A but instead got B". The sfx are good, especially the much anticipated FPS style. Unfortunately, this only lasts a few minutes of the film.

Whether they make a sequel or not, Doom does entertain, and it leaves the ending open for more fun and doom.

I just rewatched Doom (17 years later) and was happily surprised at how good the film was and how much I enjoyed it.

Urban is particularly good.

I enjoyed the music and sound fx, however the visual fx, particularly the for the beasties, could have been sharper.

I loved the part of the film that goes in to FPS mode, super effective and really fun.

The weakest part of the film, the character of Pinky. He comes across as a bit of a flog and adds zilch to the movie.

For some reason this movie was considered a bit of a failure but as I stated I liked it and had plenty of fun watching it. Give it a go :)