Colonial Fleets - Review of DOOM, the movie

FILM: DOOM DISTRIBUTOR: UNIVERSAL DIRECTOR: Andrzej Bartkowiak
PRINCIPAL CAST: Duane (The ROCK) Johnson, Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike MPAA RATING: R RUNTIME: 1hr. 40 mins.

Story: 3/5
Acting: 3/5
Sound: 4/5
Visuals: 4/5
Endorphin Factor: 3/5
Big Screen Experience: 2/5
Scoring system:
Average: 3/5

MOVIES IT COULD BE COMPARED TO: Resident Evil, Resident Evil Apocalypse, ALIENS

DETAILS: Well, initially I just went to the mall to pick up a couple of things when lo and behold it turns out that the mall theatre is now partially reopened for 6 houses. I had hoped that they would've had Serenity there, but alas, it is not playing there. They did however have the opening of DOOM, based on the hit videogame series from Id Software. Perfect, I thought.

Now, let it be said that I did not have high hopes for this movie. It's a translation of a videogame after all. With that said, the movie is actually not too bad. I found it as enjoyable as the two Resident Evil movies (which in my opinion are some of the best translations of videogames to big screen film.)

The movie starts out with a lot of running and screaming as a genetic experiment has gone horribly wrong. The RRTS (Rapid Response Tactical Squad), led by Sarge (The Rock), is ordered to Mars Oduvai research facility to investigate the harrowing circumstances that befell the UAC scientfic team there.

The pacing of the film is pretty good. Like ALIENS, it doesn't just drop you into the thrills and chills right away. There is a good deal of searching, and sweeping and clearing.

The film even tries to add a slightly deeper story line as one of the Marines, Reaper (Karl Urban) has a loved one (Rosamund Pike) on Mars, and seeks her out, reluctantly joining the RRTS mission.

There are some interesting characters among the Marines in the film... a horndog, a destroyer, a "kid", a man of faith, and a loudmouth. The usual motley mix for sci-fi Marines.

The acting ranges from pretty damn good (Karl Urban) to pretty okeeday (The Rock). Fans of Dune may even recognize the actor who plays Dr. Carmack as the one who played Dr. Wellington Yueh from the Sci-Fi Channel Production of DUNE.

This movie is more of a big screen experience than Serenity was, but not by much. All told, this movie would probably have been better suited as a Sci-Fi Pictures Original.

The film even goes into a brief segment of First Person mode near the end of the film. The result is a mix reminiscent of DOOM 3 on Xbox/PC, and a Halloween Haunted House....sometimes it's cool..othertimes, downright laughable.

Gore factor: Plenty.

There were a couple of instances where I flinched a little bit, but in many ways the movie still left me wanting.

It seems to leave the possibility of a sequel. (Where hopefully we might see such creatures as the Spider Mastermind, or the Cyberdemon.) It covers all the important aspects of the videogame upon which it was created.

Monsters: Check
Heavy array of weaponry: Check
Gung ho Marines: Check
Cooperative mode: Check
Deathmatch: Check

The BFG did seem a wee bit underpowered in the movie. Still, it was nice to see in action a couple of times.

BOTTOM LINE: As long as you turn your brain off and pass the popcorn, DOOM is a pretty enjoyable flick. I don't predict major box office for the movie. I'll be amazed if it does as well as, or better than Serenity.

Respectfully,
Martok2112