Review: Doom (C+)

Doom (2005)
Directed by Andre Bartkowiak
Starring The Rock, Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike and Raz Adoti
MPAA: UR
Grade: C+

Review by Scott Standish

By now everybody knows the story on Doom. Back in the day, Doom was the Jaws of video games - a blockbuster that created a whole new style, one that everyone was soon to follow. Doom was the video game that everybody had to have, whether you were a hard core gamer or not.

Why was Doom (the game) such a phenomenon? Well, for starters, it was a lot of fun. The object was to shoot anything that moves. It was a thrill to be able to just blast things for the hell of it, and every now and then you were shocked by a creature or two. It was fun, and a little scary. The film version of the game doesn't vary from this formula much. Guys wander around in futuristic tunnels, slowly shooting everything that moves. But the problem here is that film is missing the fun, and come to think of it, it's missing the horror, too. Unfortunately, not much is left.

Surprisingly, Doom succeeds where one thinks it should fail, and vice versa. Based on his pro-wrestler past, I was expecting The Rock to be a cartoonish oaf, tossing grenades and churning out catch phrases like Bruce Willis in Die Hard. But The Rock is quite decent in Doom, giving a restrained, fairly convincing performance. On the flip side, you would expect Doom to have some awesome action sequences since it is based on a violent, action based first person shooter. But Doom's action sequences are pretty lame. The aliens are pretty generic and no one will be surprised by the fight scenes.

I was hoping that Doom might be a pleasant surprise, like the first Resident Evil. Doom doesn't quite reach that peak, but at least it's not horrible. In fact, Doom exceeded my low expectations, perhaps on the merits of the solid acting performances alone. Unfortunately, the unimaginative script holds Doom back from reaching the next level (no pun intended) and ultimately, this is a movie that is probably best left for sci-fi action fans only.

The BFG is a nice touch, though.

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