DOOM
Dwayne Johnson as "Sarge" in DOOM
Today I had the pleasure of watching DOOM. And before even getting into the details of the movie, my first concern was the family with the two kids (aged 8 and 12, perhaps) sitting in the row in front of me. I don't think DOOM (the video game) is appropriate for that age — this applies to DOOM 3 more so than the previous versions — but judging by the previews and (perhaps more importantly) the R rating, the movie was definitely not made with kids in mind. But I digress…
The movie is set to play in 2046. The opening scene of people running and screaming somewhere in a facility on Mars sets the mood and reason why Sarge (Dwayne Johnson) and his team of marine soldiers are called for help. We get to familiarize ourselves with each of the guys on the trip to the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) facility on earth. Visually, the movie is kept in line with the familiar graphics of DOOM 3, aside from the rather clunky looking hand held gaming device one of the marines is playing with, which (to me) looked like a $15 copy cat video game unit from 1985 judging by its size, shape and color. The marines are each introduced as they pick up their weapons.
Once arrived at the UAC building, they are transported to Mars, which is, well, plenty dark. But apparently this is purely by choice: It doesn't make a whole lot of sense (other than the rather forced scare factor) for the marines to walk through near-pitch black rooms and halls looking for suspicious activity, only to flip on the light switch once everything seems to be okay.
However, I do find that out of all the video game adaptations DOOM is fairly well done and the modifications to the story line (even if not very solid) were necessary in order for the plot to work: Unlike in the video game, there's no gate to hell — the madness is thanks due to what's essentially a virus. The research facility has been studying martian remains and discovered that their bodies contained a bio-engineered 24th chromosome, whereas normal humans only have 23. A point is made that 10% of the human genome has not yet been mapped (which is false, especially in 2046 as the Human Genome Project was completed in 2003) And depending on ones genetic markup (some people seem to be inherently evil) the 24th chromosome turns people into super humans, or demons. This is all supported by the rather nonsensical logic that those last ten percent of the genome may be responsible for ones soul. All rather far fetched — okay, so the martians had a 24th chromosome and that would have given them what? Down syndrome?
Either way, the whole search, rescue and retrieve mission becomes a mess. Eventually things will take a turn and the movie switches to a First Person Shooter (FPS) point of view, mimicking the video game. At this point all the suspense went out the window and the movie makes a turn from scary to funny, silly and downright corny. After the final showdown we're setup for a sequel.
Other fun facts: The characters Dr. Carmack and the Dr. Willits are named after John Carmack and Tim Willits of ID Software. While the BFG makes its appearance as a 'Bio Force Gun', Sarge calls it by its more popular name 'Big Fucking Gun'.
If you liked the video game, you may like the movie — just don't take it for more than it is. A video game on film.
Posted: October 22nd, 2005 under Movies.