Doom
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DVD Review
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Review
Movie:
After a call for help from the UAC facility on Mars a crack RRTS (Rapid Response Tactical Squad) unit has been sent to obtain UAC property, rescue UAC employees and clean up the threat. The team consists of the leader, Sarge (The Rock, Reaper (Karl Urban), Destroyer (Deobia Oparei), Mac (Yao Chin), Goat (Ben Daniels), Duke (Razaaq Adoti), Portman (Richard Brake) and The Kid (Al Weaver).
Once there they discover that the scientists have been performing experiments on humans which have mutated into vicious creatures lurking in the darkness, stalking and killing anything that lives They attempt to deal with the threat with a “nothing gets out alive” policy but will that be enough to save them? Before we find out about that, lets nip back to 1993 for a minute.
Back in the early 90’s Doom was at the forefront of the gaming world. With much better graphics and game play (including network play) than most other games. Players could immerse themselves in the world of a Marine fighting demon’s from Hell, on Mars. Then in late 2004 we had some more of the same with Doom3, only with bigger better graphics and a more refined storyline (even if the game was a bit linear).
Amongst gamers, the idea that there would be a movie based on Doom was looked at with lots of excitement, but also with a degree of trepidation, after all there had yet to be a game to movie project that has worked with undeniable success. We have had Mortal Kombat, Final Fantasy, Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil to name a few, some better than others, but none as successful as they could have been.
Alone in the Dark for example was particularly criticised for moving massively away from the original story line of the game, and so was not really what the fans wanted, and lets face it the first people to rush and see movies like these are the gamers who love the games.
The story of the game (particularly Doom 3) was fairly simple. You are on a tour of duty at the UAC facilities on Mars, when they access a portal to hell and let all sorts of demons out, and you basically run around killing any demon that moves before descending into Hell to have a go at the boss himself. This was the kind of story I would have liked seen to port over to the film. Dark dingy corridors, masses of monsters and demons coming at you before a super CGI devil to wrap things up, sure it may have been a bit much, a bit unbelievable but at least it would have been original.
I must say I feel a bit cheated. Doom had an estimated budget of $70 million which is not a shabby amount, it has a recognisable actor in The Rock, I happen to like the Rock. In his previous movies that I have seen I have found him to be a very good screen presence, often with the odd witty line thrown in, and he easily fulfils the void that Schwarzenegger and Stallone have vacated. Then the director who although not much actual directorship experience has oodles of experience as a cinematographer/director of photography and therefore should have some nice camera angles up his sleeve. All these factors should have amounted to fantastic action packed movie.
Instead we have a film that has moved away from the original storyline quite drastically, this wouldn’t be such a bad thing had the story been a worthy alternative, instead we have (yet another) pseudo-science, scientist(s) experimenting on human subject movie, this time talking utter drivel about chromosomes and the human soul. This is getting so tired and unoriginal now, it lost its appeal many a movie ago.
Saying that the dark dingy corridors are atmospheric and cranked up the tension as we see the team move through the facility, the monsters although in my opinion not enough in numbers look pretty good too, probably because they decided to stay away from CGI monsters (OK so perhaps my massive CGI Devil was not a good idea) and concentrated on actors in suits which given the dark (both in subject and lighting) works quite well and then towards the end of the movie we get a neat 5 minutes that plays out like a first person shooter where we are going down the corridors looking “over the gun” wasting creatures and… erm well wasting more creatures, (although where these monsters/people came from after everyone was supposed to be evacuated is a mystery). This section was seamlessly placed into the main film, although the hulking monster near the end with a chainsaw made it look a bit like a Uwe Boll movie. and should have been cut.
As the end credits rolled my first thoughts were “it’s ok” and I’ll stick with that, I’ve seen worse but I’ve certainly seen better. The action came too quickly at the expense of character development, there were no where near enough monsters and lastly and more disappointingly a massive step away from the actual storyline. but then again Perhaps $70 million isnt enough to take us to the Hell depicted in the game.
After contemplating what i had watched I wanted to find out more about who had spoilt my vision of what the film would be. There are two people given the writing credits, we have Dave Callaham who as well as part writing the film also is credited with the overall story. Previous screenplays that are listed are…erm… none. So as far as I can tell he has written nothing previously that has made it to film. Then there is Wesley Strick who to be fair has had a number of screenplays under his belt, none of which I had seen before. Overall it seems a pretty weak team in the writing department, in terms of experience at least.
Picture:
Scenes that DON’T involve being in dark, dimly lit corridors looks pretty good on the screen, using a fairly cold, clinical palette the transfer seems pretty clean. Problems arise when we DO descend to dark, dimly lit corridors, it is just TOO dark the blacks are deep and infinite but then so are the team uniforms so a lot of the time we have great problems in making anything out. Watching the film at night (as i did) would be most recommended as you do get caught up in the atmosphere and you can better make out what is going on.
Sound:
Wow if only the movie were as good as the soundtrack, clear dialogue coming from the front, front and rears used well and often. When in the sewer for example I could hear splashes from my fronts and dripping ambient noises from the walls in the rears, I can’t remember a time when all channels were not being utilised. The sub-woofer was booming at the right times too, the music although a bit industrial (although I happen to like that) added to the whole atmosphere.
Extras:
Basic Training: approx 10.5 minutes
An overview of basic military training to make the actors look like a special forces unit, we get to speak with the military advisor Tom McAdams who had only been out of the military for about a month before taking this role, we get to take a look about how he advised the team on moving, acting and holding their weapons as a special forces unit would do.
Rock Formation: approx 5 minutes
Interesting little section on how they made up the rock. They tell us about the make up techniques used and other make up” snippets.
Master Monster Makers: approx 11 minutes
Introducing us to the various monsters such as the imps and the baron. How they made them up and there roles in the film.
First Person Shooter Sequence: approx 10.5 minutes in total including seeing the sequence again.
We get to see how they made the FPS section as well as witnessing it all over again
Doom Nation approx 14 minutes
The ID Game Developers talking about the Doom game, from the 1st one in 93, thought to Doom 2 in 94 and Doom 3
Game On !: approx 6.5 minutes
“hints” on playing Doom 3
Doom 3 Xbox Demo
I have the game on PC so I never played this, but if you haven’t I can recommend this, it has a better storyline than the movie that’s for sure.
Overall
againsts: A bit of a let down for purists of the game, not enough "proper" monsters and a total rewrite of the original story, not enough BFG action. For Atmospheric, dark corridors and superb sounds. maybe one for the collection especially for die hard sci-fi fans, of which i am one.
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