Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Doom

Film: Doom (2005)
Dir: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Tagline: Hell Breaks Loose.
Rating: *** out of 5 stars



Okay, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and shock you all....I liked this movie. In retrospect, I'm not entirely sure why. It's quite possiblly because of my good mood that night. In any case, it boils down to this: I had fun watching it!

The harshest critics of this movie aren't the boring old men, but uptight video game nerds. Call me a traitor if you like, but I don't see the big fuckin deal in the movie changing some of the video game details. It's just like all those LOTR or Harry Potters geeks pitching fits over how much the movie adaptations omitted. If the movie was exactly like the source, then what's the point of making it?!

Let's face it - the "Doom" video game had a lame story that can't really be stretched into a whole movie unless you add some shit. So brav-fuckin-o to the filmmakers for trying to make it into something watchable! They still included a lot of Biblical Hell-related context to stay loyal to the original story. But GOD FORBID they actually write something original instead of carbon- copying the video game! VG fans need to grow up and not judge movies when they don't understand them. Filmmakers don't tell you how to make games, so shut it!

hehe, anyway....the movie is fun. Simple as that. Despite all the comparisons to Aliens, I think it reminded me more of Predator - not the smartest movie ever made, but chock full of man -vs- monster violence. There's no deep underlying message (except for the usual "when science goes too far" lesson). It's just a lot of gory fun. That's another thing I like about it - it didn't pussy out for a PG-13 rating. There is sufficient gore, and even better - a lot of the SFX are practical, like suits (Stan Winston Studios!) and prosthetics.

As for the actors, I don't really have any complaints. Wasn't really keen on Karl Urban at first, (though I've always liked him before), but he grew on me. Sarg (The Rock) and the rest of the Marines are entertaining enough. I was even sad to see some of them die.

I found myself not at all bored or looking at my watch. In fact, I had to piss REALLY bad but didn't leave cause I didn't wanna miss anything. Doom jumps right into the action from the start and doesn't let go. My biggest complaint is probably the abrupt, awkward ending but by that point, I had already been having too much fun to care.

So what of the first-person-shooter POV? I went in expecting to hate it, but I didn't. You could already tell the movie doesn't take itself seriously, and every new crazy thing it did had me rolling with laughter or cheering. The FPS was just another one of those things. It felt like slipping yourself into a game of Doom for just a few minutes and the result was a blasty blast.

I'm really shocked myself at my high opinion of this movie. Maybe it was my mood, but I had a good time and I recommend it. Once again, it's not brilliant or profound - it's a lot of violent fun, just like the video game it is based on. Did anyone ever play "Doom" to be intellectually stimulated? No, they played to watch ugly monsters get blown to shit. So if that's what you're after, then unbunch your panties and check out Doom.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree on the point that this movie was good for what it was. A action movie that tied back loosly to a video game. It held to the action movie tradition with weak plot story line. Acting was arguable but i found it good enough to make the movie enjoyable.

Dont expect doom the video game to be just plastered on a movie screen cause that would be retarded and if that what you expect then you deserve a good punch to the face. Although there was a fps 3 minute sequence that kinda kicked ass.

to sum up. Good action movie but no one envolved is ever gonna win a oscar for it

-Luke