Doom
doesn’t suck, and if that isn’t a compliment, then I don’t know
what the hell is. Why doesn’t it suck? Well I could chalk that up to a number
of reasons. Perhaps it’s because I went in with low expectations or maybe
it’s because Kyle and I downed a couple of beers before the screening. Now
I’m not going to lie. Doom is stupid. It’s full of wooden performances
and uber lame dialogue but we had a fun time regardless.
Based
on the video game of the same name, Doom is a futuristic/sci fi tale about a team
of grunts who travel through a strange portal to Mars hoping to find out why contact
has been lost with a scientific research lab. When they arrive, this rag tag team
of military men quickly discover the meaning of survival when they discover the
true nature of what is happening.
I
must confess that I’m not a gamer. Given my rabid film habit, an addiction
to video games would almost spell certain death for me, so I’ve avoided the
whole phenomenon. Having said that, as a film, Doom is far more entertaining than
the other video games turned movies I’ve seen (i.e. Resident Evil and House
of the Dead).
As
I previously stated, the dialogue is nothing to write home about (but who’s
listening for Shakesperean word play in a flick like this anyway?) and the performances
are completely stock. The Rock is rather lackluster here, but I applaud the film
makers for taking his character somewhere I wasn’t really expecting. Karl
Urban shows a little bit of screen presence as tough guy John Grimm (no relation
to Ben) but that’s only because everyone around him is such a blank. Rosamund
Pike is completely ineffective as the film’s heroine, a self righteous scientist
who quickly learns that her work might be killing innocent people. Simply put,
Doom is one of those movies that features actors playing roles you don’t
remotely buy them in with the possible exception of the Rock. Sadly though, the
big guy is surprisingly tepid.
What
I really enjoyed about this silly, over the top actioneer is it’s unabashed
love for the action epics of the 80's. Most of the references are subtle enough
that Doom doesn’t really come across as a rip-off, but rather a loving homage.
Fans won’t have a hard time spotting little winks at the likes of Aliens,
Predator, Robocop, Terminator, and Commando. Add to that a drop of Stargate and
a dash of every Van Damme flick ever made, and you have a movie that, while hardly
a masterpiece, manages to entertain.
What’s
more, Doom is surprisingly slick. One problem I’ve had with recent action
pictures (Batman Begins included) is their muddled style. Now I love Batman Begins,
but there are action sequences in that film that are fairly muddled. When I watch
hand on hand combat or a chase, I want to see what the hell is going on. Director
Andrzei Bartkowiak stages Doom’s action scenes in a very clean fashion. Sure,
the camera work is flashy and the cutting a tad excessive, but the bottom line
is, we can actually see the carnage. This is particularly evident in the much
anticipated 1st person sequence in which a fearless squad commander cautiously
but quickly blazes through the narrow corridors of a space station, all while
taking out murderous creatures at every corner.
And
the gore. God bless the gore. With the recent trend of PG-13 rated flicks, I almost
forgot what cinematic blood looked like. Doom doesn’t skimp on the blood
and guts. There are decapitations, exploding heads, and slimy creatures aplenty.
Doom also features some interesting effects work, my favorite being a dude whose
had his upper torso surgically attached to an electric wheelchair. It’s a
simplistic visual gag, but it works.
Doom
isn’t exactly a work of originality nor is it on it’s way to making
anyone’s top ten list at the end of the year, but it does offer up a fare
share of violent, over the top entertainment. At the very least, it’s leaps
and bounds better than that crappy Fog remake.
