Video game movies are all the rage, so it’s not surprising at all that Doom, one of the biggest video game franchises makes its mark to the silver screen. The movie features the Rock as the Sarge and Karl Urban as the Reaper. So what genre does Doom go for? It’s a blend between action flick and slasher horror. If you played Doom 3 you’ll know what to expect. That’s the one thing good about Doom, is that it sticks to its source material. Everything from the gritty dark environments, to the monster designs makes it a fanboy’s dream come true. The movie starts out with the discovery of the ark, a portal to Mars discovered in 2026. After a group of scientists are massacred during their research session the Rapid Response Tactical Squad jumps in to investigate.
What they find is exactly what you would see in Doom, Hell on a spaceship. But this isn’t Event Horizon, it’s Doom. People expect action and a bit of the ultra violence, which is what Doom delivers almost instantly. Forget the plot and the minor twist at the end, Doom is all about blasting zombies and demonic beasts. The film’s strongest point is the cheap horror movie clichés like sudden darkness and a sudden sound scare. In fact Doom is most innovative near the end where it switches into first person mode. For five minutes we get to see what the world of Doom is like in the eyes of the reaper. Fans will absolutely love this sequence, but if you’re not a fan of Doom it’ll be more boring than revolutionary. The dizzying camera is what you would expect if you were in control of the game, but it isn’t as welcome when you’re watching the movie.
The DVD version of Doom is the “unrated extended edition”. All of the extra scenes are blended into the movie and unless you saw the original cut you probably won’t take much notice to the extra material. The video transfer on Doom is solid, it’s dark and atmospheric. Audio wise Doom has a booming 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound track that captures all of the explosions, gunshots and chainsaw grinding. The extras on the disc are pretty sparse. You can watch how the Rock and crew “trained” for the movie and a small documentary about how they did the Rock’s makeup. Yawn. But things get better, the Master Monster Makers goes to show how the beasts were created. Then there’s a documentary about the difficulties of filming the first person sequence. It took a couple of weeks just to make that five minute clip, but since it’s the highlight of the film it is worth it.
Then for all you gamers out there’s a short clip with Doom Tips called “Game On”. Most of these are basic tips, like use your flashlight and in actuality they’re more of a make shit instruction booklet for the Doom 3 Xbox demo packaged into the DVD. There’s also a documentary called “Doom Nation” which explores the franchise of Doom from its PC origins. To sum Doom up it’s going to be something that gamers are going to get the most out of, and if you’re a fan of Doom you can’t pass this up.
