Doom
Review by Clint Morris
"We've got a game," utters The Rock's character
about five minutes into the film. That's just in case you
couldn't tell from the cartoonish characters, prologue refresher
or toilet tissue-scribbled plot.
But the good news for game-fans is that Doom is such
a solid stand-on it's own action movie that it doesn't need
the accompaniment of a joystick (a couple more strobe lights
mightn't have gone astray though - the film's darker than
an unlit manhole).
The Rock leads a team of U.S. marines - all your clichéd
cronies are here from the religious nut to the slimiest slimeball
of slimeballs - in the year 2026 to journey to Mars to battle
murderous mutants. And, well, people die. People mutate. The
Rock inherits a big gun.
It's official. The Rock is the best thing in action movies
today. He still hasn't made his Terminator or True
Lies, but he's definitely on his way to inheriting the
throne previously occupied by Governor Schwarzenegger.
Whilst Doom isn't going to get him elected to action
king presidency any quicker, it's still a good move for the
former wrestler. The film is slick, brimming with incessant
action, but most of all it's like Predator (1987),
one of Schwarzenegger's earliest and most popular actioners.
Okay, so there's a different monster, some slightly different
characters and a nice twist at the end of this one (one that
might surprise some Rock fans) - but for all intents and purposes,
it's a xerox of Johnny McTiernan's commando's vs. toothy monster
gem.
Is it as good? No.
But being half the movie Predator is is a lot better
than being the counterpart of a (to use another example of
a video game turned movie) Resident Evil.
Doom runs rings around Resident Evil - you
at least give a damn about the characters here, and though
clichéd for the most part, this film does - to an extent
- offer a unique and fresh twist on the genre (PC and console
game fans will love the part where the film transforms into
the game).
Not that it couldn't have used a few more bucks spent on
the monster, or that it's New Zealand-born hero (that's Karl
Urban, not The Rock - not giving anything away) couldn't have
used an extra semester in 'Perfecting American-English' classes.
But if we start picking away the film's bones, we're going
to need to call in an archaeology party - 'cos it could take
a while.
Doom is going to send your girlfriend or wife heading
for the nearest Sleepy Sams to get some shuteye, but the lads
will lap it up - and then run home to play the game.
3 out of 5
Doom
Australian release: Thursday the 27th of October, 2005
Cast: The Rock, Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike, Deobia Oparei,
Ben Daniels, Razaaq Adoti, Richard Brake, Dexter Fletcher.
Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak.
Website: Click
here.
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