Based on the popular 1990s video game, Doom follows the exploits
of a special forces team that is sent to Mars to investigate a Level 5
quarantine that has clamped down on a research lab. These super-soldiers, led by
none other than the Rock himself, are based on Earth. They get to Mars by way of
a weird portal-type machine call the ark that sucks them into a glob of goo and
spits them one by one at the Red Planet. Hey, so it ain’t the Stargate, but at
least it works, right? Once on Mars, the Rock lays the smack down on Triple H in
a grudge match that…uh, I mean, the Rock and his team meet up with Dr. Samantha
Grimm (the fetching Rosamund Pike), a scientist at the facility whose job it is to go with the soldiers and
retrieve the valuable information that had been left behind.
The problem is that Sam turns out to be the sister of Reaper (Carl Urban), one
of the soldiers in the team and second in command to the Rock. They haven’t
spoken to each other in ten years, thanks to a childhood accident that killed
their parents. But this family problem pales in comparison to the bigger
problem that everybody faces on Mars: the research lab has been overrun with
horrible mutant creatures, who all have a really nasty attitude problem, which
is basically that they kill and eat anybody who gets in their way.
Given the source material, Doom can be a fun ride, as long as you don’t take it
too seriously. But if you’re expecting a classic SF/horror masterpiece along the
lines of James Cameron’s Aliens, then you will be greatly disappointed. Between
the macho posturing, the inane dialogue, as well as the first-person POV that
the film devolves into near the end, you’re essentially watching one extra-long
video game here--only unlike a video game, you have no control over the action.
The video game POV is more lame than anything else, giving the film an over the
top comical tone that it didn’t need--because it was already unintentionally
funny to begin with. If you don't mind the gore, you can always "MST3K-it" with
your friends.
--SF
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