Z/Web

I’m not heavily into video games, though I have nothing against them (just no time to play them and when I do, I’m more into strategy games). The thing about Doom is that it’s heavily action-oriented and that’s what I expected in this film adaptation. Unfortunately, the action doesn’t start until about an hour in — before that it’s all atmospheric horror and mysterious bumps in the night (no monsters are seen for a long time, just flashes of carnage and sudden death). That’s not what Doom’s about, folks. Doom’s about chaos and non-stop action, a pure adreneline rush. My expectation was that this would be an-edge-of-your seat thrill from start to finish with constant meaningless slaughter and violence until the resolution. Unfortunately, none of that happens until very late in the film (there’s a brief first-person-shooter perspective, just like the game), and by then you’re so bored by the cardboard characters and silly drama that it doesn’t matter. Basically, the movie fails for the fans, fails for the action crowd, and fails for the horror crowd. It doesn’t work for any of them because it doesn’t know what it is and thus becomes none of those genres. There is one redeeming moment, though ineptly done, and I will warn of slight spoiler here, in that one of the main characters, the one we assume is the hero, played by master thespian The Rock, where he turns evil and becomes the film’s villain. That’s an unusual twist and could have been interesting except that it happens so abrubtly without warning or foreshadowing that it feels false and bewildering. However, at least they tried to do something different. Still, it’s not enough. It’s a dismal experience, not worth your time even on DVD.