Back in 2013 I reviewed Andrzej Bartkowiak’s “Doom” and gave it a failing grade. Growing up in the ‘90s on the MS-DOS version of the game—which weaved in and out of Mars and Hell—Bartkowiak’s film was initially a letdown. Though it took place on the Martian ARC facility, there were no shots of the Red Planet. And with a bevy of Marines running around (fronted by Dwayne Johnson), the film lost that one-man-alone-in-Hell motif that made the games atmospheric and creepy. The ending was also clumsy. It was hard to discern what it represented. Was Johnson’s ‘Sarge’ now a demon? Was Karl Urban’s John Grimm the Doom Slayer? Etc.
But now, after years of hurling myself back into the original games on Nintendo Switch—and expanding to “Doom 3,” “Doom 2016,” and “Doom Eternal,” I realize what I got wrong in my criticism. I don’t take it all back; the film isn’t perfect. But what it is, flatly, is a movie based on “Doom 3”—which was more based in deserted science labs and a sprawling military compound than the winding tunnels and Mars surface that inhabited the original game. And in that task, it mostly succeeds.
Based on ID’s ‘Doom 3’
Still, there’s creative license. The ‘Doom Marine’ from “Doom 3” is here replaced by a squadron comprised of macho types. They are trained to respond militarily to whatever the ARC Corporation on Mars might need. While the film is slow to get into what that might be, veterans of the game know that what follows. The Arc engaging in unethical science experiments and tampering with the gateway between Mars and Hell led to hosts of demons to be loosed and scientists and station guards to be turned into zombies.
When I first watched this film, I was upset by the near-total abandonment of the game’s feel. While 16-bit and grainy, the marine in that series would wander from room-to-room on the Mars base. Sometimes a room would be filled with the undead or other demons. Other times there would be a barren hallway, windows on either side showing the red surface of Mars in the distance, even though you were trapped inside and couldn’t get to it. In Bartkowiak’s film, there’s none of that. But to be fair, there’s little-to-none of that in “Doom 3” as well. You start the game, thrust into a subterranean facility that’s mostly dark, with only a flashlight—that has limited use—as your guide.
Good at Highlighting the Game’s Physical Darkness
In that vein, Bartkowiak’s film is effective. It highlights the game’s endless corridors, darkened rooms, and sense of isolation. However, it doesn’t’ happen right away. First, it pits the Marine crew against several scientists and a research head, played with vulnerability and likability from Rosamund Pike. Pike’s Samantha Grimm is also John’s sister, and the two have some heated moments of standoffishness. There’s a history between them “Doom” is slow to unravel and is actually kind of solidly built. Underscoring this, there’s the tension of the ARC facility being forced—after an accident that leads to the Marines’ arrival—to give away more of its secrets than it wants. Namely, this includes experiments that Dr. Carmack (Robert Russell) was engaged in that led to the facility’s current state.
The Marine team is cast appropriately, and during my first viewing I hadn’t yet seen Richard Brake in “Batman Begins”—where he’s excellent—nor Karl Urban in much. There’s of course a pecking order (Dwayne Johnson’s ‘Sarge’ is in command), but the camaraderie between the rest of them is good. Of the cast, I liked Ben Daniels and Razaaq Adoti. And Brake was humorous as that one soldier that just has to pick at everyone and everything. He reminded me of Bill Paxton in “Aliens.” Watching the crew sneak through the ransacked facility—and become increasingly alarmed at what they find—is one of the movie’s strong points. Additionally, “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’” Dexter Fletcher—who will become an unfortunate demon by the end—was a fun addition.
‘Doom’s Choice of Homages Become a Problem
Where the movie loses something is by cramming in homages from the game to appeal to its fanbase while simultaneously ignoring other homages that would have added to the film’s atmosphere. For instance, the Marines raiding the armory—in particular Sarge finding the ‘BFG,’ the film even having the honesty to have him utter “big fucking gun”—was rightly iconic. Sarge later using the weapon reminded me of the gameplay in both looks and physics better than it ought. Additionally, the corridors of the facility look creepy and forlorn. Cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts goes a good job showing the facility’s desolation (especially in its darker recesses). And Production Designer Stephen Scott has built a good, labyrinthine feel to the place.
However, a little goes a long way. As such, a scene where Grimm shoots zombie after zombie in first person shooter mode becomes a little much. Bartkowiak wants this to feel like the game a little too much in places and it dents the film. Also, in addition to the lack of Mars atmosphere or any hint of red (which seems a bait-and-switch given the Universal logo being the planet Mars in the opening), even the concept of Hell is abandoned. The film’s poster even teases the tagline, Hell breaks loose. However, most of the threats in “Doom” come in the form of scientific bastardizations and not demons from Hell. The film’s best bit is when one Marine fights a Hell Knight in an electrified cage (this part is actually scary) and talk of a shadowed gateway to Hell. Yet “Doom” doesn’t take the leap to actually make that connection. Yes, 2005’s CGI likely couldn’t handle the game’s more advanced denizens of Hell. But “Doom” is a world predicated on tinkering with portals to the underworld and the folly of unchecked scientific progress. Bartkowiak’s film is notably concerned with the latter in lieu of the former.
What Could Have Been…
Still, despite these shortcomings, “Doom,” on rewatch, left me with a better impression. Maybe it’s because it did remind me of a “Doom” game—just not the one I wanted. Or maybe it was the claustrophobic cinematography that is reminiscent of some of the better facility-type settings of “Doom 3.” As such, “Doom” became a comfort film my wife and I like to watch on occasion. The lack of Hell-inspired creativity is still a problem. And the end fight between Sarge and Grimm is still kind of head-scratching. Yet the film’s takeaways—unchecked scientific progress is bad—and my expanded video game experience to understand which iteration the film was based on led me to like it more. It’s ultimately a shame that the film did so poorly in the Box Office. A sequel with Urban picking up the mantle as the Doom Slayer would have been infinitely more rewarding than the straight-to-TV reboot “Doom: Annihilation” that followed 14 years later.
