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| Director
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Andrzej Bartkowiak
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| Starring
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Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike,
The Rock |
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| The plot of
Doom |
In the year 2145, a group of Marines on Phobos,
one of Mars' moons, face off against monsters
who infiltrate their base after an experiment
goes seriously awry. |
Doom
Movie Review
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Review by Peter
Hartlaub:
Doom: Action. Starring the Rock, Karl Urban, Rosamund
Pike and Ben Daniels. Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak.
(Rated R, 100 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)It's easy
to see why a Hollywood studio head might think a movie
version of Doom is a great idea. The notoriously fast-paced,
blood-soaked and entertaining game is popular with the
18-to-34 age group, a demographic that doesn't mind
dumping disposable income on dumb movies, especially
ones that star the Rock. It takes someone who has actually
played the game to explain what a colossally bad idea
the "Doom" movie -- and most films that use
video games as source material -- was from the start.Doom
the game and its sequels all have plots that can be
explained on a business card: Go to Mars. Grab some
guns. Blow stuff up. "Doom" the movie covers
that ground, then improvises, adding back story and
character motivations that weren't in the game. The
end result is the violent action movie version of one
of those four-minute "Saturday Night Live"
skits that is stretched out into a 100-minute movie.Universal
Pictures got a couple of things right, starting with
the recruitment of the Rock for the role of Sarge, the
space marine..more..
Review By Brian
Orndorf:
When a remote research
facility on Mars sends a distress signal back to Earth,
a team of marines are sent in to help, including the
troubled Reaper (nicely played by Karl Urban), and led
by the intolerant Sarge (The Rock, sweaty and exaggerated).
Upon arrival, the team learns that mutated monsters
have taken over the area, with the beasts picking off
members of the squad one by one.With the help of a lone
scientist (Rosamund Pike, a talented actress doing a
ghastly American accent), Sarge and his group look to
contain the problem and, if that fails them, kill anything
that stands in their way.Turning video games into movies
is a large artistic leap few have landed successfully.
Inherently razor-thin experiences, video games need
that special touch, that unique verve, to deliver the
special joystick enchantment. Director Andrzej Bartowiak
is not a filmmaker capable of such magic..More..
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