Doom (film)

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Doom is a 2005 movie adaptation of the popular Doom series of video games produced by id Software. The movie was released October 21 2005 in the United States, and on December 2 2005 in the United Kingdom.

On February 7th, 2006, the unrated DVD for the Doom movie was officially released. The unrated DVD has a running time of 1 hour 53 minutes, which suggests that 15 additional minutes of footage was added to the unrated DVD release.

A movie based on the series has been widely expected since the first game's original release in 1993. In 1994 or 1995, id Software sold Doom movie rights to two movie studios, reportedly Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures, but the rights expired apparently due to a lack of timely production. For the next eight or nine years, the movie project lingered in development hell. In 2002, it was reported that Warner Brothers acquired live action movie rights to Doom from id Software. Sometime in 2003, Warner Brothers lost the rights, and they were subsequently given to Universal Pictures; Universal got the movie moved into production in 2004.

There has been a lot of criticism offered against the movie on message boards. For instance, on movie review websites such as the Internet Movie Database, many claim that this movie has failed, just like, in their opinion, all other video game to movie translations. This is because Hollywood's attempts to give video games more mainstream appeal usually backfire, through excessive "watering down," abbreviation, or unwarranted "enhancements." Thusfar, such criticism has been arguably substantive, for the movie omits or redefines traditional supernatural themes with purely secular themes, such as genetic experimentation and psychological evolution, which has led many fan to liken the plot as "Resident Evil in space". Many speculate that these changes, ordered by certain executives at Universal, are due to fear of possible negative reactions by the public, especially from Christian groups (ironically, the original Doom is a Christian allegory). But, as with the release of Doom 3, the controversy over this movie will remain, especially between hardcore and casual Doom fans.

In a recent [interview] with executive producer John Wells, he stated that a second Doom movie could be created if the first is a success in the box office. Ticket sales for the opening weekend totaled more than 15.3 million USD, but promptly dropped down to approximately $4.2 million, which mystified Universal executives.

The basic plot of the movie is quite similar to Aliens in that a small group of space marines go to investigate a deserted facility on another planet, and do battle with vicious creatures until only a few are left who must fight to escape alive.

The film has been rated R by the MPAA for strong violence/gore and language. The DVD release of Doom will be unrated.

Contents

• 1 Plot overview
• 2 Violence predisposition controversy
• 3 Characters
• 3.1 Marines
• 3.2 Civilians
• 4 Weapons
• 5 Trivia
• 6 Criticisms
• 7 Production history
• 8 Doom 2
• 9 Awards and nominations
• 9.1 
• 10 Notes
• 11 External links

Plot overview

The film begins on Mars in a research facility where scientists are running for their lives, as one by one they are grabbed and pulled into dark hallways, yelling in horror. A doctor, Dr. Carmack manages to get in a security room when a surviving female scientist yells at him to keep the doors open for her. The doctor stares at her numb in horror, as the doors begin to shut, trapping her arm between the doors. She yells in agony as something grabs her, pushes her upwards, and pulls her from the door severing her arm. As the doctor turns around to send an SOS rescue signal, the "thing" breaks through the door, growls and stares at the doctor, and the scene fades into darkness.

On Earth, a team of elite special ops Marines is deployed to Mars, via use of a teleportation device called the Ark. Their mission is simple: investigate a disturbance occurring at the Union Aerospace Corporation's (UAC) Mars research facility, eliminate the threat, secure the facility, and retrieve UAC property. However, this mission becomes more complicated when the team finds Dr. Carmack, disturbed to the point of tearing off his own ear. The Marines continue to explore the facility, encountering strange creatures intent on killing them. One such being, an Imp, succeeds in slaying one of the soldiers but is promptly killed and brought to researcher Dr. Grimm, who seeks scientific data. From blood samples taken from two hostile creatures, it is determined that their genetic makeup has been altered by the addition of a 24th chromosome, which turns humans into a superhuman, or a monster depending on whether the person is "good" or "evil". Consequently, this chromosome is classified as an infection, which is later spread by the projectile tongues of those infected.

Through multiple attacks by the imps, the squad is reduced to just Sarge, Reaper (brother of Dr. Grimm), The Kid, and Duke, along with Dr. Grimm. They realize that despite their best efforts, a larger monster called a Hell Knight (presumed to be the original) escapes to Earth through the Ark. Before leaving, Sarge takes the Bio Force Gun (BFG), a.k.a 'Big Fucking Gun', and Dr. Grimm brings a sample of the Chromosome 24 serum. It is revealed that the researchers unintentionally created the imps by giving a human some of the serum, which was extracted from the remains of an ancient alien civilization on Mars.

On Earth, the group finds the UAC facility full of bodies. Sarge orders all corpses be shot to prevent any from rising again, and that all survivors must be killed too in case they are infected. The Kid finds a group of living, non-infected humans and reports this to Sarge. He argues that the order should be rescinded, but Sarge responds by saying that violating the CO's order is punishable by death and shoots The Kid for insubordination. The group continues through the facility until Duke is killed during a major assault by zombies. In addition to Duke's death, and Sarge being dragged away by the zombies, Reaper is hit by a ricocheting bullet. Consequently, to save his life, Dr. Grimm injects Reaper with Chromosome 24. This turns him into a superhuman, causing his injuries to heal almost instantly, and endowing him with incredible strength and speed.

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Following Reaper's change, the movie takes on its first-person shooter perspective strongly resembling Doom 3 in terms of environment, creatures, and gameplay.

In the words of Karl Urban, the actor who plays Reaper:

"In some ways, it makes cinematic history in that, for the first time, the audience becomes the hero of the film."^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

"When we go into FPS, the audience is doing the rampage, the audience is doing the work and that is so cool. It’s insane!"^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

While slaying the remaining monsters, Reaper is attacked by Pinky, a mutated UAC Ark attendant (the Pinky Demon in the game) and cyborg, whose bottom half of his body was replaced by robotics and wheels due to major turbulence during ark travel. Earlier, Reaper explains this to The Kid saying that "he went to one galaxy, his ass went to another". However, Reaper successfully uses the iconic chainsaw to defeat him by damaging the joint connecting his body to the wheel. At the exit of the facility, Reaper finds a large mass of bodies and a blue burning hole in the wall, which was caused by a BFG blast. Near this hole, Reaper encounters Sarge and an unconscious Dr. Grimm lying on the floor. Reaper asks Sarge what happened to the non-infected survivors, and he replies that he took care of them, meaning he killed them, remarking "We're killers. It's what we're paid to do." Reaper then notices the same injury on Sarge that Dr. Carmack had before he turned into an Imp. After Dr. Grimm escapes Sarge's clutches, the two Marines face off, with Reaper shooting Sarge and dodging a BFG shot from him. The two engage in hand-to-hand combat and fight with hard hits. Sarge finds a metal pole and warps it around his arm. Sarge stabs it through Reaper's hand, but after a long fight, it rips out. The transformation of Sarge to an Imp begins to get noticed during the fight by Reaper. Eventually, Reaper prevails by throwing Sarge into the "Ark," along with an ST grenade, which appears to seal the fate of both Sarge and the UAC Mars facility.

Violence predisposition controversy

The movie plot is based upon the assumption that all people are genetically predisposed or not to violence, and that upon evolution this predisposition takes over. It is stated that C-24 vaccine acts only as a releaser for the aggression that is turning a human into a demon being, but the aggression is hidden dormant inside the victim initially. This assumption is actually absolutely identical to the position taken by Id Software lawyers on the famous Columbine High School massacre case. One of the kids - Eric Harris - in a video left before the massacre said: "the killing will be like fucking Doom". Being accused that their game was the cause of the violence and the massacre representatives of Id Software claimed that it was only a “last drop” that triggered the events, but violence was initially in both kids psyche, because they were predisposed to it. It is not known whether the case actually inspired this part of the plot, or this was a mere coincidence, but the parallel is obvious.

Characters

Marines

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Sarge (The Rock): The squad leader. Sarge is a professional soldier who appears to have a good relationship with the men in his squad. However, his unquestioning loyalty to the corrupt UAC and insistence on following orders no matter the consequences ultimately leads him to commit war crimes. He was apparently killed by "Reaper" as he was slowly being transformed into an Imp.

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John "Reaper" Grimm (Karl Urban): The protagonist. A former scientist who joined the military after the death of his parents on Mars. Following his conscience, he ultimately ends up opposing the UAC and Sarge. He is the only Marine to survive the mission to Mars.

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Goat (Ben Daniels): A quiet, extremely religious man who cuts himself whenever he breaks a Commandment. He was infected by a mutated Dr. Willits, turned into a zombie, and killed himself before he could transform into an 'Imp'.

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Duke (Raz Adoti): A smart-aleck who ends up hitting on Samantha, who seems to return his interest. He was pulled through a steel grate (presumably by the Imp's attack) and dies.

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Destroyer (Deobia Oparei): The squad's stoic heavy weapons specialist. Destroyer dies in hand-to-hand combat with a Hell Knight, but succeeds in giving the monster a beating.

Mac (Yao Chin): Enigmatic, focused and Shakespearean, this baseball-loving soldier is left behind to defend the Ark, and is decapitated by a Hell Knight.

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The Kid (Al Weaver): The newest member of the squad, The Kid is green and inexperienced, much to Sarge's chagrin. Also secretly addicted to drugs to keep his newbie fear in control. He was killed by Sarge after refusing to follow his orders.

Corporal Dean Portman (Richard Brake): Psychopathic and disgusting member of the team. He was killed when a Hell Knight beat him to death in the bathroom.

Civilians

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Dr. Samantha Grimm (Rosamund Pike): A scientist on Mars, and John Grimm's sister. Conducting archaeological research on the Martian civilization, she is assigned by UAC to accompany the marines and retrieve Dr. Carmack's research data. She and Reaper are the only survivours left at the end of the film.

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Pinky (Dexter Fletcher): A nervous technician on Mars assigned to coordinate the squad's communications. Pinky has no lower body and is attached to a cybernetic wheel-chair, due to a teleportation accident while using the Ark ("He went to one galaxy, his ass went to another"). He is named for the Pinky Demon from the Doom games, which he eventually becomes near the end of the film (the transformation is not seen, but strongly implied). Reaper kills him at the end of the first-person shooter scene.

• Dr. Carmack (Robert Russell): The base's chief scientist, Carmack's unethical experimentations in genetic engineering ultimately lead to the death of everyone on Mars. The demon attack leaves him catatonic, and he ultimately transforms into a monster. An obvious reference to John Carmack of Id. While immobilized, Sarge shoots him in the head to put and end to Samantha Grimm's insistence that she should try to cure Carmack.
• Dr. Willits (Vladislav Dyntera): Another scientist who ultimately ends up altered and killed. An obvious reference to Tim Willits.
• Hell Knight/Curtis Stahl (Brian Steele): A psychopathic mass murderer experimented on by Dr. Carmack, he is transformed into the "Hell Knight" and proceeds to rampage through the base, turning the scientists into imps and zombies. Killed by Reaper during the First Person Shooter sequence.

Weapons

• BFGv3.14
• A Pistol given to Pinky (but not actually fired)
• An Assault Rifle which is a modified G36K Carbine

An Assault Rifle

• A Shotgun used by Goat
• A Chain gun used by Destroyer, then later used by Sarge
• A Huge Chainsaw used by the Hell Knight, then by Reaper against Pinky
• A Timed Mine (with a 10-second delay) used by Reaper.
• ST Grenade, a grenade given to Pinky, then used by Reaper to Blow up Sarge. It seems to have a similar effect as the BFG

Trivia

• In 2001, The Rock was heavily rumored to be playing the lead role in a movie based on another popular video game, Duke Nukem. However, that film, which was to be produced by Lawrence Kasanoff (producer of the Mortal Kombat movies) has been snagged by numerous delays and will likely not make it to the big screen.
• All the team's weaponry besides the chaingun (a heavily dressed up Browning Browning Model 1919 machine gun with a fake rotating barrel cluster surrounding the real firing barrel - in several firing scenes a careful eye will notice the barrels are not even rotating - and an irrelevant flexible aluminum chute usually used to feed M134/GAU-2 7.62mm x 51 NATO Miniguns), BFG, and The Rock's Desert Eagle are made by Magnum Research, Inc.; the rifles being dressed up G36Ks, and "The Kid's" SMG being a G36C with the folding stock removed. The handgun, shown in only a few scenes, is an HK USP.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
• Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software, was heavily involved in the movie's production and development from the very start. He reviewed the script that was used in the movie and approved it.
• One of the weapons present in the movie is an earlier model of the BFG9000; this weapon has been a trademark of the Doom series.
• In the movie Sarge uses the hand of a dead scientist called Patricia Tallman to get access to the BFG. Patricia Tallman is also the name of an actress that played the role as Lyta Alexander in the science fiction series Babylon 5. Her character played a key role as a telepathic weapon in fighting an enemy called the Shadows whose homeworld was Z'ha'dum (pronounced doom). She also appeared in the 1990 remake of "Night of the Living Dead".^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
• The tattoo on the Rock's back says SEMPER FI, a common Marine abbreviation of the Latin phrase (and motto of the United States Marine Corps) Semper fidelis, "Always Faithful".
• A Cacodemon was planned for, but ultimately cut from, the final film.
• A remixed version of the classic Doom theme was used in the first-person sequence.
• One of the Mars scientists are named Dr. Carmack, and another is named Dr. Willits, references to id Software staff John Carmack and Tim Willits.
• This is the only, as of 2006, R rated film that The Rock has starred in.
• The sound played when a door has been opened in the Doom games was used in this movie.
• A line uttered by Sarge near the end of the movie, "Last man standing, Reaper", may be a reference to the professional wrestling match type.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Wells also revealed that "we were all very concerned that we make sure that it was exactly the kind of experience that we [the crew] remembered so fondly from the game: turning the lights off at midnight, cranking it up and scaring the hell out of yourself!"

Wells further stated that there is a balance between CGI and prosthetics in the Doom movie, and he, for the first time as a producer, admitted that "we didn't wanna rely on the CGI. Those effects still haven't quite got to the level where you fully believe it - certainly not for long periods of time," and that the crew used Stan Winston's Creature Shop and that his work is only "enhanced with CGI." He also admitted that "if you rely too much on CGI it can look cheesy: it doesn't quite work. It'll get there, but it's not there yet."

Wells also stated that the crew insisted that the Doom movie be made into an R-rated movie and that he didn't "think it was possible to do a PG-13 version — and that's been the mistake made by a couple of other computer game movies," and that "a lot of studios that didn't want to do it. But we made a conscious decision that we'd prefer not to make it any other way."

Wells also revealed that if this first Doom film is successful, a second one could be made, and he revealed that "we certainly have some ideas for the next one, if there is gonna be one. We'll have to wait and see: the audience will have to tell us..."

According to the box office, the film made $56 million as a total for both overseas and North American release^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. The possibility of a sequel now depends on DVD sales.

Criticisms

• The origin of the "demons" is no longer Hell (nor is it implied that Hell itself exists), but rather genetic experiments. Many fans thought this was a cop-out and turned the film into "just another zombie movie".
• The idea of whether a test subject becomes a monster or evolves to a superhuman being (like Grimm) depends on whether he or she is genetically good or evil, and has been criticized as ludicrous.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}
• Iconic weaponry such as the BFG, chaingun and the chainsaw are not used much. The BFG fires only three shots (one of which is off camera), the chaingun fires for about 10 seconds in the movie, and the chainsaw is only used for one scene. A shotgun is only fired three times, and what appears to be a plasma rifle is never fired. The explosion of a BFG round also appeared more like a giant ball of corrosive energy rather than a massive green explosion, as in the games.
• The monsters themselves were inaccurate and/or sparse — it was expected the zombies would be carrying guns, the Imps and Hell Knights would throw balls of energy, and that the other monsters in the game would appear.
• Failure to capture the tense, scary, and foreboding atmosphere of the game Doom 3 (which the movie is supposedly loosely based on) and the run-and-gun action of the original game.
• Lead game designer John Romero (Doom, Doom II) did not receive a homage in the movie, unlike Carmack and Willits. This may be a deliberate slight directed at Romero and orchestrated by the current management of id Software.
• Some fans were also disappointed that the look and feel of the movie was based on the newer Doom 3 game, as opposed to the iconic look of the original Doom.
• When it was first announced that Hell would not be featured, it was widely hoped that at least some alternative dimension would have been featured. These hopes were dashed when it was revealed that the creatures were created from gene therapy.

Production history

The Doom movie logo.

• November 27 2003, Computer Gaming World printed an article on their website regarding the Doom movie. It states that Warner Brothers is indeed working on the Doom movie and has placed it on the fast track. A revised script was submitted to id Software and approved; John Wells (producer of ER) and Lorenzo Bonaventura (who introduced The Matrix to Warner Brothers) have signed on to work on the Doom movie. Concept art and storyboards have been drawn by Federico D'Alessandro, who has worked on various movies, music videos, and video game covers and advertisements.
• May 15 2004, the Associated Press (AP) released a news article regarding video game to movie adaptations that can be found here: [Hollywood Interest in Video Games Grows] that mentions the Doom movie. Here's an excerpt that mentions the Doom movie: "Soon, more blockbuster game franchises, such as Halo and Doom, are expected to become the basis of movies."
• June 2 2004, [Variety] reported that Warner Brothers has lost the rights to the Doom movie and Universal Studios has acquired rights to the Doom movie and Variety confirms that the Doom movie will be based on Doom 3.
• June 4 2004, [IMDb Pro] reported that Warner Brothers has lost the rights to the Doom movie and that Universal Studios has picked up the rights also that Enda McCallion has been signed on as the director.
• August 9 2004, A Doom 3 article in an issue of Time Magazine mentions that Universal is set to film the Doom movie in Prague in the winter of 2004-2005.
• August 15 2004, The Hollywood Reporter reported that John Wells Productions is currently in pre-production for the Doom movie.
• August 18 2004, a website, Box Office Prophets, made the Doom movie project their movie of the day and they list the release date for the Doom movie, August 5 2005. The article also confirms that Universal has Doom on a production schedule of Winter 2004-2005 in Prague's Barrandov Studios. The article can be found here: [Doom]. The planned release date was mentioned as August 5 2005.
• August 10 2004, The Hollywood Reporter released an article that mentioned release dates for 8 movies and the third movie listed was the Doom movie. It states that Doom will have a wide release on August 5 2005.
• September 15 2004, major news has been revealed by both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter on the Doom movie. Karl Urban has been cast for the Doom movie as the star, John Grimm, a leader of a special ops team. It has been revealed that he will dealing not only with alien demons but also the organization known as the United Aerospace Corp. that is responsible for the death of his parents. It has also been revealed that Enda McCallion has dropped out of the project and Polish director Andrzej Bartkowiak has signed on to be the director. It has also been revealed that production will start in Mid-October with a August 5 2005 release date. Also noted is that Universal Pictures is talking to The Rock regarding a role in the Doom movie.
• September 22 2004, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Universal Pictures has cast Rosamund Pike opposite of Karl Urban as a scientist named Samantha.^{[#endnote_04HollywoodR]}

Doom 2

Awards and nominations

One nomination:

• Worst Actor (The Rock)

Notes

External links

• [Official site]
• [}}}] at Rotten Tomatoes
• [}}}] at Box Office Mojo
• [Movie trailers]
• [Movie Trailer]
• [Doom @ the SoundtrackINFO project]
• [A report from Comic-Con with information from a panel of the cast and crew]
• [An Interview with Karl Urban about the film]
• [An Interview with Doom Executive Producer John Wells]
• [The Doug Jones Experience - behind the scenes]
• [The Doug Jones Experience - DOOM Journal]
• The Doom Wiki has an article about:

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