Doom (film)

Doom
Film poster
Directed by	Andrzej Bartkowiak
Produced by	Lorenzo di Bonaventura Laura Holstein John D. Schofield Jeremy Steckler John Wells (Executive Producer) id Software
Written by	David Callaham Wesley Strick
Starring	Karl Urban Rosamund Pike Raz Adoti Dwayne Johnson
Music by	Clint Mansell
Cinematography	Tony Pierce-Roberts
Editing by	Derek Brechin
Distributed by	Universal Pictures (North America) United International Pictures (Outside North America)
Release date(s)	October 20, 2005 (2005-10-20) (Greece & Israel) October 21, 2005 (2005-10-21) (Canada & United States) October 27, 2005 (2005-10-27) (Australia & New Zealand) December 2, 2005 (2005-12-02) (United Kingdom) April 1, 2006 (2006-04-01) (Japan)
Running time	100 minutes 113 minutes (Unrated Version)
Country	United States Czech Republic Germany United Kingdom
Language	English Japanese
Budget	$60,000,000[1]
Box office	$55,987,321[2]

Doom is a 2005 science fiction horror film, loosely based on the Doom series of video games created by id Software. It was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak.

After option deals with Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures expired,^[3] id Software signed a deal with Warner Bros. with the stipulation that the movie will be done greenlit within 12 months.^[4] Warner Bros. lost the rights, which were subsequently given back to Universal Pictures who started production in 2004.

In an interview with executive producer John Wells, he stated that a second film would be put into production if the first was a success at the box office.^[5] Ticket sales for the opening weekend totaled more than US$15.3 million, but promptly dropped to $4.2 million in its second weekend and the story for a sequel was never written.

Plot

On Mars in the year 2046, in the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) Olduvai Research Facility, scientists are attacked and pulled into the darkness by an unseen monster. Doctor Carmack (Robert Russell) transmits a warning about a Level 5 security breach before the door behind him is torn open. He turns around and sees something through the gap.

On Earth, a team of eight Marines - (Sarge, Reaper, Duke, Destroyer, The Kid, Portman, Goat and Mac) known as the RRTS (Rapid Response Tactical Squad) are preparing to go on leave. Their leave is cancelled when the squad leader, Sarge (Dwayne Johnson), receives new orders. Contact with Olduvai has been lost and the RRTS is being sent to investigate. The Mars station is quarantined and the 85 UAC employees on Mars are not allowed to return to Earth. As the men suit up, Sarge pulls aside John "Reaper" Grimm (Karl Urban) and asks him not to go because Reaper's sister is on the station. Reaper suits up anyway, and their team is deployed to Mars via a teleportation device called the "Ark", located at Area 51. The Ark was discovered in 2026, and scientists have been studying it. The team meets an early victim of the Ark system, Pinky (Dexter Fletcher), who "went to one galaxy while his ass went to another" during an Ark teleportation event (his lower torso is now a two-wheeled engine resembling a Segway). They meet up with Dr. Samantha Grimm (Rosamund Pike), Reaper's sister.

Their mission is simple: eliminate the threat, secure the facility and retrieve UAC property. Reaper converses with his sister and learns that they discovered humanoid remains on Mars, which unlike humans have an extra chromosome pair which granted them invulnerablity to disease as well as advanced cellular regeneration. The team locates Carmack, who has gone mad to the point of tearing off his own ear. They return him to the lab and Grimm tries sedating him. The Marines explore the facility, encountering creatures intent on killing them. An Imp slays Goat (Ben Daniels) before being killed by Reaper and brought to Dr. Grimm. Blood samples taken from two hostile creatures reveal that they were human. Dr. Grimm determines that their genetics have been altered by the addition of the Martian chromosome; however, the chromosome seems to "choose" whether it causes the person to be superhuman or a monster, apparently able to determine on a genetic level whether a person has the capacity to be evil. The chromosome is spread by the ovipositors of those infected. The Marines discover that Carmack deliberately injected the chromosome into an "evil" subject (prisoner Curtis Stahl, a multiple murderer), who later transformed and broke loose.

Multiple attacks by the Hell Knight monster kill Mac, Destroyer and Portman, reducing the squad to Sarge, Reaper, The Kid (Al Weaver), and Duke (Raz Adoti). The surviving team realize that the Hell Knight has escaped through the Ark to the Earth due to Pinky's refusal to trigger a grenade Mac left with him to destroy the Ark. Sarge takes the Bio Force Gun, dubbing it the "Big Fucking Gun."

The group finds the UAC facility on Earth full of corpses. Sarge orders his men to kill anything alive in order to prevent the infection from spreading. The Kid finds a group of non-infected humans, and Sarge kills him for insubordination when he refuses to kill them. Pinky reappears, aiming a pistol at Sarge, but is dragged off by the Hell Knight.

Zombies attack, killing Duke and dragging Sarge through a malfunctioning bulletproof screen. Reaper is hit by a ricochet. To save his life, Dr. Grimm injects Reaper with Chomosome 24. Instead of becoming a monster, Reaper awakens as a superhuman with enhanced strength and healing abilities.

Following Reaper's transformation and the discovery that Dr. Grimm is missing, the movie takes on a first-person shooter perspective. Within a few minutes, Reaper slays an array of monsters, including the Hell Knight and Pinky, who has mutated into a Demon.

Switching back to a standard camera angle, Reaper emerges at the facility's exit. Bodies are scattered everywhere, and a melted blue hole in the wall, the mark of a BFG blast, is still cooling. Reaper encounters Sarge and an unconscious Samantha lying on the floor. Asked what happened to the non-infected survivors, Sarge replies that he "took care of that problem"- he has killed them. Reaper notices the same injury on Sarge that Carmack had before he turned into an Imp, something Sarge has been hiding. After spending their last ammunition- Reaper's half of a magazine and Sarge's one round in the BFG, the two Marines battle hand to hand. As he pins Reaper against a wall, Sarge begins transforming, developing features such as a prominent skull structure, sharp teeth and white eyes. Reaper throws Sarge into the Ark, followed by a grenade. Sarge and the Ark are obliterated. Reaper retrieves Dr. Grimm, who is conscious but unable to walk, and holds her in his arms as he returns to the Earth's surface.

Cast

The main Marine cast
From left to right: The Kid, Duke, Destroyer, Portman, Sarge, Reaper, Mac, Goat

• Karl Urban as Staff Sergeant John "Reaper" Grimm: Grimm is the son of UAC scientists who were killed in an accident during the early excavation of a Martian dig site. He abandoned his scientific heritage and joined the military to forget about this personal disaster. He is the twin brother (younger by two minutes) of Dr. Samantha Grimm.
• Rosamund Pike as Dr. Samantha Grimm: A scientist on Mars, and John Grimm's twin sister.
• Deobia Oparei as Sergeant Roark "Destroyer" Gannon: The heavy weapons specialist of the squad. His best friend is Duke.
• Ben Daniels as Corporal Eric "Goat" Fantom: A senior member of the squad. Fiercely religious, he is prone to quoting scripture and performing acts of self-harm in response to his own sins.
• Raz Adoti as Sergeant Gregory "Duke" Schofield: Sergeant Schofield is obsessed with two things - girls and games. He is the best friend of Destroyer.
• Richard Brake as Corporal Dean Portman: Portman is amoral, and frequently voices his inner thoughts and desires.
• Al Weaver as Private Mark "The Kid" Dantalian: The youngest member of the squad, on his first mission.
• Dexter Fletcher as Marcus "Pinky" Pinzerowski : A technician on Mars assigned to coordinate the squad's communications.
• Brian Steele as Hell Knight (Baron of Hell)/Curtis Stahl.
• Dwayne Johnson as Gunnery Sergeant Asher "Sarge" Mahonin: The leader of the squad.
• Yao Chin as Private First Class Katsuhiko Kumanosuke "Mac" Takahashi: The squad's technical expert, he left university to join RRTS.
• Robert Russell as Dr. Todd Carmack: The base's chief scientist.
• Daniel York as Lieutenant Hunegs: The leader of Mars security.
• Ian Hughes as Sanford Crosby, UAC's public relations representative.
• Sara Houghton as Dr. Jenna Willits: Dr. Willits' wife.
• Vladislav Dyntera as Dr. Steve Willits: Another scientist.
• Doug Jones as Carmack Imp and Sewer Imp: Dr. Carmack in his transformed state. He also portrayed the Imp encountered within the sewers.

Production

The film's producer, John Wells, admitted in an interview that "many" video game movie adaptations had "sucked." He revealed that the crew was able to get "a lot of financial support from Universal" and that it wasn't "done on the cheap." Wells also revealed that the Doom movie would have a sequence shot in a first-person perspective because "Doom without that would be a miscarriage of justice!"

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 has 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 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 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 ..."

One of the most noteworthy aspects of the film is a short sequence near the end of the film where the camera follows the progress of Grimm from a first-person perspective in homage to the original game. 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."

"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!"^[6]

Production history

• November 27, 2003 — Computer Gaming World printed an article on their website regarding the Doom movie. It states that Warner Bros. 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 di Bonaventura (who introduced The Matrix to Warner Bros.) 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 mentions the Doom movie.^[7] 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 Bros. has lost the rights to Doom and Universal Studios has acquired rights to Doom and Variety confirms that Doom will be based on Doom 3.^[8]
• 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 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.
• 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.^[9] The planned release date was mentioned as 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 an October 21, 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.^[10]

Reception

Doom received mostly negative reviews by critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 19% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 128 reviews. Roger Ebert says, "Doom is like some kid came over and is using your computer and won't let you play."^[11] Richard Roeper has also stated, "The performances are awful, the action sequences are impossible to follow, the violence is gratuitous, the lighting is bad and I have my doubts that the catering truck was even up to snuff on this project." One apparently good review came from Richard James Havis from The Hollywood Reporter, stating, "There's so little to go wrong that those who like their entertainment mindless and violent will find little fault." In 2009, Time listed the film on their list of top ten worst video games movies.^[12]

The response from fans of the video game was mixed. Many expressed disappointment because the film did not follow the plot of the game, as the games dealt with an invasion from hell instead of a virus, and over the movie's failure to reproduce the game's most essential quality: the killing of large numbers of enemies. It did well on its opening weekend, taking in $15.5 million. However, it quickly dropped in its second week in theaters and the final gross of the film was only $28.2 million domestically and almost $56 million worldwide, with a budget of $60 million. Dwayne Johnson was nominated for a Razzie Award as Worst Actor.

Home media

Doom was released on Blu-ray Disc on February 10, 2009.^[13]

Soundtrack

The film's score was composed by Clint Mansell. A remix of the Nine Inch Nails song You Know What You Are? appears at the beginning of the first person shooter ending credits. Switchback by Celldweller was used in the trailer.

See also

• List of films based on video games

References

1. ^ "Doom (2005)". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=doom.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-30. 
2. ^ "Doom (2005)". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=doom.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-30. 
3. ^ "Interview with id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead (page one)". Tom's Games. http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2005/12/03/id_software/. Retrieved June 25, 2008. 
4. ^ "Interview with id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead (page two)". Tom's Games. http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2005/12/03/id_software/page2.html. Retrieved June 25, 2008. 
5. ^ http://www.slasherama.biz/features/doom.HTML^{[dead link]}
6. ^ "Interview with Karl Urban". Empire Online. http://www.upcominghorrormovies.com/movies/doom.php. Retrieved February 25, 2007. 
7. ^ Hollywood Interest in Video Games Grows
8. ^ Variety
9. ^ Doom
10. ^ "'Doom's' day for Pike with Universal Pics". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/film/brief_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000633884. 
11. ^ "Doom". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051020/REVIEWS/51012003/1023. 
12. ^ "Top 10 Worst Video Game Movies". Time Magazine. October 20, 2008. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1851626_1851846_1851702,00.html. Retrieved 2009-04-25. 
13. ^ "Universal to Bring "Doom" to Blu-ray this February". http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Universal/Disc_Announcements/Universal_to_Bring_Doom_to_Blu-ray_this_February/2289. Retrieved 30 November2008. 

External links

• Doom
• Doom at AllRovi
• Doom at the Internet Movie Database
• Doom at Metacritic
• Doom at Rotten Tomatoes