Video games and movies have over the years been getting closer and closer to one another with games more emulating movies and movies dipping into the gaming pot for the next big-budgeted Hollywood movie. Usually the resulting movies are sub-par efforts that offer little in the way of enjoyment. Doom, the classic series that helped create the "first person shooter" genre in gaming, makes the leap to the big screen and while it's one Hell of a retarded movie, it still manages to be a pretty entertainingly dumb timewaster.

Wrestler turned wannabe action movie star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson heads up the cast as the leader of a group of soldiers who are sent off to a science facility on the planet Mars when there's reports of scientists turning up dead. Brought in to contain the problem and to avoid any panic the group of heavily armed military men (who also team-up with surviving doctor Rosamund Pike) soon find themselves the targets of multiple demonic creatures who have escaped from a nearby excavation dig and proceeded to infect their victims - in turn making them into bloodlusting beasts.

More akin to last year's Doom 3 than the others two entries in the popular series, this captures the atmosphere, setting, and general mood of the game extremely well by packing the cast into numerous dark, metal tunnels that are oozing steam while everyone goes through the motions of jerkily jumping around corners hoping there's not a demon there to rip their head off. But that's about the extent of the plotting you're going to get, and eventually it does mange to get a little tiring as there's plenty of "false scares" before they trot out the thing fans of the games are waiting for: that is plenty of gunfire and a few dismemberments by decent looking monsters.

Speaking of scripting, writers David Callahan and Wesley Strick take liberties with the slender premise they were given by not even mentioning the "Gateway to Hell" of the games instead playing it safe by trying to explain the mutations as the result of the discovery of a twenty-fourth chromosome that brings out the evil within a person's "soul". It's ridiculous stuff like that, and the lame ass finale that includes an outright wrestling match between Johnson and co-star Karl Urban (who actually does pretty good) that brings Doom down.

However, there's enough loud, quick paced action scenes to keep you interested and director Andrzej Bartkowiak (who directed a handful of action movies such as the Steven Segal starring Exit Wounds before this) keeps things going at a decent clip, plus the creature effects are pleasingly done pretty much "old school" as CGI is given the backseat to more practical methods - a choice that makes the movie feel even more like the video game it's based on.

The most talked about scene in the movie that's shot from Urban's perspective (a homage and emulation of the games) is pretty cool when it shows-up and works well, but it unfortunately runs on about five minutes longer than it should and gets tiring.

Doom is not a smart movie, you will not want to watch it for a well thought-out story or intelligent dialogue, but if you're looking for a lumberingly dumb, obnoxiously loud, and grue packed horror-actioner then you could do worse (although with repeat viewings this begins to show its crappiness).

Review based on unrated version, which contains thirteen more minutes than the 100 minute theatrical cut - though I'll be damned if I know what exactly... (Chris Hartley, 10/30/05 - DVD, 2/26/06)

Directed By: Andrzej Bartkowiak.
Written By: David Callahan, Wesley Strick.

Starring: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike, Deobia Oparei.

Picture Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: Doom is a whole lotta darkness as the entire movie is bathed in black, good thing then that Universal's disc manages to handle it decently. For a movie that's pretty new, however, the transfer here isn't quite as sharp as expected but it is grain free and overall solid looking.

Extras: Apart from the fact it contains those additional minutes, Doom as a DVD is somewhat lacking.

If you own an Xbox you get the demo for Doom 3 included, which is pretty cool since the game is pretty kick-ass (and cheap now, so get it if you don't have already!), but there's also a featurette on the casts "basic training" (where they are taught to think like the mercenaries they play), a brief look at The Rock's make-up effects entitled "Rock Formation" (ho ho!), a featurette focusing on the first-person sequence from the movie, a pointless "Game On!" snippet giving you tips on playing the game, and "Doom Nation" which manages to be the only real thing worthwhile here as it focuses on the history of the games.