Doom (2005 film)
Summary
A frantic call for help from a remote research station on Mars sends a team of mercenary Marines into action. Led by The Rock and Karl Urban, they descend into the Olduvai Research Station, where they find a legion of nightmarish creatures, lurking in the darkness, killing at will. Once there, the Marines must use an arsenal of firepower to carry out their mission: nothing gets out alive. Based on the hugely popular video game....
Due to changes made in the backstory for adaptation from the video game source material, this film have very little that might be considered "Lovecraftian", and may be of interest to Lovecraft fans only as a curiosity.
Details
- Release Date: 2005
- Country/Language: USA, English
- Genres/Technical: Science Fiction, Action/Adventure, Horror, Fantasy
- Runtime: 1 hour 45 min
- Starring: Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike, Dewayne "The Rock" Johnson
- Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak
- Writer: David "Dave" Callaham and Wesley Strick
- Production Co: John Wells Productions
- Film Website: (link)
Ratings
MPAA Ratings
- Rated: R (Violence, Brief Nudity, Profanity)
The profanity would probably be the only thing that pushes the rating to an "R" - the violence, blood, and gore are about as cartoonish as the 1990s classic video game, and the "nudity" is limited to a pin-up poster in the background of one or two scenes. Still, this movie is stuck in an uncomfortable grey area: a little too adult for children, perhaps a little too juvenile for adults....
Tentacle Ratings
A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:
- s____ (One half Tentacle: Debateably Lovecraftian; has almost no direct connection to Lovecraft's work)
The video game's vaguely Lovecraftian mix of hellish magic and folklore with science fiction was mostly lost in translation to film, where the "demons" are instead a legion of scientists mutated by a science experiment and controlled by a computer run amok.
Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.
Reviews
Review Links:
- Ywhateley: 2/5 stars - Doom is not a particularly good film (about par for the course for a "SyFy Channel film"), nor is it a very faithful adaptation of the vaguely Lovecraftian classic video game; this movie is stuck in an uncomfortable grey area: a little too adult for children, perhaps a little too juvenile for adults. This film have very little that might be considered "Lovecraftian", and may be of interest to Lovecraft fans only as a curiosity.
Synopsis
Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)
Following a laboratory accident, something has gone wrong at a remote scientific research station on Mars: all communication has failed, and the messages that do get through are less than comforting. Mars is quarantined, and the only souls allowed in or out are the Rapid Response Tactical Squad: a special military unit armed to the teeth with enough firepower to neutralize the enemy - an out-of-control supercomputer and hundreds of mutant, flesh-eating scientists - or so they think.
Comments, Trivia, Dedication
- The closing credits include a song by Nine Inch Nails, who provided music for the video game spiritual remake/sequel to Doom, Quake; Quake contains more explicit references to the "Cthulhu Mythos" (including the "boss" monsters named Cthon and Shub-Niggurath).
Associated Mythos Elements
Keeper Notes
External links, See Also
- DOOM franchise
