DOOM: A Failed Adaptation

Movie adaptations are always a tricky thing to do. You have fans that hate any minor change and will loathe the movie if it even fails slightly. Even to the non-picky watcher, there is hardly a good movie adaptation of a book. Video game movie adaptations have a much higher fail rate than books do.

So when I saw DOOM (released in 2005) for the first time all I was asking for was a good time. A space marine going into Hell and battling demons. The games (of which I and II are a big part of my childhood) didn't have a plot. Everything in the game was an excuse to have to kill things.

So the adaptation having a plot wasn't something that I needed. But it would be a good bonus.

The movie failed at the basic premise of DOOM. While the location was Mars, there were gates that took you between worlds, and there were space marines: there was not much of the game in the movie other than that.

The plot didn't involve demons but, instead, an extra chromosome turning people into either super powerful good guys or deformed super powerful bad guys. The science being wrong didn't bother me as I sort of like science mumbojumbo in my sci-fi movies. What bothered me was that it meant there were no demons.

Part of the movie being on Mars wouldn't be a big deal as seeing how the Space Marine got into Hell isn't a problem. It's not like that backstory would destroy a movie adaptation of the game. But having it all take place on Mars means it takes away from the location of the games!

Yes, the show Elementary takes the location from London to New York but it is one of many updates that manages to still keep the show true to the original stories. Such as the main character is STILL Sherlock Holmes who is STILL a genius detective and STILL has trouble forming relationships with other people.

So Elementary changes the location while still paying respects to the heart of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories (and even has one episode where Sherlock and Watson go to London) but the DOOM movie changes location and it just adds to its not understanding the game series.

Even though the DOOM movie is a horrible adaptation, I enjoy it. If it wasn't supposed to be an adaptation of the game series I wouldn't complain. It has the cheesiness that I love.

Plus, it introduced me to an actor I now love: Karl Urban!

Doom (Unrated Widescreen Edition)