Doom

Based on the old-school video game, Doom follows several characters, including The Rock’s Sarge, Karl Urban’s Reaper, and Rosamund Pike’s Sam, as they attempt to make their way off a Mars research facility after its overrun by demons and monsters. Filmmaker Andrzej Bartkowiak, armed with a screenplay by David Callaham and Wesley Strick, delivers a disappointing adaptation that does, to an increasingly distressing extent, squander a relatively decent opening stretch, as the movie, in its early stages, boasts an intriguing sci-fi atmosphere that’s heightened by its impressive set design and small handful of compelling performances – with The Rock’s tough-as-nails turn standing as an obvious highlight within the proceedings. It’s clear, then, that Doom begins its slow-but-steady descent into tedium and irrelevance as it progresses into a violent yet hopelessly uninvolving midsection, with the emphasis generally placed on the far-from-fleshed-out characters’ dimly-lit exploits within the aforementioned research facility. (Bartkowiak’s inability to transform any of the picture’s periphery figures into sympathetic, compelling protagonists proves disastrous, to say the least.) And while there are a small handful of admittedly engrossing interludes, with this especially true of a short-lived first-person-perspective action sequence, Doom builds towards a thoroughly tiresome climactic battle that does little to alleviate the predominantly interminable atmosphere – with the end result a perpetually (and pervasively) misguided piece of work that could (and should) have been so much better.

*1/2 out of ****