Doom (2005)

Something has gone wrong at a remote scientific research station on Mars. All research has ceased but hilarity ensues. Communication has failed. And the messages that do get through are less than comforting. It's a level 5 quarantine and the only souls allowed in or out are the Rapid Response Tactical Squad - hardened Marines armed to the teeth with enough firepower to neutralize the enemy...or so they think.

Trivia: The names of scientists Dr. Todd Carmack and Dr. Willits are references to Todd Hollenshead, John Carmack and Tim Willits, co-owners of id Software, and developers of the Doom game and its sequels, including Doom3 upon which this movie is based. The character of Sarge (played by The Rock) is homage to Master Sergeant Thomas Kelly, one of the main characters from the video game Doom3. The Rock was offered the lead role of John Grimm, but chose the role of Sarge because he thought it was more interesting. The locker the BFG is stored is designated IDKFA. This is the in-game cheat code that will give the player full weapons and ammo. The film's setting is an archaeological dig at "Olduvai" on Mars. Earth's Olduvai Gorge contains some of the earliest human and hominid (pre-human) remains and artifacts. This was the setting for the opening scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Okay, so I was in the mood for a good old fashioned just blow sh** up movie so along comes Doom. You would think that a movie based on a video game is probably going to be rather thin on plot and you would be absolutely right in this case. But you wouldn't have picked this one up if you were looking for a Quentin Tarantino or Kevin Smith style movie, you would pick this movie to watch them blow sh** up. I have played Doom, but I haven't played Doom3 which is more plot driven then the first two, so I know the general gist of the movie and can mostly identify the monsters. The special effects far out shine the plot which is pretty easy to follow an makes you feel like you are waiting for the smart girl scientist to catch up with you. Did I mention they blow sh** up? There is a sequence near the end where the movie goes into a first person shooter point of view, this was actually the funniest part of the movie. The Doom games are all first person shooter games meaning that you see what the main character sees, you are him, all you see is the barrel of your gun and the monsters running toward you. Oh, and they blow sh** up.