Major Video Game Franchise Needs A Movie Do-Over
If you grew up playing Doom and its sequels on your PC, then it’s safe to say that you were completely dissatisfied with the movie adaptations that came in the form of 2005’s Doom and 2019’s Doom: Annihilation. Rife with junk science, unnecessary exposition, and, in the case of the 2005 film, Dwayne Johnson trying to be the bad guy, these film adaptations all but tarnished the legacy that id Software established in 1993 with their genre-defining first-person shooter. I think it’s about time that we get a film that’s more faithful to the source material and gives fans of the video game series exactly what they want.
What fans of the classic video game want can be summed up with a quote from Frank Reynolds from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: “So anyway, I started blasting.”
Doom Is Supposed To Be Simple
The plot across the entire Doom franchise is so mind-numbingly simple that an insane backstory is not needed to successfully adapt it into a movie. In the original games, the plot was barely integrated into the gameplay and was mostly found within the instruction manuals to give players just a small taste of exposition.
Doom’s First Film Bombed
2005’s ill-fated Doom movie introduced too many characters, placed too much emphasis on establishing a somewhat functional backstory, and, aside from the expertly choreographed sequence that was entirely filmed from a first-person perspective, really didn’t have a ton of action.
The Doom Slayer
The Doom video games, unlike the movies, have plots that can be explained in just a couple of sentences. In the games, an unnamed protagonist referred to as “Doomguy” (or Doom Slayer) is tasked with eliminating a number of demons and zombified humans that have taken over the military bases stationed on Mars and its two moons, Phobos and Deimos.
The latter moon opens a gateway to Hell, and Doomguy arms himself to the teeth with advanced weaponry in order to eliminate the monsters that await him at the various military bases he has to breach and neutralize in order to save Earth from certain destruction.
Rip And Tear
While I understand that filmmakers may feel a need to tell a complex story that shouldn’t exist in a Doom-inspired movie, I think it can be pulled off if inspiration is drawn from recent films that focus more on showing rather than telling. Mad Max: Fury Road, Monkey Man, and the John Wick movies are massively successful intellectual properties that boast simple linear storytelling and amazing fight sequences involving game-changing special effects and choreography.
In other words, place Doomguy on Mars, open the gateway to Hell and let it rip.
Constantly Moving Forward
The “narrative” in a Doom movie can easily be integrated through the use of visual queues– like computer screens found throughout the military bases– explaining what’s at stake. As Doomguy moves forward with his mission, he can power up with experimental substances that activate “God Mode,” making him temporarily invincible. And if you really want to get nuts, the concept of a speed run can even be folded into the storytelling if unknown outside forces are manipulating space and time.
Doom Deserves A New Movie That Is All Action
I want to see a Doom movie that focuses heavily on the action depicted in video games. Given the current trend of action heroes simply fighting for survival or revenge (or both), I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility for one of the best video game series of all time to get a similar treatment on the cinematic front.
