'Doom: Annihilation' (2019)

Years ago, I was in CEX and saw a DVD of 'Doom' selling for the grand sum of 25p. 'I can't go too far wrong for 25p' I naively thought to myself, 'even if it's rubbish, I'll have only lost 25p on the deal...'

Reader, I couldn't have been more wrong. When I look back on the things that I wasted money on in the past (and there are a few) that 25p purchase ranks as one of my worst. If you've seen the film, you'll know exactly what I mean.

And yet I spent far too many summers, as a kid, playing 'Doom' (the totally pixellated version, I'm old...) to pass up the chance to watch another 'Doom' movie. I can't help myself. I'd caught half a glance of the trailers for 'Doom: Annihilation', sometime last year, and just knew I'd be watching it sooner or later. It also didn't hurt that it already looked a lot better than the first 'Doom' movie.

I watched 'Doom: Annihilation' last night and am pleased to say that it's a hell of a lot better than the first one. That's a hell of a low bar to hurdle though, so don't expect too much from it...

We all know what 'Doom' is about, don't we? If you don't, this copy and pasted blurb is full of spoilers...

On the darkest moon of Mars, scientists have found an ancient portal which allows teleportation throughout the universe. Considered to be mankind’s greatest discovery, it’s actually a gateway from hell, unleashing a swarm of demons looking to steal the souls of everyone who gets in their way. It’s up to Lieutenant Joan Dark and an elite unit of Marines to destroy an every-growing horde of bloodsucking and soul-stealing beasts and to prevent them from taking over planet earth.

Much like its predecessor, 'Doom: Annihilation' keeps things simple and fairly faithful to the computer game. Unlike it's predecessor, 'Doom: Annihilation' goes one better by going completely back to basics and stripping out any unneccessary story at all. That's a big win in my book as we immediately have more time for what we came for, loads of creeping through corridors etc and wondering if there's anything evil waiting round the corner. The jump scares are signposted a little too obviously to be particularly scary but the ensuing action more than makes up for it. Nice little nods as well to my own 'Doom Weapons of Choice', the chainsaw and the shotgun :o)

I really appreciated the honesty that 'Doom: Annihilation' brings to the screen; it's nothing more or less than it says it is and that leaves someone like me more able to sit down and enjoy the film on it's own terms. The only things that let it down, slightly for me, were the '15' rating (how can it be properly 'Doom' if you can't see what you're chainsawing?) and the accompanying budget of a nineties sci-fi TV show. It's fair to say that 'Doom: Annihilation' doesn't look as smooth and as polished as it could have done...

Despite that though, 'Doom: Annihilation' is an enjoyable way to kill an hour and a half and a little reminder that sometimes, you don't have to reinvent the wheel to make a fun movie; just stick with the source material and you'll be fine ;o)