Doom (2005)

Elevator Pitch: When things go wrong at an archaeological dig under the surface of Mars a team of marines are dispatched and go to the facility using a transporter, The Arc, built by the dead race who had inhabited the planet. The marines are tasked to make the facility safe, and prevent the misuse of the Arc, which they attempt with the help of Prof Samantha Grimm. The guys get into the subsurface tunnels and are gradually picked off by the monsters there-in, who are the result of experiments using Martian science. Some become monsters themselves. But it seems that others might develop the superpowers which are the objective of the experiments. Can the monster get to earth?

Content: IMDb says that one version contains female nudity, but there is no sex or drinking and just a couple of pills popped. We see the marines relaxing before being called out. Their leader shouts a lot at his team and there is conflict between him and others. In the tunnels the creatures, who we find used to be human attack them, and there is gunfire. There is a laboratory where the scientist dissects dead monsters, very gory. The Arc is very big and shiny. The use of a door, which can be transparent or solid, is clever. There is an FPS (first person shooter) sequence, but for the benefit of non-gamers it is not too long.

A View: It was not much liked by the critics and did not make any money. Dwayne Johnson won a Razzie. It did not make any money on general release but the DVD, featuring uncut segments seems to have been successful. It employed a couple of well known themes, the turning of men into monsters and the infection of others and the prevention of the virus getting to earth. But not absolutely awful for all that. Once you have seen all the other shoot’em ups you might turn to it.

Additional info: The producers wanted Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg to polish the script, but they declined.