DOOM: ANNIHILATION (2019)

A group of UAC Marines are tasted with answering a distress call from a secret base on Phobos, one of Mars’ moons.  Thus, begins the latest film adaption DOOM: ANNIHILATION (2019) of the popular video game.  Although this film takes inspiration from the video games it has nothing to do with the previous live action film of 2005 and instead goes on a different path. Joan Dark (Amy Manson) is one of these Marines who must learn the nature of the secret military base once they arrive and realize that they cannot communicate with any of the staff or personnel.  They don’t have much time as they soon learn that they base is set to self-destruct if they can’t get everything back online in time.

To make matters worse is the fact there is something else on the base with them that wants to kill everything it comes into contact with.  Like Most films of this type, it borrows heavily from Aliens (1986) while also making sure audiences who enjoy the game also get what they are expecting.  Manson does a great job bringing her A-Action Game for this film as I was constantly reminded of actress Millia Jovovich in the Resident Evil films especially when the creatures reveal themselves.

There are many hokey elements to the film, but they actually add to the overall entertainment of the proceedings especially if you’re a fan of the video game and know what you’re getting into from the start.  Writer/director Tony Giglio is obviously a fan of the game and wants audiences to become one soon after watching his film. 

The visual FX are really good, and the production design is excellent making for a highly enjoyable film despite the clichés that come with this genre of film and its low expectations.  Video game adaptations are not usually films that audiences really lavish much attention to but this version of the game is far superior to the previous and opens the door for future sequels.  Doom: Annihilation may not be the best film adapted from a video game but its certainly one of the better ones.