As Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson throws shade at the live-action Doom movie, the franchise has bitten back and called out the Hollywood star on his criticisms.
Fitting neatly into the whole “video game to movie curse” trope, Andrzej Bartkowiak’s Doom is largely regarded as a dismal adaptation and a box office bomb. Apparently, cashing in on the success of 1993’s groundbreaking game wasn’t that easy to do, and even the star power of Johnson, Karl Urban, and Rosamund Pike couldn’t save Doom from the depths of hell.
Johnson recently admitted Doom was a failure and has continued his tirade on social media when praising Rampage over Bartkowiak’s movie. Somone behind the Doom Twitter account was clearly rattled and decided to post their own response:
Fan responses were mixed, but most agree that Johnson has been suitably read for what he said. There were also plenty of comments supporting Doom as an underappreciated movie that gets an unfair reputation in the industry. Ironically, Doom’s response mirrors Merriam-Wesbsters’ sassy reply to Neil deGrasse Tyson’s rant from April 12.
While Johnson’s catalog has some great movies including Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, The Fast and the Furious franchise, and the recent box office success of Rampage, the likes of last year’s Baywatch and Doom aren’t as fondly remembered. With little storyline, awful CGI, and even more questionable acting, Doom was “doomed” and is up there with other video game adaptations as House of The Dead and Bloodrayne.
Rampage is currently the highest-rated video game movie on Rotten Tomatoes at 50% compared to Doom’s 19%, but is this enough for Johnson to gloat about? Only just nudging ahead of Roar Uthaug’s Tomb Raider’s 49%, Rampage’s figures continue to rise, and with an audience score currently sitting pretty at 80%, at least 2018 seems to be a better year for video game adaptations. With The Rock continuing his Midas touch after Jumanji, the 45-year-old seems confident that the Rampage can break the curse.
Thankfully, Doom has managed to claw its way back thanks to 2016’s rebooted game series. Alongside a PS4 Pro and Xbox One X update, Doom made its way over to Nintendo with its own Switch port, meaning there is plenty to celebrate for the gaming franchise. With a second game possibly coming to this year’s E3, it looks like the Doom brand is finally able to bury the skeleton if its big screen outing - even if Johnson keeps bringing it up. Who knows, if Universal ever fancies tackling a gritty reboot, maybe Johnson could return to the series and give Doom the movie it deserves?
More: Announced Video Game Movies We’re Still Waiting On
Source: Doom, Merriam Webster
