In defense of Doom (the movie)

In defense of Doom (the movie) | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these Gaming Industry Doom co-creator John Romero adores Ghost Recon and has over 3,000 hours in World of Warcraft: ‘God, I lived in that game every day for five years’ FPS Hellscreen, the FPS with a rear-view mirror, has left Steam early access two episodes short of its original plan: ‘This is a bittersweet experience for me’ Third Person Shooter Helldivers 2’s siege of Cyberstan is the greatest galactic campaign the game has seen so far Action Ubisoft made another Avatar game the world has forgotten about, so I opened Pandora’s boxed copy and dropped into the jungle FPS High on Life 2 review Horror Reanimal review: Astonishingly bleak and oblique survival horror RPG Warhammer 40k: Dark Heresy might just have everything I want from a CRPG FPS This wild Doom 2 mod that blends World War 1 combat with a vicious holy war just unleashed a gnarly prequel campaign where you assault a mountain riddled with heretics FPS Highguard review Adventure Pathologic 3 review: One of the most compelling mystery adventures since Disco Elysium Games Helldivers 2’s new explosive hammer is the most dumb fun I’ve had in ages FPS Finally, the FPS I keep asking for: Deep combat, classic modes, and an honest-to-god server browser Card Game Death Howl review: A brilliantly abrasive hybrid of deckbuilder and soulslike FPS Duke Nukem 3D’s upgraded and remastered World Tour Edition may not be perfect, but when it’s this close to free, it’s a no-brainer pick-up Resident Evil Resident Evil: Revelations 2 was overlooked, but it was great survival horror PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!Arc RaidersBest PC gearFalloutGame Quizzes Movies & TV Doom In defense of Doom (the movie) Features By Jody Macgregor published 22 February 2026 Eat leaden death, demon. Or alien. Or whatever. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Universal Pictures) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 2 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter PC Gamer Get the PC Gamer Newsletter Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday GamesRadar+ Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you’re going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Signup + Every Thursday GTA 6 O’clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O’clock experts. Signup + Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what’s on the horizon. Signup + Every Thursday The Setup Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more. Signup + Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo’s new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play. Signup + Every Saturday The Watchlist Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Doom the movie has a rating of 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, which puts it on the same tier as Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and the Assassin’s Creed movie. Which is unfair. Assassin’s Creed was terrible because it thought it was clever, drily dumping conspiracy theory-history with a straight face, while Doom was gleefully dumb, the kind of action-horror movie where people say “motherfucker” then do something cool—one of those ideal four-beer shout-at-the-screen experiences.The way the doomed marines are introduced is a classic of the form. You’re used to this kind of scene from Aliens (Bishop playing stabscotch) and Predator (Blaine insisting that chewing tobacco will make you “a goddamn sexual tyrannosaurus”), though I have a soft spot for the one in Top Secret! where the French Resistance are introduced holding increasingly ridiculous weapons, including a straight-up cannon.Doom’s not as over-the-top as that, but it’s close. Sarge (Dwayne Johnson when he was still being credited as The Rock) is introduced shirtless, because why waste time getting to what we want to see? The group sleazebag Portman is so greasy his hair looks like it repels water, the religious Goat reads a Bible and catches fruit without looking—someone has to catch something without looking up in these scenes so you know they’re cool—and Duke plays a Futuretronics Galaxian 2 to remind you videogames exist. Related articles Doom: The Dark Ages, the superior sequel in the rebooted FPS series (sorry, not sorry, Eternal), is now 67% off thanks to id Software’s 35th anniversary celebration I watched Markiplier play Iron Lung for 45 minutes before watching Markiplier star in the Iron Lung movie for 2+ hours. Which was better? Cultic review: One of 2025’s best singleplayer shooters This scene tells you exactly the kind of movie you’re about to watch—one that’s so indebted to Aliens it’s still paying off the loan, but willing to have more fun with the form than any of the Alien movies since.While Mac and Destroyer play baseball with fruit, the Kid cleans up and watches wide-eyed so you know he’s at the bottom of the heap. The Kid could not be more doomed if he was only one tour away from retirement and also about to get married. Finally there’s Reaper (Karl Urban unaware he’s auditioning for Dredd), who cleans his weapons conscie