Movie Reviews

Movie Review: “Doors” Tries To Emulate “2001: A Space Odyssey” But Fails Miserably


 

Without warning, millions of mysterious alien “doors” suddenly appear around the globe. In a rush to determine the reason for their arrival, mankind must work together to understand the purpose of these cosmic anomalies. Bizarre incidences occurring around the sentient doors lead humanity to question their own existence and an altered reality as they attempt to enter them.

The filmmakers behind the new sci-fi thriller “Doors,” obviously set out to make the movie as bizarre and outlandish as possible, and believe me, they most certainly succeeded. And just to clarify, that is not a compliment. On the contrary, “Doors” is perplexing, ambiguous, and unconventional. Again, not in a good way. The story is eerily reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s seminal “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the filmmakers make no apologies for drawing comparisons.

Strange “doors”, also known as extraterrestrial portals, begin appearing all around Earth and millions of people who unknowingly interact with them, vanish, never to be seen again. Those who remain behind are left to ponder their significance. When a small class of four students are preparing for an exam, their phones start going crazy, and their teacher steps out into the hallway to take a personal call, never to return. We hear military aircraft flying overhead and police sirens sounding around the community. Scared and ready to leave, the students make their way out of the classroom only to discover a large door taking up half the hallway. Initially hesitant, the students slowly feel themselves being drawn to it, hearing strange voices and wanting to interact with it. As they move closer to the portal, their darkest, deepest desires begin to surface and that is only the beginning.

Three volunteers known as “knockers,” people who will enter the doors in the name of science and who are willing to take the chance of learning more about them even it means never returning, prepare for their first encounter on the other side of a door located inside a beach house. When they make the journey to the other side, which is instantaneous, they find themselves on the opposite side of the house but everything appears slightly askew. With three house doors in front of them, each volunteer proceeds through a designated door and slowly they succumb to an alternate future where they must make a decision that will change their destiny forever.

When Jamal, a reclusive hermit who lives in the woods, calls his best friend Cathy and invites her over, she is astonished to discover that he has a door hidden deep in the woods and has been communicating with it. The doors have been on earth for some time now and the governments around the world demand if you come across one, to report it to the nearest authorities. Obviously, Jamal has not informed anyone, other than Cathy, and between them, they try conversing with the door but when someone unexpectedly appears, they throw a spanner into the works and force Jamal and Cathy to defend themselves, as well as the door, causing an immediate and lifelong unpredictable effect.

While the premise behind “Doors” is not unique, it was achieved to much greater effect by Stanley Kubrick with the aforementioned “2001: A Space Odyssey,” it still presented a narrative that could have been used to wondrous effect. Extraterrestrial portals appear and can take you anywhere in the universe but unexcitedly, we get an anthology of stories that transpire on our planet, some of them in an alternate universe but still planted squarely on earth. A story of this magnitude would demand a bigger budget that would allow us to go to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, instead, we are relegated to mundane, uninteresting human stories, and locales that are just as pedestrian. It is explained that the doors are Godlike beings who have come to earth to “refresh” us, to help us start over according to their will, and tell us how to live our lives but this is never explained until the last few minutes of the film and by then, you’ve lost all interest and could care less why the doors are actually here, wishing that you were actually watching “The Doors” instead. The acting is mediocre, and the direction in each episode is substandard but the film’s overall look and ambiance is, at times, compelling and visually impressive, it’s just a pity they couldn’t incorporate those two traits into every other aspect of the film.

 

In Select Theaters March 19th, On-Demand March 23rd, and on Blu-ray & DVD April 6th

 

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James McDonald

Originally from Dublin, Ireland, James is a Movie Critic with 40 years of experience in the film industry as an Award-Winning Filmmaker. He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association.