The Video Game Critic

Read an article on this
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/entertainment/video-game-movies/?utm_term=.efa2743fb36c

It says there have been 35 major attempts, and none have done better than 50% on rotten tomatos

In brief, it says story is the most important factor, but it has to have a plot just right for a movie run time. The plot has to not be overly reliant on gameplay aspects, and still true to the brand. Finally, that because you can't play a movie, its going to fail.

None of that makes any sense to me. You can't play a book or a movie, but lots are very immersive. Comic books have deep mythologies, but Marvel is handling that just fine, etc

I have enjoyed many video game movies, from the first resident evil to Doom.

What do you think? Are video game movies doomed to be rotten tomatos?

Never say never.

I'll agree it's hard; a good game focuses on interactive elements; a good movie focuses on story, but I'll never say it's impossible.

They said Gone With the Wind could never be adapted, but it's still the most successful film of all time, if you adjust for inflation.

The Wizard of Oz had a dozen or so failed adaptions before MGM made their classic movie.

And I liked the Pokemon TV show, and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Perhaps those aren't critically acclaimed masterpieces, but I doubt Republic's Captain America serial was treated seriously by critics either.

Rampage is out based on the Midway game. It looks hilarious. Starring the rock. What is there not to love.

A major part of the problem is that video game adaptations tend to be in genres that are often hacky anyway. Non-Asian martial arts movies. Horror movies. Monster movies. Add to that the further hackiness endemic to licensed properties, and it's no wonder that you end up with garbage like Alone in the Dark. When they're more ambitious, they tend to be "cinematic" in the straining, leaden way that triple-A games are at their worst - see the Assassin's Creed or Prince of Persia movies for that (better yet, don't).

Is there room for something different? Absolutely. The Secret of Monkey Island would make a fantastic movie, something like a Monty Python version of Pirates of the Caribbean. Earthworm Jim was turned into an excellent cartoon that could have been even better on the big screen than on TV. Another World is practically a short film as it is; one can only imagine the surreal beauty of a feature-length version with a full studio budget. A Grand Theft Auto movie would be an excellent vehicle (forgive me!) for crazy stunts like in the later The Fast and the Furious sequels, dressed up in gloriously trashy sleaze. A Shenmue movie either made in English or decently subtitled would almost necessarily be a better presentation of the game's story than the game itself. The decently received A Scanner Darkly (I admittedly haven't seen it myself, but if it's anything like the book, I should!) seems like a good example of how a Jet Set Radio film might turn out. And I'm only scratching the surface of viable candidates here.

The problem is that when video game movies go off the beaten path, they turn out badly anyway. The Super Mario Bros. movie is undeniably original and creative; it's also practically unwatchable. Wing Commander shows how horribly even the original creator's vision can be derailed on the way to the cinema. The man who made Moon was completely buried under Warcraft's combination of grandiose scale and simplistic themes (although Mute suggests that Moon might just have been a fluke the whole time). This may simply be terrible luck, but it does make it harder to fault the studios for not taking real risks. The best that can be expected, it seems, is competently shallow action like Mortal Kombat, maybe with a scowl on its face, like this new Tomb Raider, lacking true creativity but also avoiding creativity's pitfalls. Still, I'm hopeful - if the Detective Pikachu movie is a success, it might open the door for more offbeat and inventive treatments of more diverse types of games, and the sky's the limit from there.

GameOfThrones wrote:Rampage is out based on the Midway game. It looks hilarious. Starring the rock. What is there not to love.

I am with you here. Its a monster movie with the Rock. How bad can it be?

Stalvern - nice post. I appreciate all the time you put into your posts in general.

Can good movies be made into good video games? Let's just ask LJN.

It seems an interesting article written by people who hate video game movies. Doom was good. World of Warcraft was good.

Okay there have been the turds. House of the dead but that was good fun as well as being bad.
Super M Bros. I have only ever watched about 10 minutes of this.

The real stinkers out there have been based on amusement rides. Pirates of the Carb. The first one was fun but after that the series sank very quickly.

I think it’s harder to nail down who your target audience is for video game movies. Gamers have a really wide age range, and the target audience for “regular” movies tends to be more defined.

Rampage was good fun and well worth a watch.