Video Game Movies?

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DaHeckIzDat1
Posts: 194
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Video Game Movies?

Postby DaHeckIzDat1 » September 11th, 2013, 12:52 am

Movies based off of video games get a really bad rap, and not entirely without reason.  Super Mario Brothers and Alone in the Dark come to mind...  Have you found any that you've actually enjoyed?  Personally, I enjoyed Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and Resident Evil: Degeneration- perhaps because they were both CGI movies, so they were truer to the spirit of the games they were based off of?

NAC1
Posts: 187
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Video Game Movies?

Postby NAC1 » September 11th, 2013, 3:24 am

I know this particular movie gets plenty of hate, but I really enjoyed the Mortal Kombat Movie. It's faithful to the source material, does a great job of portraying the characters (I especially like Sub-Zero and Scorpion), and has great action scenes. Yes, it's a little cheesy at times (I was reminded of the Power Rangers during certain action scenes), but that doesn't really kill the movie for me. Although the story is rather simplistic, it's not confusing either. In fact, aren't the stories in Mortal Kombat games pretty much just about fighting tournaments anyway? Anyway, the point is, despite what some people may tell you, fans of Mortal Kombat (or fans of video games in general) should give the Mortal Kombat Movie a chance before writing it off.

I don't know what the sequel is like, because I have never seen it before. For anybody who has seen the sequel, is Mortal Kombat: Annihilation as bad as some people say it is?

Ozzybear1
Posts: 833
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Video Game Movies?

Postby Ozzybear1 » September 11th, 2013, 6:56 am

the second mortal kombat movie was pretty bad. Though I still find myself watching it
whenever it is on. lol
But yeah it was definetly pretty cheesy!

velcrozombie1
Posts: 400
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Video Game Movies?

Postby velcrozombie1 » September 11th, 2013, 8:19 am

@NAC

I don't think the original Mortal Kombat movie is hated at all. Whenever I see
a discussion on video game movies, it's one of the few that gets cited
as being a genuine success (although it's not like it has much competition).
I just watched it for the first time a few months ago, and it's about the best
movie I can see being made for a (relatively) low budget and a PG-13 rating
for that material. I'm sure I would have loved it if I had seen it when it come
out, although I still had fun with it (especially the bits with Scorpion
and Reptile). I seen a bit of Annihilation at 2am while flicking through the channels
some time ago and it looked inadvertently hilarious, so I may have to give it
a full watch one day.

The only other video game movies I've watched are: the first Silent Hill movie,
the first Tomb Raider movie and Postal. Tomb Raider was just OK. Postal had a
few very funny moments and reminded me of a trashy Troma movie, although I probably
wouldn't recommend it unless you're curious. Silent Hill (which I saw years before
playing any of the games) had amazing art direction and design, and the first half is
pretty compelling. It becomes a mess during the second half (especially when it tries to
explain what's been going on, which takes a lot of the horror and mystery out of it), but
I enjoyed the film quite a bit overall, although I doubt I would like it nearly as much now
that I've play most of the games.

I still want to see the Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter movies, if only for the
kitsch factor. I have both Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and the second Silent Hill movie
somewhere around here, but I don't know when or if I'll ever watch either of them.

nesfan1
Posts: 995
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Video Game Movies?

Postby nesfan1 » September 11th, 2013, 9:45 am

I really like Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and the Street Fighter Alpha movie. 

DaHeckIzDat1
Posts: 194
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Video Game Movies?

Postby DaHeckIzDat1 » September 11th, 2013, 10:07 am

"Mother, you're alive!"
"Too bad YOU... Will DIE!"

darkrage61
Posts: 1678
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Video Game Movies?

Postby darkrage61 » September 11th, 2013, 1:11 pm

I quite enjoy most video game films, I liked both Mortal Kombat films(I don't think Annihilation is anywhere near as bad as people make it out to be, I can easily name dozens of far worse films), both Street Fighter films, both Tomb Raider films, all the Resident Evil films, Double Dragon, House Of The Dead, Alone In The Dark, Far Cry, Final Fantasy: Spirits Within, both Silent Hill films, Super Mario Bros., Max Payne, Wing Commander, Doom, DOA: Dead Or Alive, Hitman, and Postal.

Also really looking forward to that upcoming Need For Speed film next year.


NAC1
Posts: 187
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Video Game Movies?

Postby NAC1 » September 11th, 2013, 5:02 pm

@Velcrozombie: I'm aware that many video game fans like the Mortal Kombat Movie, but I was pretty sure that a lot of standard movie critics disliked the film. As for Annihilation, I'm just going to go ahead and give it a watch. I'm sure it's on Netflix.

As for the Super Mario Bros movie, I actually saw that movie as a kid, and, simply because it was Mario, I pretended to like it. Sadly, I was bored throughout the movie. As a little kid, I thought I had to like every movie that I saw. I'm not sure why, because it's not like anybody was forcing me to like movies that bored me! I have family members that still like the movie despite the negative reception. I watched the movie again when I was older, and I'll admit that I did enjoy it somewhat more than I did as a kid. Maybe some of the nostalgia kicked in? Maybe it's just a guilty pleasure? To be fair, Bob Hoskins is a great pick for Mario, but, then again, if Mario is to ever get another movie in the future, it should be a cartoon, not live action!

I don't know if anybody here cares about anime, but I personally really enjoyed Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie. I love the action scenes! However, that's actually two episodes within a cartoon series that never came to be, and then those two episodes just got combined into a 50-minute movie.

velcrozombie1
Posts: 400
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Video Game Movies?

Postby velcrozombie1 » September 11th, 2013, 7:12 pm

@NAc

It's all relative. I found a list of video game adaptations on Rotten Tomatoes, and
the movie with the highest score was Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. It had a
Freshness score of 44% (meaning that 44% of critics gave it a positive review).
Second was Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, with 40%, and third was Mortal
Kombat, with 35%. Even the best scoring video game movies were liked
by less than half of critics (for reference, Super Mario Bros got 14%; Double Dragon
was the lowest, with a big fat goose egg).

I also looked Mortal Kombat up on Metacritic, and it had a score of 58; using comic
book movies as a comparison, Thor got a 57 and Man of Steel got a 55. That sounds
about right, I guess.

Rev1
Posts: 1777
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Video Game Movies?

Postby Rev1 » September 12th, 2013, 2:10 am

I love video game movies although most are a guilty pleasure. Have watched a good chunk of the ones available. I remember loving Mortal Kombat when it was released and I have seen all the Resident Evil movies. It's really funny how all the recent RE films incorporate an insane amount of slow motion in the films... My friend and I laughed through the entire RE5 movie because of how many slow motion scenes they put in there. Although, the most recent Silent HIll film was terrible. Everything takes place in a day yet the two teenagers are acting like they fell in love and have known each other for years... They did try to follow SH 2 and 3 though.


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