While Duncan Jones’ “Warcraft” has its fair share of defenders of late, most would argue that video game movies flat-out suck. It’s been a long 23 years since 1993’s “Super Mario Bros.” plunged its way into theaters, and adaptations of “Resident Evil,” “Mortal Kombat,” “Hitman,” “Prince of Persia” and “Final Fantasy” haven’t fared much better. And that’s naming the better ones. There are roughly 30 or so movies based on video games today, and the average source on Rotten Tomatoes runs around 9 percent. Yikes. For my money, 2006’s “Silent Hill” might be the closest Hollywood has come to making the proper transition between the controller and the big screen, and that’s not saying all that much either. So why do video game movies suck so much? The Film Guy explores this “age old adage” in his latest video essay.
The biggest issue, of course, is that films are driven exclusively by story (not counting your typical experimental joint), while video games are driven by game play — with the occasional story beat to build up momentum and transition players to new locations. But sometimes, when the game focuses on interesting characters or endearing personalities, it’s natural to want to see that brought onto the big screen. But unlike popular book and comic book adaptations, video games already provide a vivid audio and visual representation of these characters, which gamers can spend hours upon hours to know and love. This, ultimately, makes the film appear more like a reboot than an actual adaptation in some cases, namely “Max Payne,” and it’s not often that remakes and reboots are loved by the masses. The response to Paul Feig’s “Ghostbusters,” in particular, is mixed at best, and that’s by the people who actually saw it.
But in other cases, video games are already so cinematic that gamers simply don’t want or, more importantly, need a film adaption, even when they can come naturally. That’s the case with “Uncharted,” a game heavily inspired by the “Indiana Jones” series which has had more than a few false starts transitioning onto the big screen. Last time I checked, Seth Gordon was trying to get it off the ground to no avail. If you don’t believe that’s the case, look at how people responded to Zack Snyder’s take on Superman in “Man of Steel” or “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” even though most of these people have never read a Superman comic. Or, hell, look at how people online treated the new “Ghostbusters,” even before they saw a glimpse of footage. It also doesn’t help that Hollywood often picks the wrong director for these adaptations, or Uwe Boll steps up to make too many of them in Germany.
These are only the most glaring issues, although The Film Guy doesn’t mind exploring a few others in the process of his latest video. It’s possible this fall’s “Assassin’s Creed” will be the one that breaks the spell, but that time hasn’t come quite yet. We’re still living in the age of sucky video game movies for the time being, and if you want to know why (and, if you’re a filmmaker, you’ll want to take a few notes), check out the video below.