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Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

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Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#81

Post by stale2002 »

avar wrote: post #25

The 2016 Warcraft movie doesn't count? It got a 77% audience score, and a 27% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, grossed almost half a billion, and is the highest grossing video game movie of all time[1]. I watched it out of a sheer morbid curiosity, and haven't played any Warcraft title newer than II: Tides of Darkness. I thought the movie was crap. But maybe I and critics just aren't the audience for these movies. Se…

It is a cliche to say this, but the movie really was made for fans and not for the general "Normie" audience.

They would just name drop locations and people, expecting you to know what they were. It was just mostly a fan service, "here is your movie, loyal fans!" types.

It still wasn't "great" even if you were a fan, but I can't imagine how bad a lot of it would have come off as if you didn't follow things pretty closely to begin with.

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#82

Post by humanrebar »

mwexler wrote: post #65

Actually, in some ways, Hardcore Henry ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3072482/ ) was a great video game movie. It has lots of problems, but it captures both the feel of a video game with the power of film. While not based on a specific game, it's easy to see many gaming cliches (intentionally) in the film.

I'd say Scott Pilgrim, Jumanji, and Edge of Tomorrow are better video game movies in that sense.

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#84

Post by gknoy »

jandrese wrote: post #22
jakebasile wrote: post #13

There have been good video game movies, but the number is vanishingly small. Many are "so bad it's good" such as anything Uwe Boll makes, but there are a couple that seem to be created by directors who genuinely love the source material and take it in interesting directions (e.g. the first Silent Hill film, the first Resident Evil film, arguably Final Fantasy: The Sprits Within). Also, Mortal Kombat (1995) is a good…

I suggest not going back and watching Mortal Kombat again if you want to retain your memories of it being a good film. Maybe it's best just to listen to the soundtrack instead.

I re-watched it a few months back; it was still enjoyable overall. I agree that it didn't match up to nostalgia, but it wasn't as bad as one might fear.

The overt sexism (and threats) towards Sonya are pretty upsetting. I'd forgotten about that, and as a teenager I wrote it off as "well I guess he's just a Bad Guy". As an adult (and parent) now, I really feel like that kind of messaging is pretty toxic and unnecessary. (Heck, just the revenge motive of he-killed-her-partner would have been enough.)

There's a lot of writing that on some levels are Bad -- low-dimensional characters, etc -- but in the context of a movie character, wasn't all that bad. The characters were in many ways as much a caricature as their video game characters were. Johnny Cage is such a caricature of what one would imagine as the intersection of a spoiled (80s or 90s?) Movie Star with a martial artist -- in many ways, he seemed a direct spoof of Van Damme or other actors. And yet, I liked that they gave his character some redeeming qualities (IIRC).

As an action film, I still enjoyed the fight choreography for most of the fights, even if you have to have some huge suspension of disbelief about things like who would want to be one of Shang Tsung's disposable minions. :) I mean, what's the benefits and compensation package for that look like?

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#85

Post by DonHopkins »

squozzer wrote: post #36

The only thing worse than a video game based on a movie is a movie based on a video game. Maybe if someone makes a movie based on Zork - basically 3 hours of Star Wars "crawl"?

Zork: The Movie (Trailer)

https://vimeo.com/110531141

Zork Nemesis movie trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQxovf4r-is

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#86

Post by baby »

I started making a list

* Super Mario Bros * Silent Hill

And then realized that I couldn't add more to it... It's insane. There are so many good stories in video game. I'd argue that The Last Of Us is the most beautiful entertainment story every created be it a movie, video game, comic, book, ...

Anime have the same issues, they have insane stories and they either end up being ignored or worse, being shit on by directors. See Dragon Ball Evolution or Netflix Death Note...

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#87

Post by CM30 »

I don't think the reasons are too complicated here, I think they really just come down to a mixture of the following:

1. Most games are created as interactive experiences, and the storytelling reflects that. For example, look at something like the Metroid Prime series. Almost all the lore is found in logs and in universe worldbuilding, not in the form of a linear narrative. That's hard to adapt into a non interactive medium, because you have tell such a story in a completely different way.

2. Many successful games either have poorly thought out or non existent stories because they focus on the mechanics and gameplay. See for example the Mario platformers (the RPGs might work better here), the Pokemon series, Sonic, any puzzle game like Tetris, Minecraft etc.

(It's also worth pointing out that much of what's needed for a fun game would be seen as bad writing in any other medium, since a realistic hero likely wouldn't be able to handle the challenges in many games. Most video game protagonists would likely be seen as Mary Sues/wish fulfilment in a non interactive medium).

3. Hollywood has a tendency of going after popular franchises regardless of whether they have a story that works in film form. This means being stuck trying to adapt games that simply don't work well in the format rather than ones like adventure games or visual novels which would adapt pretty well. The recently announced Tetris movie trilogy is a good example of this, since the source material has basically nothing you can adapt into a non interactive film.

Video games are just difficult to adapt by virtue of the medium and what's needed to succeed in it.

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#88

Post by baby »

dfxm12 wrote: post #26

Mostly because videogame plot lines aren't as good as we give them credit for. Videogames are great at being interactive diversions, but their stories leave a lot to be desired and are really just thin background dressing for the real reason we play videogames: for the gameplay. The most successful videogame movies tend towards genre films like Mortal Kombat (the film) and Resident Evil (the series). Of course, let's…

> Mostly because videogame plot lines aren't as good as we give them credit for

Same with movies, books, comics, ... but the top is good. The Last Of Us ffs...

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#89

Post by baby »

goostavos wrote: post #72
shwetank wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. You have games like The Last of Us, The Uncharted Series, Yakuza 0, and even the latest Wolfenstein game having very well made and engaging stories which I think can translate well on film.

I'd go back to GP's "why" question. I thought that The Last of Us was an absolutely fantastic game. Honestly, its one of the few games I've managed to stay engaged with all the way to the end. It works as a game. It's wonderful within its medium. A movie can't give you moral choices (did you guys kill the doctors at the end??), nor the time required to really get aquainted with the characters. The narrative works bes…

That's what series are for! I could see The Last Of Us as a series.

Re: Why Can't Hollywood Make a Good Video Game Movie?

#90

Post by CodeMage »

dfxm12 wrote: post #26

Mostly because videogame plot lines aren't as good as we give them credit for. Videogames are great at being interactive diversions, but their stories leave a lot to be desired and are really just thin background dressing for the real reason we play videogames: for the gameplay. The most successful videogame movies tend towards genre films like Mortal Kombat (the film) and Resident Evil (the series). Of course, let's…

I think that's close to the mark, but not quite there. To quote Sid Meier, "A game is a series of interesting choices." It's hard to make a good game with a great plot: the better the plot, the more you restrict the player's choices. It's not impossible, but it's hard.

Plenty of games have great characters and excellent world-building. Quite a few pose interesting questions, make you face hard dilemmas and leave you pondering long after you're done playing. Several make you immerse yourself in the world and identify with the characters so much that a particular event in their plot will provoke very strong feelings.

But none of those have a plot you can take and make a good movie out of it. Hollywood could very likely pick one of these games and make a great movie based on it, but not by focusing on the plot.

For example, I would be thrilled to watch a movie based on Dragon Age or Fallout. I might like a movie based on Borderlands, perhaps. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy a movie based on The Last of Us or Uncharted or The Talos Principles. And all of those games are among my favorites precisely because I enjoyed their world, characters, themes and choices.

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