We’ve talked about movies based on video games before, but as they keep making them, we are more than happy to keep tearing them apart. So here are some of our picks for worst films based on video games.
Chazz
When one thinks of mainstream video game to movie adaptations you start to think about the absolute horrors out there, like Street Fighter – Kylie Monogues first and thankfully only foray into cinema. At least I think so. There could be more out there… how terrifying. Super Mario Brothers was equally bad. But let’s cut them some slack. It was the early 90’s, the 80’s hang over was still around and everything was shit.
There have been a number of successes. The Prince of Persia movie took a classic game and had a good old stab in the right direction. If you’re a kid then the multitude of Pokémon movies would have kept you entertained and taught you that it was fine to dress up your dog and force it to fight birds and unsuspecting zebra’s that you set on fire. The Tomb Raider series and Resident Evil were meh. But so are the Twilight movies and they keep making those pieces of shit.
Did you know there was a Wing Commander movie? A Blood Rayne movie apparently came out in 2006! Followed by a ‘Postal’ movie in 2008. I have some serious downloading to do. You probably wouldn’t know cause I can only assume they went straight to DVD, and for good reason. Together on Rotten Tomatoes these movies made a combined score of 23%… COMBINED people. Yuk. I can’t wait to watch them.
I believe that the majority of game to movie adaptations are going to continue to fall short because games are designed very different in their story and characters. While books translate seamlessly. Video games are designed with gameplay in mind rather than considering the appeal to an audience. Ever watched your mate play a computer game for two hours? No? There’s a reason for that, and it’s the same reason video game movies fail. Although I am certainly looking forward to the World of Warcraft movie. Shotgun dressing up as a gnome on opening night!
YES! Called it.
Daniel
We tend to have low expectations of movies adapted from video games and with good reason.
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li took a character from the Street Fighter Universe no one really liked (except maybe cosplay enthusiasts with big thighs) and ruined it so badly that fans of the series started caring about Chun Li just to get angry. The premise was a decent one, focus on one Street Fighter character’s story instead of throwing them all together, however as I mentioned, no one really finds this film’s Chun Li a strong character.
The film even references Ryu at the end as if it was planning to follow up with some kind of Legend of Ryu sequel, this being a double edged sword, the way this film was received there is no chance of them butchering Ryu or making a film ever again, on the other hand, we may need to wait for Street Fighters 50th anniversery before we see another live action Street Fighter attempt.
Senior Stiv
This week’s theme is kind of tough because, well, I think most movie adaptations of games are just horrible. Most directors drop the ball in the core story zone when making these movies. Either they misrepresent the characters or forget some of the basic points of the games main plot or tweak it to the point where it doesn’t make sense any more. Looks like I’ll have to search through the betters of this fairly large group of evils.
The best I’ve seen would have to be the Hitman movie. It followed Agent 47’s brutal killing style and even stayed true to the characters inability to talk (except for the end I believe). All and all it was decent adaptation.
The worst would have to be the Super Mario Bros. movie. I would explain as to why, but most already know that and I’d like to spare future generations from this atrocity of a film. Even the actors hated being in the film it sucked so much.
Mr Port
The worst movies that originated from games, would have to be a three-way combination tie of Prince of Persia, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, and Final Fantasy: Spirits Within. As for good ones, I think thats a bit of a stretch, but I’d nominate Ultramarines if only for its brutality.
We would love to hear your suggestions on what to put in the old Beta-Max, DVD player or any other outdated hardware to watch films based on our favourite video games, if you’re lucky we may just force you to watch it with us.
In the mean time, let us know what you’ve been playing in the comments, Facebook or Twitter.
