The feeling you get when you play an amazing game creates an irrevocable sense of satisfaction after it’s finished. Sometimes to the point where you say, “Man, that would be awesome if they made a movie about this!” And how true it would be, if the people making the movie actually knew what they were doing.
Now I’m not saying that ALL video game movies are bad, I mean come on, there’s amazing movie adaptations out there already. Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat, even Tomb Raider just to name a few. They’re just the cream of the crop because they actually had a driving story in the game. Also, because it was never based on the game.
What Do You Mean, “Never Based On The Game”?
The reason why I say that, is due to the fact that as a gamer, I’ve already seen how one story plays out. I’ve played the Resident Evil titles and loved them. But that’s just that. In a movie, I don’t want to see the same story I just experienced, I want to experience something new. Give me the feel of the game, its characters, its depth, and put it into an “alternate” setting that is original.
A great quote that really gets me is from Paul W. S. Anderson, Director and Writer of the first Resident Evil movie. In his words he says:
“Under-performing movie tie-ins are too common and Resident Evil, of all games, deserved a good celluloid representation.”
Words that remain a constant fact in a lot of great gaming movies. Don’t tie them in with what’s already happening because it’s just going to confuse the fans and end up with a distaste in our mouths for even uttering the words, “I want to see that as a movie.”
I don’t want to view a movie that utterly fails a great story, i.e. BloodRayne, FarCry, even Dungeon Siege (In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale).
Now, I don’t mean to start a bashing sequence right now, as much as I’ve said so far, but with a few upcoming titles becoming movies, Dead Space and Gran Turismo to name a couple, I can’t help but feel baffled and angry.
.
Why Angry? It Hasn’t Even Come Out Yet.
Well, let me start with Gran Turismo. It is a great game, yes, but it has no story whatsoever! The game was meant to just be a game. How would one even create an adaptation to something that has no basis on it at all? There is no main character, There is nothing tangible to explain, all there is, are cars and race tracks that we have in real life. If that’s it, then it will just be your regular day and age racing movie with no basis and the name Gran Turismo plastered all over the advertisements.
Next is Dead Space. One of my absolute favorite games, and although I’m sad to see it end with Dead Space 3, I’m somewhat relieved. Now it’s becoming a movie and I’m more on edge about this more than angry. This game has an amazing story, lined up with a great cast of in-game characters. When I heard that this was going to be turned into a movie, I was ecstatic, up until I heard who it was being written by.
Now before I go onto who is writing it, let me tell you this. A screenwriters main job is to write the script, submit it, revise and edit with the producers/director(s), and then finalize it. I’m not putting the blame all on one person, but if you write something and already KNOW that it’s going to go bad, jump ship.
-Drumroll- And the Screenwriter Is!
Dead Space is going to be written by Justin Marks, some of you may not know him, but I know him as the person who wrote the horrid movie Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. The movie was such a disappointment for the gaming fans. Even the older Street Fighter movie had better ratings than it, and that’s saying something!
The budget for Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li was $50,000,000. In the box office they barely even touched that with a recorded $12,764,201. While the original Street Fighter from 1994 had a budget of $35,000,000, they had a whopping box office of $99,423,521. Think there might have been an issue with The Legend of Chun-Li?
Now that kind of goes against me saying “give me the feel of the game, its characters, its depth, and put it into an ‘alternate’ setting that is original” line but in this case, I’m being a hypocrite. Although they tried it with Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, it didn’t turn out so well because of the poor script. It wasn’t entirely Justin Marks’ fault, as it was a combined effort of his, the director(s) and the producers fault. Let it be a lesson learned. I hope.
For future game-movie adaptations, please learn from the successful movies that have shown their amazing promise already. Don’t be the next disappointment, because there are a ton of them. Learn from the mistakes instead of disregarding them, they may just boost your potential.
-via g4tv.com
My case and verdict have been made, and although it was a very long rant. It was well worth the time and effort. If you feel the way I do, let me know how they ruined a great game for you through a terrible movie. Go ahead and type away at the comments below, I don’t bite! Honest!
Published: Jul 27, 2013 07:26 pm