Do movies based on video games suck?

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Seriously though, if you've seen B5, Farscape and Battlestar Galactica, you've seen Mass Effect. There's nothing in the ME franchise that hasn't already been done by a TV series, conceptually it's little more than an homage to those shows. Don't get me wrong, I love Mass Effect, but a film version is unnecessary.
Obviously when it comes to Space Operas we've seen a lot of the same formula. However, each has its own appeal and ME is no exception. Essentially, when it comes to an adaptation of anything, we just want to see that story and its specific characters come to life on the big screen. Those specific characters, their story, etc. aren't in B5.



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Obviously when it comes to Space Operas we've seen a lot of the same formula. However, each has its own appeal and ME is no exception. Essentially, when it comes to an adaptation of anything, we just want to see that story and its specific characters come to life on the big screen. Those specific characters, their story, etc. aren't in B5.
But I would argue that most of Mass Effect's appeal would be lost in translation. My favorite thing about Mass Effect is that it takes these Space Opera ideas and makes them interactive, I can choose who I want to fall in love with, which ones become my best friends, I can decide to be a hero or an anti-hero, these are my choice not those of any writing team.

Take that freedom away and you're left with just another derivative exercise in science fiction cliches.



But I would argue that most of Mass Effect's appeal would be lost in translation. My favorite thing about Mass Effect is that it takes these Space Opera ideas and makes them interactive, I can choose who I want to fall in love with, which ones become my best friends, I can decide to be a hero or an anti-hero, these are my choice not those of any writing team.

Take that freedom away and you're left with just another derivative exercise in science fiction cliches.
The immersive aspect of playing a game is a lot better, I'll give you that. For example, I don't like that they're going with a male version of Shepard. Probably because I hated the male version in the game due to the terrible voice acting. But I still want to see a movie adaptation, though.



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For example, I don't like that they're going with a male version of Shepard. Probably because I hated the male version in the game due to the terrible voice acting. But I still want to see a movie adaptation, though.
That's very odd considering how much more popular FemShep is.



That's very odd considering how much more popular FemShep is.
It might not be set in stone, but the last I read they were going with a male actor. At this point, as long as whoever they choose can act and they put the effort in to make this work, I'm golden. Though, I have some actresses in mind that would fit the role perfectly.



I've never seen a movie based on a video game that I've liked. Because of this, I find I'm prejudiced whenever a new movie comes out based on one. When I saw the trailer to "Warcraft", I thought it looked promising, but due to my pre-existing belief, I waited until it came out on DVD. True to form, I was disappointed in Warcraft, and apparently so were a lot of people. It's got 28% on Rotton Tomatoes and its lifetime gross according to BoxOfficeMojo is a paltry $47 m. Assassin's Creed had a decent trailer too and some good actors like Michael Fassbender. I haven't seen it, but it's got a rating of 18% on Rotton Tomatoes and has only made $53 m by BoxOfficeMojo's estimates.

I can recall many movies based on video games that just reeked of suckingdom: Doom, Super Mario Bros, Double Dragon, Lara Croft, Prince of Persia, Mortal Kombat, the Angry Birds movie, etc. etc.

Are movies based on video games shallow, commercial films with little or no artistic integrity, always doomed to fail, or are there some good ones out there? Is it 'game over' for the video game adaptation, forever relegated to pulling teenagers away from their game consoles?
For the most part it's a two way street, games based on movies are also pretty horrible. about the only one I really liked was Resident Evil 2 which was something like the RE2 Video Game as in you have to make your way across Racoon City.. But the RE games are really weighed down with puzzle solving which would be horrible on film..

Generally as a rule though movies based on games don't work because the fans are expecting one thing and game mechanics not transferring to film well are usually abandoned and a completely new scenario transplanted, so right out of the gate they've ticked off their built in core audience.



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I like Fassbender - I do. And I dont think he is too good for the part, I just think for lack of a better explanation, he doesnt look/fit the part. I realize that they made a ton of these in recent years, with no doubt different characters for the Animus, but I started years ago the first AC when there was only one, and Ive slowly been playing my way through them all (I stall at some for a year or more), and Im still on A2 with Ezio. Fassbender is awesome, but Desmond/Altair/Ezio, he is not. To me, the trailers looked awesome, but FASSBENDER himself was the shark-jump or immersion breaker. I get that he's a different player (i.e. not Desmond), but it just isnt working for me.

I might like the move, tho - I've havent see it yet. And I will.
Perhaps? I never got into the games - I played the first for maybe an hour or so and got bored, otherwise I've seen other people play other games (mainly the fourth one with the pirates). The concept is an alright one, but it is easy to question whether or not they should have included the Animus concept into the film's narrative in the first place. I still have trouble thinking whether or not it actually benefits the story in any way.
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Most of my choices are older than Shepard's age but they can easily pull it off. Charlize Theron is one. After Mad Max I can definitely see her as FemShep. Also, Anna Torv, Emily Blunt, Zoe Saldana and Thandie Newton. I had others, but for the life of me can't remember who they are. But as soon as I do I'm adding them to the list.

Do you have anyone in mind?

Also, strictly speaking of looks, Ruby Rose would be perfection as Jack.



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I have to say that the vast majority of video game movies I have found to be seriously lacking in quality. The only films that I can think of that are at least good enough to be guilty entertainment films are Mortal Kombat and then Wreck It Ralph which is not a true video game movie but a film based around the world of video games. It is surprising that no studio has ever managed to produce a great quality video game to film as far as I am concerned but I am sure sooner or later we will end up with one if through nothing more than the law of averages.



Trying to find the right balance between the demands of the game itself and the demands of a standard movie is always tricky, so most movies end up inventing their own stories one way or another regardless of any existing plots. The problem is that the resulting stories can end up being incredibly generic (Doom/Tomb Raider), completely off-the-wall Super Mario Bros.), or misguided experiments with form (Assassin's Creed). Fidelity to the source is also a debatable source of quality. On the one hand, Resident Evil going off-script with its all-new protagonist and post-apocalyptic storylines still resulted in what is arguably the most popular videogame adaptation in existence right now. Warcraft, on the other hand, arguably suffers for recreating too much of the in-game lore and becomes a near-impenetrable high-fantasy slog as a result. It's a tough balance to get right, especially now that the balance of game storytelling has shifted from having stories that are too thin to pad out a movie e.g. Mario to having stories that are too long and complex to properly fit into a two-hour movie.
A lot of video game movies are. One of the earlier posts had it correct that in order to get the film to appeal to a larger audience some keys points of the plot or the core of the movie will be changed, or the movie is changed because the video game does not have that much to go off of. See movies like Super Mario Bros, Doom, and the like. And even movies that many have enjoyed are at best a mixed bag. I dig the hell out of the first Mortal Kombat movie, but many hate it because it was PG-13 and not a hard R to mirror the violence in the video games.

But another reason I think is most of the really good director's in Hollywood just don't respect the original material. And a lot of it comes from many people seeing video games as just a form of entertainment and not an art form. As such the big name directors will stay away, and video game fans will have to settle for WS Anderson or at worst Uwe Boll.

Every so often we get something good though. I did like the Silent Hill movie.
Silent Hill came close to be a good movie.

Resident Evil series went way overboard, and I agree with the other poster that said that the problem is that they invent new stories for the characters instead of sticking to the source material [I'm alrigh with changes, as long as they make sense].

However there was a recent movie that I kind of liked it, although not based on any video game, but it does take a lot from them [specially Shin Megami Tensei] and Anime: Garm Wars - The last druid.

Story wise it's pretty sh*** but the 3rd act is very VERY good [and you'll see what I mean whern I say it takes from video games such as Shin Megami Tensei]
I agree with these cats. I liked the first Mortal Kombat movie. They had the formula down perfect, it didnt take itself too seriously, and was fun.

Resident Evil, wha?! If they didnt call it Resident Evil then it mightve worked fine, but it had 0 to do with the video game.

Street Fighter: The Movie..........all I have to say is, poor Raul Julia! Such an exceptional talent to have this be his last movie.

I, uh,.........I never have seen TRON.



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Most of my choices are older than Shepard's age but they can easily pull it off. Charlize Theron is one. After Mad Max I can definitely see her as FemShep. Also, Anna Torv, Emily Blunt, Zoe Saldana and Thandie Newton. I had others, but for the life of me can't remember who they are. But as soon as I do I'm adding them to the list.

Do you have anyone in mind?
Interesting choices. The first one that pops into my head is Rachel Nichols. She might be a little old for the part though.



Also, strictly speaking of looks, Ruby Rose would be perfection as Jack.
oh hell yes



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I have to say that the vast majority of video game movies I have found to be seriously lacking in quality. The only films that I can think of that are at least good enough to be guilty entertainment films are Mortal Kombat and then Wreck It Ralph which is not a true video game movie but a film based around the world of video games. It is surprising that no studio has ever managed to produce a great quality video game to film as far as I am concerned but I am sure sooner or later we will end up with one if through nothing more than the law of averages.
The hell you say. Mortal Kombat I'll grudgingly concede, but Wreck-It Ralph is a legitimately good movie.

Resident Evil, wha?! If they didnt call it Resident Evil then it mightve worked fine, but it had 0 to do with the video game.
As noted, it's debatable as to how much of a problem fidelity to the source really ends up being.



Interesting choices. The first one that pops into my head is Rachel Nichols. She might be a little old for the part though.

I'm not too familiar with Rachel Nichols, so I wouldn't know. I just based my choices on the acting. I've seen Michelle Rodriguez brought up a lot, but she's too rough around the edges and seems to be somewhat limited in her acting. I've only ever seen her play the same character.

But since it'll most likely be a male Shepard, I'm currently on the Tom Hardy bandwagon.



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Yes, they routinely do, for several reasons as noted so precisely by GS:
  • Unqualified directors.
  • Failure to bring the characters to life.
  • Lack of respect for the source material.
  • Hollywood doesn't respect video games.
  • Hollywood doesn't understand video games.
Shame, really. Warcraft in particular had preposterous potential.
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Here's the deal, if the Uncharted film sucks, that'll be the end of it. Assassin's Creed failed miserably, and now it's all up to Nathan Drake.
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Perhaps? I never got into the games - I played the first for maybe an hour or so and got bored, otherwise I've seen other people play other games (mainly the fourth one with the pirates). The concept is an alright one, but it is easy to question whether or not they should have included the Animus concept into the film's narrative in the first place. I still have trouble thinking whether or not it actually benefits the story in any way.

The Animus barely benefits the GAME. I say this because Im only on the 3rd rendition of the game (A2), although I bought most of them. I keep getting stalled in the game, because - you guessed it - I get bored with it. The first was very repetitive, and I thought - "how many stalls can I knock over in how many cities??" I quit that game for over 2 years, and finally finished it when the 2nd one came out for a completionist reason and I was bored - also didnt want to start the 2nd w/o finishing the first.

Here's the thing: the games do get better/more interesting after the 1st one, but I do end up taking months/years off (from boredom) from them. I actually think DESMONDS story is more interesting than the Animus story - we never get actual movement on that tho. Its like they cant figure out which story is the actual draw, so they throw a lot of stories at you.

It works for offhand fun, and the game has unparalleled beauty of scenery. I mean - the stunning visual beauty of the game itself is probably 70% of the draw for me. I feel like they fail in trying to make the game SO epic and global in storyline, that you lose the strands, and the attention of the audience.

Its so back and forth I have NO IDEA how they can translate that into a cogent movie.

In terms of the game? Assassin's Creed became the avante garde of stealth FPS. I love/hate it because they literally remodeled Thief to mirror AC, down to the longer hoodie. I liked Thiefs crouching frame and hoodie. I loved the Thief series, and changing it to more closely resemble AC cheapened it imo. Dishonored = AC in a steampunk era, complete with climbing structures and backwards jumps (with a slight nod to Thief).

Given that kind of effect - how could they NOT pay homage to AC with a movie?
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Originally Posted by TONGO
Resident Evil, wha?! If they didnt call it Resident Evil then it mightve worked fine, but it had 0 to do with the video game.
Loved the movies series. Loved the game series. But I think of them as separate universes.



the only movie based on video game that felt through and through as the main game and was entertanining enough is hands down 1995s Mortal kombat