10 game adaptations for which we are (almost) not ashamed – review

Although Uwe Boll has long since left the big cinema, games films still bear the stigma of the damned genre, and most of the projects the audience pre-sentenced to failure. But, meanwhile, from year to year the situation is improving, albeit at a snail’s pace. Moreover, for the first time in many years, we can almost without slyness pick up a dozen good, well, or relatively good adaptations. There are still no masterpieces among them, but you will not have to burn out from shame and anger while watching.

10th place – Sonic in the movie (2020)

Although the quality of the script, “Sonic” barely reaches the middle peasant. This is a cliched children’s film from the late nineties or early zero. The characters fit perfectly into the framework of archetypes, and attempts to manipulate the emotions of the viewer are so obvious that not every ten of them will behave on them. And yet, “Sonic” leaves, albeit a short, but pleasant aftertaste. If you are tormented by nostalgia for simple comedies for a young audience, this picture can brighten up the evening.

9th place – Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)

Ten years ago, the Disney Empire for the first and so far last time took up the adaptation of a video game. Became an experimental “Prince of Persia”, the rights to which Jerry Bruckheimer bought after the successful release The sands of time 2003 year. Producer Offers Another Disney “Pirates of the Caribbean”, but this time in the scenery of “1001 Nights,” and the movie bosses did not mind. Moreover, even the creator of the game “Sands of Time”, Jordan Mechner, was invited to write the script, so that gamers would not accuse filmmakers of a complete misunderstanding of the material.

However, despite all intentions, the adaptation was far from the original. In fact, all that remains of the game is a magic dagger that can turn back the clock, parkour and the face of the prince. Although, of course, today the film would have been torn to pieces for whitewashing, because someone is someone, and Jake Gyllenhaal hardly looks like a Persian. But in 2010, they still did not pay attention to it and criticized The Sands of Time for something else. For example, for a full-blown scenario, overly childish humor and relegation of a rich fantasy component to a single magical McGuffin. And that one for the film is used only a couple of times.

However, for all the shoals, “Prince of Persia” is not without charm. This is a typical Disney blockbuster on the patterns of “Pirates of the Caribbean”, and he relies on the same elements – a charismatic hero, colorful setting and spectacular action. All this works with varying success and does not reach the original trilogy about captain Jack Sparrow, but against the background of the fourth and fifth parts, as well as the vast majority of game adaptations, “Sands of Time” is worthy.

8th place – Pokemon. Detective Pikachu (2019)

By Detective Pikachu it’s very convenient to measure how much time Hollywood needs to dispose of some sensational phenomenon. In the summer of 2016, hysteria swept the world Pokemon go, and less than three years later a blockbuster about pocket monsters was ready, which passed … surprisingly quiet. It would seem that Pokemon is a planetary phenomenon, and the first Hollywood movie about them should shoot no worse Avengers. But no – Pikachu simply collected a good cash register and sank into oblivion.

But this is even true, because the picture was not bad, but certainly not outstanding. The main thing, for which it is worth praising, is for fidelity to the original source. Unlike the Sonic team, the creators immediately thought of leaving a canonical cartoon design for all Pokémon. And the franchise world was transferred to the screen quite carefully. The result was spectacular and sometimes even emotional plagiarism. “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”. Only if the picture of Robert Zemeckis was a technological breakthrough, and her jokes and images survived more than one decade, then Detective Pikachu is just a good family movie that everyone forgot about a year later.

7th place – Resident Evil (2002)

Last parts “Resident Evil” – torture for every fan Resident evil, and indeed any viewer with at least some taste. This is nothing more than a set of loosely interconnected, and often also badly set action scenes, into which, for the sake of mockery, they threw familiar monsters and extras with the names of game characters. But this does not cancel the fact that everything started relatively well.

The only upset is that Anderson resolutely refused to connect the plot with the original source, and all that reminds of the original game is a short episode in the mansion, and the Umbrella logo flashed here and there. But there are enough references, with or without, in the sequels, but it would be better if they were not at all. Both references and sequels.

6th place – Legends of Mortal Kombat: Scorpio’s Revenge (2020)

Franchise Mortal kombat three times already tried to turn into a cartoon. First, an ugly something with a subtitle came out on the video “The journey begins”. Then came the animated series “Defenders of the Empire” – not a very good tracing paper with X-Men, and even bloodless and designed for young viewers. And only recent Scorpio’s Revenge introduced Mortal Kombat in the form in which he was thinking – brutal, pathos and bloody to the point of absurdity. The fatalities in the cartoon turned out so savory and generous to the anatomical details, as if the game developers of the last parts of the fighting game were engaged in their production. Well, the plot … It exists, and even for some time reveals the backstory of Scorpio, though only upstairs, and in fact, “The Legends of Mortal Kombat” turned out to be an animated remake of the 1995 film, not at all necessary, but at the same time not bad . To the fans Mortal Kombat it is definitely not worth skipping.

5th place – Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008)

As already mentioned, the sequels of “Resident Evil” were not at all merciful to fans of Resident Evil. If “Apocalypse” still trying to put pressure on gaming nostalgia and tossed on the screen either Nemesis, then Jill Valentine, then in the third part, the creators finally scored on fidelity to the game canons. But at the same time, someone in Sony suggested making an alternative film adaptation. Or rather, not even a film adaptation, but a kind of plot addition to the franchise Capcom, but in a different format – animated.

“Degeneration” talks about the long-awaited reunion of Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy a few years after the disaster in Raccoon City. This meeting takes place, according to tradition, not in the best circumstances – a plane filled with zombies crashes into the airport. Well, then comes the familiar story of secret experiments, the conspiracy of corporations and bioterrorists. Agent Kennedy, adjusting his bangs, shoots the living dead and throws cool phrases through his teeth, and Claire, with varying success, tries to save everyone. In general, before last year’s remake, it was the best reminder of Resident evil 2.

“Degeneration” received two sequels, the quality of animation in which was constantly growing, but the plot became an increasingly formal link between the action scenes. The first part, as in the case of “live” film adaptation, remains the best.

4th place – Warcraft (2016)

In the 2010s, the genre of sword and magic on the big screen almost died out. For all the classic fantasy only one The Hobbit, and even with varying success. But soon after the adventures of Bilbo Beggins ended, cinemas with the grace of a cave troll burst into theaters Warcraft – bright, noisy, simple to primitive and at the same time overloaded with game mythology.

Director Duncan Jones tried to stay on the fine line between a film for fans and a blockbuster for a wide audience. It didn’t work out – Warcraft is clearly leaning towards the first category. Ordinary viewer all of this Shakespeare with orcs is more likely to tire, than charm. Although there is definitely some magic in the picture. Jones managed to create the illusion that beyond the borders of the frame really lies a huge fairy-tale world, hardly inferior in scale to Middle-earth or Westeros. True, we saw him only briefly. Warcraft suffers from the misfortune of many ambitious works, not necessarily films – this is not a self-contained story, but only an introduction. The pieces were placed on the board, and all the most spectacular and dramatic ones were reserved for sequels that, apparently, we will never get.

3rd place – Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

In the history of cinema, there are many examples of supposedly ideal casting, but there are much fewer cases of synergy between the character and the actor that plays him. Often one completely overshadows the other. Today, no one recalls that Tony Stark in the comics was not at all a joker who was invented by Robert Downey Jr., and the talented Daniel Radcliffe, no matter how hard he tried, is still often called Harry Potter. But a movie adaptation Tomb raider – a rare example of the same synergy. Angelina Jolie is bigger than Lara Croft, and Lara Croft is bigger than Angelina Jolie, but together they merge into a person so charismatic that she can easily captivate the viewer and take out the whole movie.

Although it’s worth paying tribute to director Simon West – “Tomb Raider” pleases the eye not only with tricks performed by the main star. In the frame, either a Cambodian temple overgrown with vines, then the icy expanses of Iceland, which here depict Siberia, then beautifully built and atmospheric scenery. And the plot about ancient technologies, secret societies and the posthumous secret of Lord Croft is fully consistent with the spirit of the original Tomb Raider.

2nd place – Silent Hill (2006)

The reason for such frequent failures of game adaptations can be seen in the fact that they are entrusted to people who are completely indifferent to the games themselves. That actors, that directors often do not even bother to get acquainted with those projects that they have to transfer to the screen. In the best case, all assistants go through and take notes – for example, as Mark Wahlberg did before starring in Max Payne. But “Silent Hill” 2006 is an exceptional case. It was not created because Konami decided to weld on another popular brand, but because the French director Christoph Hans fell in love with the creation Team silent and for several years he begged the publisher to let him film the game.

Love did not stop the director from significantly redrawing the plot and mythology of the original Silent hill. Hans simplified the complex construction of religious allusions, esotericism and literary quotes to a story about the power of motherly love and the horror of its absence. However, the script in Silent Hill is secondary to how the film looks and sounds. There is almost nothing to complain about, because the team did everything possible to recreate the foggy town with its nightmares. Graphics are outdated in some places, but monsters created using animatronics, make-up and costumes are still terrifying. And it is accompanied by all the atmospheric tunes of Akira Yamaoka, without which Silent Hill simply can not be imagined.

And yet, it was Hans’s love for the franchise that saved the film from turning into a meaningless mass of references and cheap screamers, into which the sequel turned.

1st place – Mortal Kombat (1995)

In the filmography of Paul W. S. Anderson, there are enough disastrous pictures, like the last Resident Evil, and good ones Deadly Race and “Through the horizon”. But he is unlikely to ever surpass his second film – “Mortal Kombat.” At a time when gamers spat on psychedelic The Super Mario Brothers and laughed at the ridiculous “Street fighter”Anderson shot the first truly decent game adaptation.

The tape is as true to the spirit of Mortal Kombat as possible. Moreover, it was this film that set the tone for the gaming franchise — for nothing, was it almost reproduced frame by frame both in the 2011 fighting game and in Scorpio’s Revenge? This brutal near-eastern fantasy, in which Chinese and Japanese motifs are mixed with the aesthetics of American militants of the 80s. In “Mortal Kombat” there is an amazing choreography of battles, an ingenious soundtrack, respect for the source, a rich atmosphere, successful intersperses of humor, as well as infernal Carey Hiroyuki Tagawa in the role of Shang Tsung. In short, it has everything you need for an adaptation of Mortal Kombat. And even twenty-five years later, this film remains a measure of quality for game adaptations.

That’s all more or less successful feature films based on cult games. What films would you include in this collection? Perhaps you like Hitman or more like Lara Croft performed by Alicia Wikander? Write in the comments!