Films About Video Games

Can two different entertainment mediums possibly merge to create something novel and worthwhile? That is the question millions of people pour over as they watch video game franchises, stories, and characters they love and respect choke on the silver screen. Since the first generation of video game films hit theaters several decades ago, flop after commercial, franchise ruining flop have left film critics and game fans unfulfilled.

Video games have progressed in terms of story, art, and character, and many present themselves as entertainment blockbusters. Why, then, hasn't a single company or project made a serious advancement for bringing games to life as movies in a positive light? And, more importantly, how does the future look for these cross-platform movies? To understand the problem, and why game films still collect moans and negativity even before their release dates, an honest retrospective is key.

In the Beginning
Let's time warp to the late eighties and early nineties. Arcades are still doing well. Home game consoles are placing flaccid steps on the road to what they have become today. And the biggest gaming icon was Super Mario. The industry is showing nothing but promise, a fiscal promise that Hollywood sets its sights on. In 1993, Super Mario Bros. releases. Fans are excited to see their favorite plumbers on the big screen, and audiences don't know what to expect. It is the first film foray with a game as inspiration: hopes are high and optimistic.

What fans find is a universe bastardized in comparison to the one they love. The bright game worlds they played through are replaced by a gritty, joke-filled, charred landscape. Not only that, but the story is a far cry from the "save the princess" fare the games offered. Despite its large budget and decent performances, audiences are unimpressed with Super Maro Bros.

For the next several years more films based on hit arcade adventures of the day release. Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat get their shot, but fall prey to the same mistakes. Too much of the game world, story, and basics of the games themselves are substituted for clichés. Critics find noting inspiring or endearing with these "invading games" ruining a theater-going experience, and the negative feedback comes rolling in. It is because of these three large, hollow productions that even today video game fans, critics, and moviemakers dread creating and watching films with video game origins.

Part of the problems with these early ventures were in the video games themselves, troubles within their own fiction. The worlds and stories and characters of these games were minimal, and that is a generous statement. Games were simply coin-operated diversions, and hadn't yet been established in creating mythologies and scenarios that connected with gamers, and therefore, to a larger movie audience. Despite these setbacks, game companies and film producers braved the storm of letdowns and forged deeper into the game-to-film void.

Off Base
In the late nineties companies are bold enough to start more video game movie productions. By this time arcades are a thing of the past, at least from a monetary standpoint, and the focus is on home consoles, PC games, and connectivity. Games have come a long way in a very short time with newly emerged methods. There are franchises with dedicated fans, cartoon shows, product lines and new ways, of telling deeper stories with better characters. Things are more promising than the initial and inevitable failure run, but the old wounds never healed and fans and critics are wary for more game movies. Film versions of Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, and Resident Evil, all very successful games and universes, trudge into theaters. Again, responses are lukewarm.

The companies have more to work with. The budgets are assuredly still present. Characters are no longer one-dimensional bores. Lara Croft, the main character of TombRaider, is sassy and smart and clever, portrayed well by Angelina Jolie. While the film of her game adventures is closer to the feel of her games, again story and presentation is sacrificed for time-tested methods. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is an even larger letdown. By this time, the Final Fantasy name had spread for over ten games, with unique fantasy universes and stories. The film became a technical marvel, but the spirit (pardon the pun) of the games is transformed into a sci-fi nightmare.

Resident Evil games were all about killing zombies; the movie counterparts deliver this. But the filmmakers don't tap into the other potentials of what the games have to offer, and instead of hiring good screenplay writers, take the route marked with a history of mediocre revenues coped out for a quick slice of middle-class money pie. In short, things were still as dark - but not as embarrassing - for games questing to become films.

Bombs and Abominations
While several of the above mentioned films did even remotely well commercially, most were box-office paperweights. In the 2000s more game-to-film hybrids have released. Recently a film version of Silent Hill was made. Like Tomb Raider, it was close in feel to the game world, but in execution was hollow and flavorless. Despite this near success, game films have recently bordered on horrifying levels of idiocy and sub-standard execution the likes of which have not been seen since Super Mario Bros. One problem still seen is that more esoteric titles are chosen to be transformed into films, then are made very badly. One such filmmaker is Uwe Boll.

For someone claiming to be an avid gaming fan, he has been the director of the two worst examples of game films in the last ten years. These films were Alone in The Dark, the game of which is very atmospheric and fun, made corrupted by poor writing, acting, and clichés. Then Mr. Boll made BloodRayne, based on an average game universe with a vampire vixen, turned into a sexist, deplorable picture by any measure. Bad movies get made every year, but when games get mixed into such bad expositions, fans and viewers universally sob for the state of lost potentials that video game films seem to be stuck in.

Yet the blame cannot rest on just one man's terrible movies that continue to hurt the promising notion of a good game movie adaptation. Other recent releases, including Doom and DOA: Dead or Alive, have lowered the standards further. These films are not only insults to game films, they are insults to films as a whole. They not only disrespect the game worlds that fans enjoy and wish to see on screen, but insult the intelligence of the audience with poor excuses for scripts and care for creation. Where other game films have tried and bordered on getting at least certain aspects right, these recent examples pay no heed to mistakes of the past forays of this ongoing hybrid film experiment.

The Solution
It is clear that the state, creation, and reaction to game films have always been substandard since the inception of the idea. With such a bad history, how can fans ever expect to see their favorite games and universes on screen in good ways, and how will unfamiliar audience patrons ever see the potentials that games now hold as entertainment in the twenty-first century? The answers are quite obvious, and it is a dark omen that not even greedy executive heads have managed to see them.

Firstly, gamemakers, filmmakers, and fans have to be willing to compensate and compromise. Fans will always want to see the perfect representation of their games, but in the realm of Hollywood such dreams usually remain dreams. The gamemakers themselves, before committing to any agreement of production, need to vouch for creative input to keep things in check. They need to make sure that the experiences their game grants players in a visceral, hands-on way can still be enjoyed in the manner that movies establish. Then film companies need to understand that though the two mediums are similar, they should heed what the gaming public has to offer in order to silence the bad rap past endeavors have made unanimous with the term "video game movie." They need to think critically and say, "We haven't done it right on our own yet. Let's listen to their ideas more concretely to get it right."

Other entertainment mediums have made tremendous leaps onto the silver screen. Take for instance comic books, or even books in general. Plenty of films have been made to great avail off of the established universes and characters of books and comics. Numerous ones have even won industry awards. This is because there was always a fair bit of compromise. If an author is asked to have a film made of his/her work, they usually want some control over the script. As a compromise, a screenwriter may be asked to translate material to be better suited for the screen, and the author has permission to edit.

With comic films, though certain stories deviate from the source material, the visuals and characters leave fans happy. Recent examples are 300 and Spider-Man 3, both huge successes, the former of which is basically a frame-for-frame moving copy of the original work. As well, the people behind the original comics helped during production - a huge part of why they were made well.

Game fans must realize that both industries know how to do their jobs well. Game developers make fantastic visceral adventures; filmmakers make passive art. These compensations and agreements that have worked well for boos and comics to become films must now migrate to the game-to-film arguments. Only when compromises in script, character, involvement, and respect for original material materializes will fans have the reality of a decent, respectable video game film.

On The Horizon
The history of video game films is very muddled, full of unfulfilled wishes, and not even an ounce of merit for positive success. Even now more video game films are planned for the future. Many of the proposed franchises are huge in the gaming community, including Halo, Hitman, World of Warcraft, and Prince of Persia. In fact, for the first time, several of these game films will have fantastic film industry talent behind them. Jerry Bruckheimer will be operating Prince of Persia, and the Halo film (when it is out of financing limbo) will have Weta Workshop and Peter Jackson as producer.

Yet even with such respected talent there is only lingering hope that not even this generation of new game-to-film projects will break the curse. Fans demand that everything be perfect. Peter Jackson is said to be an avid Halo fan, but fans making films for other fans has a spotty record (Uwe Boll). In truth, it is impossible to see what lies ahead for the merging of the film world and the game world. With any luck, a new level of respectability and compromise will emerge, and the continuing pessimistic waiting masses will soon have a grand culmination of both mediums in the form of a video game film worth watching.