Movies inspired by video games are well-known for their ability to disappoint their audience.
Movies like Mortal Kombat, Doom and Max Payne didn’t live up to their hype. People were expecting a movie that did justice to their respective games – what they got in return was Doom’s extremely dark screen, a close up of Mark Wahlberg’s face during what should have been Max Payne’s most intense shootout, and Mortal Kombat’s cheesey dialogue.
This doesn’t necessarily mean video games can’t be made into movies: Resident Evil, Prince of Persia and Tomb Raider turned out to be pretty successful.
Here is a list of 5 current-gen video games that should be made into movies. These were picked with regards to the potential of satisfying its audience based on story, visuals and originality…
5. Sleeping Dogs
If you’ve played Sleeping Dogs (formerly True Crime: Hong Kong), then you know the potential this game has as a movie. If you watched the Sleeping Dogs live-action fight film, then you were probably one of the people who had that little voice in the back of their heads saying, “I want more!”
Not only did the game have a fantastic plot, but its emphasis on combat could make the next movie a box office hit. There aren’t many American martial arts films released in theatres nowadays as Jackie Chan and Jet Li have retired, but if this game is made into a movie; not only would it have little to no competition but it would attract its initial fanbase plus martial arts movie connoisseurs.
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15 Comments
I have to say, decent choice of game-based movie list! I think the two movie choices I would agree the most with would be Halo and Bioshock. As for Halo, the major issue would be to find an actor who could bring the Masterchief to life the way Tom Hardy gave such emotional presence to Bane in TDKR. Although in comparison, one might say Hardy had it easy with Bane since his eyes were not hidden by wearing his mask :P. As for Bioshock, now that’s a movie I would definitely pay to see. Not sure if you’re aware but a book (titled ”Bioshock”) relating the events that led to the creation of Rapture (and lated its downfall) is available in most good bookstores. Although the game itself was mesmerizing, I seldom found myself wondering how simple men and women were able to build such a marvel or art deco architecture and scientific advancement at the bottom of the Atlantic sea, how they lived and thought, etc. A great prequel and it might actually be what Bioshock really needs, an origin story.
That’s what I was thinking! Bioshock is probably one of the greatest classics of this generation and being told about “life before” in the previous game made me want to actually experience it.
The beauty of these kind of lists is that everyone will have a different opinion. I agree with your list but here are my top 5.
1. Uncharted (series)
2. Metal Gear Solid 4
3. Resistance (series)
4. Bioshock
5. God of War (series)
Haha, I don’t have a PS3 so I couldn’t add those games into the list as I didn’t really experience their story. I was thinking of adding Uncharted as I heard reviews from friends of mine, but then again I wanted to experience the game and I didn’t really have a chance to.
I wasn’t really thinking it before, but, now that you mention it, Bioshock would be very good (if it was done right).
I agree. If the script proves to be too ‘sub-par’ then I’d prefer no movie at all.
I for one would like to see Deus Ex as a movie. The themes it deals with, both existentially, politically and morally, is important and besides the obvious scifi setting is an ever relevant thing as humans strive for perfection in any way, where do the lines go as to what defines a human being and a machine? Coupled with some awesome action sequences this would be a sweet sensation to watch.
YES! I was seriously going to put that on the list, but it contended with Bioshock and I had to choose the more popular games just because I knew more people wanted it. Other than that, I was thinking exactly what you were. What makes a human, human? The other day I watched a video about a robot begging not to be taken apart by a human being. The human being felt sorry for it and allowed her to proceed through the production line. It was really emotional and I wish I could remember the video name
Love the list! I would especially love a Bioshock movie! I would love a Red Dead movie as well but I feel like they would have to cut out so many aspects of the story or they would just scrap it all together and re-write it and it would be terrible as is tradition with these projects. However if they made Red Dead into a TV series it would be golden. We need a good western series.
Awesome idea! Yeah, I’d prefer a TV Series over a movie any day! More time to develop characters and really get a ‘feel’ for them. Bioshock is one of my all-time favourite games so they’ll really have to nail it to impress me. Kinda sucks that the guy who was supposed to direct it couldn’t though – I loved PoTC.
Exactly! And yeah Bioshock is such an amazing and interesting experience, getting that the look and feel would have to be perfect!
My opinion is no to all of them. Hollywood are notorious for allowing hack directors like Uwe Boll to ruin most videogame movies and leaves a bitter taste for the fans’ months. Sometimes these movies do no favours for the game sales which they portrayed. Hollywood should leave videogames alone.
I get where you’re coming from and I respect that. They really disappointed me with Max Payne. I expected what made the game great – a story and tons of shooting. All I got was a total of 10 shots fired throughout the whole movie. How unfortunate.
Very true, i agree. If they want to make a game movie so badly, look to the many Assassins Creed movies made via CGI.
I’ve heard this Red Dead as a movie idea before and here is why it will not work: Red Dead Redemption is a homage to the longest running genre in American film. Film genres go in and out of fashion over time and as a result go through a four stage cycle. The primitive stage (where the “rules” so to speak are defined) > The Classic stage (when a genre is at its peak of both popularity and conformity) > The Revisionist stage (where people look at the genre and change things for effect, or come at it with post-modernism) > and lastly The Parody stage (Blazing Saddles).
After this has happened all that can happen is people dip into which ever stage they like best. Clint Eastwood’s 1992 revisionist classic The Unforgiven is a great example of a modern western that shares the values of the genre from the 70s. Seth MacFarlane is directing a western comedy as we speak that will undoubtedly spoof many of the cliches of the genre. The rather po faced Appaloosa dived right back to the classic era and rather rigidly stuck to the rules there. As did the Coen Brothers to much better effect with True Grit.
My point is Red Dead draws in all of this, every single era and compresses it into a 20 hour gaming experience (not to mention a rather superb multiplayer component) that ticks every box the genre has to tick. Why? Because no game had given us this before. No game has. Film has given us all of this, in such vast quantities that audiences are very full. Tarantino’s Django Unchained works so well because he has taken this tired genre and looked at an aspect of that period that Hollywood neglected, the slavery that so defined the south. That is the only thing that makes it worth while, because other directors have already done the post modern spaghetti western homage (see The Quick and The Dead, or High Plains Drifter). If Red Dead would bring an original tale to the genre, it would be worth doing, but the story of Red Dead is designed around cliches.
Otherwise, I agree with your choices. Rant over.