10 Video Game Movies Better Than Warcraft

It looks like the upcoming Assassin's Creed movie holds our newfound hope for a decent video game movie, after critics have taken to savaging Duncan Jones' long-awaited Warcraft adaptation.

But how does Warcraft stand in the history of video game movies? Honestly, it's a middle-tier affair that is sadly bettered by at least ten prior efforts, most of which were themselves panned or at least given a middling reception from critics.

Still, these video game movies better-captured the essence of what their games were about while not sacrificing entertainment value for dispassionate faithfulness to the material.

Note that the likes of Wreck-It-Ralph and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World are intentionally excluded from this list because they're not adapted from a single, pre-existing video game property (awesome though they are).

As we recover from yet another disastrous game adaptation, here are 10 video game movies that are better than Warcraft...

At the time of its release, Prince of Persia was the most expensive video game movie ever made, and to date remains the most profitable by a fair margin.

While the film may be a fairly uneven adaptation of the source material, it did mark a major step-up for video game movies in terms of visuals, general production quality and casting (even if Jake Gyllenhaal's white-washing was fairly suspect).

Mike Newell directed the hell out of a fairly goofy script and delivered a spectacular blockbuster that didn't take itself too seriously but still captured the frantic, lavish essence of the video games.

Why It's Better Than Warcraft: For one, Newell is a far more confident director than Duncan Jones in terms of commanding a $150+ million budget, having a stronger handle on editing and imaginative shot selection in particular.

Also, the film is a lot more consistent visually, whereas Warcraft lurches from gorgeous Orc renderings to truly ugly live-action compositing.