10 Video Games That Should Be Movies (And Who Should Direct Them)
3. Alex Garland's Deus Ex
The Game:
Deus Ex is a cyperpunk-themed first-person action RPG that begins on the brink of society's collapse in the year 2052. Mass class division and the worldwide spread of a lethal pandemic have global tensions at boiling point.
The only cure is a synthetic vaccine known as Ambrosia, though the manufacturer VersaLife enforce strict controls on the supply, with only those deemed vital to the social order allowed access to the shot while the rest are left to contend with the ravaging effects of Gray Death.
As the rich elite flourish the world over, mass riots break out all across Earth and a number of so-called terrorist organizations form with the intention of helping the common man, among them the National Secessionist Forces.
The player is in control of JC Denton, a nanotechnology-augmented agent assigned to tracking down the NSF, though when he learns that Gray Death is actually a man-made virus that his bosses profit from he must decide which side he really wants to be on.
Why Alex Garland?
Not because it sounds like Ex-Machina, if that's what your thinking, though that film is the biggest reason Garland deserves a shot at something bigger. The British director had a huge 2015, with his Oscar winning directorial debut making him an instant presence on the world stage.
What he did in Ex-Machina is remind us that intelligence transcends genre - this was a sci-fi film that dealt primarily in human (and non-human) emotion and captured the Zeitgeist in a unique way.
That being said, there was life before Ex-Machina for Garland. He penned The Beach, 28 Days Later and Sunshine for fellow Brit Danny Boyle, and he also wrote and produced 2012's Dredd, a film that isn't too dissimilar to Deux Ex in terms of style and content.
Perhaps the biggest plus point on Garland's CV is the fact that he has been entrusted with writing the seemingly difficult to adapt Halo, and if he pulls this off then he more than deserves his shot at helming his own blockbuster event.