It only makes sense for Hollywood to turn highly popular video games into movies. They’ve got plenty of action, otherworldly settings–and a built-in audience just itching to see their favorite game on screen.
What they don’t always have, unfortunately, is a good plot (except perhaps Resident Evil–see below). Still, they keep ‘em coming because if the likes of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider can make $131 million at the box office, then there’s always hope.
The latest game to hit the big screen, Silent Hill, sounds somewhat intriguing, however. Its a story about an eerie and deserted ghost town which draws in a young mother, Rose (Radha Mitchell), desperate to find a cure for her only child’s mental illness. However, after getting into a car crash right outside the town, Rose’s little girl goes missing, so the mother sets out on a search. Walking into fog-covered Silent Hill, she soon not only learns the history of the strange town but discovers its sinister secrets as well. And it isn’t pretty.
We take a gander at the best, the worst and the what-were-they-thinking? in video-game adaptations.
The Best
Resident Evil (2002)
Probably the best adaptation to date–for the zombie factor alone–Resident Evil combines a creepy apocalyptic premise about a virus run amok with a kick-ass, super-mutated female assassin (Milla Jovovich) who doesn’t know how deadly she can be. Plus the visuals rocked. Zombie Doberman Pinchers whose skin is turned inside out? Excellent.
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
One of the first CGI-animated films to attempt real people, Final Fantasy is certainly the most ambitious video-game update. It captures the essence of the game succinctly with the big menacing, translucent alien bugs turning Earth into a desolate wasteland while the remaining humans try to protect it. But the storyline veers off into some far-fetched mumbo jumbo towards the end, leaving those who are not deeply invested in the Fantasy lore a little confused.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
Ah, what would this movie be without the luscious Angelina Jolie, embodying one of the hotter video-game heroines ever? A big fat nothing is what. This movie is all about Jolie as Lara Croft, an Indiana Jones-style adventurer with daddy issues who is smart, wily and able to get herself out of some pretty sticky situations using only a high-powered gun and a whip. Gotta love that. But it only worked once. By the time the hackneyed follow-up, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, came around in 2003, we had moved on.
Mortal Kombat (1995)
One of the first of its kind, Kombat‘s fantastical game plot easily translated to the big screen, involving evil sorcerers and human warriors wielding martial arts skills to reclaim Earth from the clutches of the superhuman foes in the Outworld. Popular enough to spawn to three sequels, including Mortal Kombat: The Annihilation, this is just one of those fun franchises that can do no wrong for its loyal fans.
The Worst
Doom (2005)
There were high hopes for this one, but in the end, not even The Rock could save it. Although a popular game that allows you to blow the bejesus out of all manner of nightmarish creatures, as a movie, it simply comes across as a tired retread about a distant outpost on Mars, where scientists have unleashed a door to Hell, or whatever. It was Doomed from the start. You do have to give the movie one prop, though: it’s the first video-game adaptation that actually gives audiences the perspective of playing the game.
Bloodrayne (2006)
Oy. You’d think a story about warrior vampires and the such could make for at least a somewhat interesting movie. But with a sketchy plot, weak dialogue, overblown characters and an obscene amount of gore, Bloodrayne is just one big bloody disaster. Even video-game geeks will find this film unsatisfying and dull.
Wing Commander (1999)
Come on, we all know this couldn’t work, right? I mean, the game is strictly for those who like to fly around in space shooting things. If we wanted a movie about that, all we have to do is watch Star Wars. It also didn’t help Commander starred Freddie Prinze Jr. as a crack-ace pilot. Please.
What The…?
Super Mario Bros. (a film Bob Hoskins wishes would disappear forever) and Alone in the Dark (ditto for Christian Slater). Enough said.
As a side note, there are also the movies that are turned into video games to consider. For example, The Chronicles of Riddick, the Vin Diesel sequel to Pitch Black, failed miserably at the box office but became a big hit in the gaming world. All the Harry Potter movies have become successful video games, as have most of the Pixar animated movies such as Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. And if the creative gaming minds are paying attention, the recent horror flop Stay Alive–about a video game that actually kills its players, like, for real–could be the next big thing in video games. If anyone dares to play it, that is [maniacal laugh ensues].
But wait, there’s more! We’ve got a big-screen version of Tekken, another high-flyin’ martial arts game, coming up. And Halo, directed by Guillermo Del Toro and produced by Peter Jackson, due out next year. Remember, that’s the game that turned all xBoxers into blurry-eyed zombies when the newest version came out last year.
Speaking of which, where’s my game controller? I need to shoot me some mutant freaks NOW!
