The Life of a Simple Gamer

Video Games Keep Going to the Movies

Movie adaptations of video games have rarely been noteworthy. The number of worthwhile game-to-movie productions is so low, in fact, it's a wonder why Hollywood still continues to produce them.

The earliest video game movie of which I am aware is Tron, a 1982 film that blended cutting-edge computer animation with live-action footage and never-before-seen lighting techniques. Although a good flick, it's not a "video game movie" in the conventional sense due to the fact it is not based on any particular video game of the period. The plot mainly revolves around Flynn, a former video game designer and programmer who gets dematerialized and then digitized into cyberspace by a hostile mainframe computer (known as the MCP, short for Master Computer Program). Once inside the computer, he joins forces with a program known as Tron to thwart the mainframe's plan of ultimately taking control of the world's computer systems (or something like that). Interestingly, the movie actually spawned two video games - Tron and Discs of Tron - that were both loosely based on the movie. Again, Tron was a visionary piece way ahead of its time in the early eighties, a period when most people barely understood what a computer itself was, let alone the tech-speak and high-brow concepts found in the movie. Because of this, the movie fared rather poorly at the box office, proving too esoteric and surreal for the average viewer. Even so, Tron still stands as one of the best "video game" films to date, and has gained a significant following over the years.

The next video game movie of significance is The Wizard, a film which many 80's-era kids remember fondly. The movie is essentially a ninety-minute Nintendo advertisement starring Fred Savage, the child actor best known for his role as Kevin Arnold on The Wonder Years television show. Unlike Tron, which is a good movie that never got the attention it deserved, The Wizard actually performed decently at the box office, but is not a particularly good film. It is more-or-less a road trip flick that happens to feature Nintendo games as a prominent theme, along with some predictable family comedy and drama. The highlight of the film is the climactic Video Game Armageddon Tournament scene that features what was then the first glimpse of the now legendary Super Mario Bros. 3. Back in those pre-Internet days, gamers had few outlets to turn to when seeking information on upcoming game releases. Super Mario Bros. 3 was one game EVERYBODY wanted to learn more about, but there was precious little info available outside an occasional blurb in Nintendo Power magazine. Thanks to The Wizard's memorable climax featuring the yet-to-be-released Super Mario Bros. 3, gamers everywhere got a few tantalizing glimpses of the game in action. The title would eventually become the top-selling Nintendo game of all time. Unfortunately, The Wizard has yet to be released on DVD here in the States (a German DVD-edition does exist).

After The Wizard, it took a few years before the next slew of popular games made it to the big screen. Some were poor and quickly forgotten, such as the Double Dragon movie that few today even know exists. Others, namely the Mortal Kombat movie adaptation, proved to be a modest hit among teenage audiences, despite it being a merely okay film. Perhaps the most notorious video game movie of this era, however, was the bizarre and, most would say, awful, Super Mario Bros. The Movie. Having virtually nothing in common with the games it was based on, the film was a dark, dreary fiasco, although in fairness, Bob Hoskins (Mario) and Dennis Hopper (Koopa) performed their parts as well as could be expected. But with the movie bearing no likeness to the property it was spawned from, critics and gamers alike rightly criticized it. The late critic Gene Siskel even called it the worst movie of 1993. Ouch.

The late-nineties and early 21st century saw other prominent games leap to the silver screen, the most successful of which were the 2001 Tomb Raider movie featuring the ever sexy Angelina Jolie in the starring role of Lara Croft. Like most game-to-movie productions, the film was rather mediocre, but audiences didn't seem to care, making the film the highest-grossing video game movie of all time. However, its sequel, 2003's Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, did not fare nearly as well, perhaps due to the declining popularity of the Tomb Raider games by that time. Another profitable film was the so-so 2002 Resident Evil movie, a modestly budgeted affair designed to appeal especially to teens looking for the latest thriller. The sequel, 2004's Resident Evil Apocalypse, was also a moderate success.

With so many video game movies performing poorly from both artistic and business standpoints, why do Hollywood studios continue churning out the pictures? Who knows, but thankfully, movies based on video games are finally improving, thanks in part to better scripts, bigger budgets and the fact that fans are beginning to demand that their favorite games be done justice on the big screen. The upcoming Doom movie, for instance, stars the Rock in a leading role, plus boasts reasonably high production values and, supposedly, a good script. We'll know for sure when it hits theaters in October. Other movies rumored to be in production include Halo, Metroid and another Tron (yes!). Any of these franchises would make fine movies if done properly.

If anyone catches the Doom movie next month, feel free to write in and let me know what you think of it! Until next time. . .

posted by GamerDan @ 9/25/2005 01:11:00 AM