Perhaps We're To Blame
The main problem is that videogames have already established the look of the project as well as the storyline so if you deviate from that too much you end up with something that is usually rather different from the game you are making a movie of. Making a movie that looks too much like the game just comes across as cheesy (see Mortal Kombat Annihilation and Street Fighter where the characters are all wearing the same costumes as the games … lame). It is a unique problem because it can’t look too different and it can’t look too similar so what is a studio supposed to do?
Already having the storyline burned into gamers’ minds is also a problem for videogame movies. We have already literally seen and done everything in the story so the thrill of seeing it all in live action wears off pretty quickly. And that is why we have videogame movies with original stories and characters set in the same universe as the game. You get the same feel, but a new story. Even these, however, fail to meet gamers’ expectations because the movies aren’t close enough to the videogame source material.
Basically what I’m saying is that one of the reasons videogame movies have failed so far is because of gamers themselves.
Why Can't They Just Make Movies Rather Than "Videogame Movies"?
Another reason why it is hard to make a good videogame movie is because writers and directors and producers try to make a clichéd “videogame movie” rather than actually trying to sit down and make a real movie. This is, again, in large part due to the unreasonable expectations of gamers, but if a movie studio actually dedicated the time and the money and the effort to make a real movie rather than just let some hack have their way with the license everyone would be a lot better off.
All indications so far show that the Halo movie will break this trend (It’s Peter-freaking-Jackson for cripes sake … and Microsoft knows better than to ruin Halo) so maybe other studios will learn something.
Lets Blame Uwe
Perhaps the biggest problem with videogame movies is producer/director Uwe Boll. House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, and BloodRayne are all hideously bad movies yet for some reason studios keep giving him more money to make more videogame movies. It is by no means official, but the IMDB has him listed as producer of a Dungeon Siege movie as well as Postal, Fear Effect, and Far Cry movies. He was rumored to have been sent a script for Metal Gear Solid, but Konami and Hideo Kojima himself shot that rumor down almost immediately.
Conspiracy theorists have speculated that perhaps it is a situation like in “The Producers” where the studios make more money by letting Boll make cruddy movies than if they actually put in the effort to make something good. There is also the theory that Boll is intentionally making horrible movies in the hopes that he’ll be some cult hero ten or fifteen or thirty years down the road like Ed Wood. What is most aggravating (and hilarious at the same time) is that in interviews (most recently on Spike TV’s Game Head) Boll insists that he makes great movies and doesn’t understand why critics and gamers dislike him so much.
Whatever the reasons are for producing such bad movies, the main problem is that he is giving the videogame industry and videogame movies in general a black eye. Videogames have some really great stories to tell that mainstream (non-gaming) audiences would really love but people see his horrible movies and other stinkers like Doom or Mortal Kombat Annihilation and don’t give videogames the respect we all know they deserve.
The Bottom Line
Unfortunately, there isn’t much we can do to combat the recent flood of poorly made videogame movies. Audiences have spoken with their wallets and not gone to the theaters to see these movies, but for whatever reason studios keep pumping them out. We can only hope that upcoming movies such as Halo, Silent Hill, and the oft rumored Metroid movie will right the ship.
Released Movies
- Street Fighter
- Super Mario Bros
- Double Dragon
- Mortal Kombat
- Mortal Kombat Annihilation
- Resident Evil
- Resident Evil Apocalypse
- House of the Dead
- Alone in the Dark
- BloodRayne
- Doom
- Tomb Raider
- Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
- Final Fantasy: Spirits Within
Upcoming Movies
- Halo
- Silent Hill
- Dead or Alive
- Spy Hunter
Announced Movies
- Metroid
- Driver
- Crazy Taxi
- Tekken
- Hitman
- Postal
- Splinter Cell
- Far Cry
For more information, check out the Internet Movie Database.
