No Right Answer: Worst Video Game to Movie Redux

[Firefilm]

Worst Video Game to Movie Redux

If you saw our first crack at this topic [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/no-right-answer/5511-Worst-Videogame-to-Movie-Adaptation-Ever], you know there truly is no right answer to this question. Course that won't stop us from taking another crack at it!

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[Vivi22]

That Street Fighter movie didn't do irreparable harm to the franchise. People would have had to actually watch it for that to happen. Not to mention Street Fighter 4 came out just before it and the franchise and fighting games became bigger than they'd ever been.

So if that is one of the requirements for a video game movie being the worst ever, it doesn't really qualify.

And the real right answer is that all video game movies suck. But a few are self aware enough that that's okay.

 

[theApoc]

The best adaptation in recent years is Doom. Not a great movie by any means, but it did the one thing most movies like this fail to do, it used the source material as the foundation as well as the color. It told its own story but used the core elements and some of the window dressing from the game. To me that is what pretty much every other movie like this fails to do.

 

[Scars Unseen]

I'm trying to think of a movie that was both enjoyable and faithful to the franchise it was adapted to. I mean the Resident Evil movies are good mindless fun, but they aren't even close to being true to the games. Advent Children was also a pretty fun watch, but it was mostly mindless exposition meant to play upon out nostalgia for the game rather than a serious attempt to channel the game's essence into a movie format.

 

[Trishbot]

The only time I have EVER verbally cursed out a movie with "Oh, that's Bull***!" was watching The Legend of Chun-Li where she does her "Spinning Bird Kick"... and every part of my being hated how badly they made it look.

 

[jdarksun]

I think at this point we can say that Hollywood (or at least, Marvel Studios) understands how to make comic books into movies.... the same just needs to be done for video games.

Which is to cherry pick the stuff that will translate well to a consumed (vs. interactive) visual medium, and translate (or fabricate) new things to make it work.

Part of the problem with video games is that the protagonists don't really experience an arc. They don't become better people. How does the Spartan from Halo become a better person in Halo 1? Where's his internal conflict?

On the other hand, something like Bioshock Infinite is ready-made to be a movie. It's almost there already.

...which actually may work against it. Prior to ... 1998's Blade, did we see any good superhero movies? Blade gave way to X-Men, from which followed Spiderman, and now we're looking at two Marvel Studios movies a year.

Games are already pretty cinematic. What would a live action version of Booker DeWitt get us?

 

[K.ur]

To be honest, i wouldn't know what counts to a the final fantasy franchise.
I know what goes to the "ff 7"-franchise, to the dissidia-franchise or to the tactic-franchise.
It's a big fiction universe like marvel. You have your street level and global-player. The wizards and scientist. On earth and off earth. Really, there isn't that much constant to pinpoint a franchise that the movie goes against.

 

[K.ur]

Prior to ... 1998's Blade, did we see any good superhero movies? Blade gave way to X-Men, from which followed Spiderman, and now we're looking at two Marvel Studios movies a year.

Which is why fox should go with a r-rated deadpool movie. Blade got a trilogy out of it and the source is already there. The family stuff is dominated by disney/marvel anyway. Just make it an "trible b"(my calling of high budget b movies).

 

[geier]

I realy get the feeling i'm the only one who generally enjoyed "spirits within".
On the other side, i never played a final fantasy game (the closest was Mystic Quest legend on the SNES), so for me it was just an animated scifi movie.

 

[RealRT]

The best adaptation in recent years is Doom. Not a great movie by any means, but it did the one thing most movies like this fail to do, it used the source material as the foundation as well as the color. It told its own story but used the core elements and some of the window dressing from the game. To me that is what pretty much every other movie like this fails to do.

I beg to disagree. They had the simplest job in the world: make a movie about a guy shooting demons from Hell on Mars and they didn't. Yeah, they had Karl Urban and Wayne Johnson and it sitll didn't save the flick.

Mortal Kombat is the only good VG adaptation so far.

 

[UNHchabo]

You get the guy who played the dad in the Lindsay Lohan twins movie?

I assume you were talking about The Parent Trap, in which case that was Dennis Quaid.

M. Bison, the man who you put on-screen was played by Neal [http://www.imfdb.org/images/thumb/5/51/Red2_08.jpg/600px-Red2_08.jpg] Freaking [http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100605022744/memoryalpha/en/images/1/1c/Hawk,_First_Contact.jpg] McDonough [https://lh3.ggpht.com/_eEzNOjrOo5I/TH__2lmmQwI/AAAAAAAAAR0/1-ZEhuM3VK8/s1600/1st_lt_lynn_buck_compton.jpg]

I haven't even seen The Legend of Chun Li, but I'm more than willing to give Neal McDonough the benefit of the doubt. If he didn't put forward a good performance in this movie, I'm going to blame the director.

 

[Elijah Newton]

Hunh. Not even a mention of an Owe Boll movie? ( Postal, House of the Dead, In the Name of the King, Blood Rayne, Far Cry, Alone in the Dark )

I'm not sure if I should admire your restraint or question your methodology.

 

[Ratty]

M. Bison, the man who you put on-screen was played by Neal [http://www.imfdb.org/images/thumb/5/51/Red2_08.jpg/600px-Red2_08.jpg] Freaking [http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100605022744/memoryalpha/en/images/1/1c/Hawk,_First_Contact.jpg] McDonough [https://lh3.ggpht.com/_eEzNOjrOo5I/TH__2lmmQwI/AAAAAAAAAR0/1-ZEhuM3VK8/s1600/1st_lt_lynn_buck_compton.jpg]

I just always remember him as "that guy from Band of Brothers" I'm not usually huge into propoganda movies but that miniseries was well done and had a really strong cast, and he was one of the standouts. Still from what I've heard of M. Bison's character in the Chun-Li film he's just a generic businessman rather than a Dictator, yeah I don't think anyone could have saved that.

 

[D-Soul]

I got to go with Sprits Within just being bad. I say it's only bad because Square slapped the "Final Fantasy" name and got everybody hopes up and also the plot just felt weak in my mind. Now if Square went of their way and named it something else beside what it is, we probably would say it's a bad CGI Movie, not bad (movie that has nothing to do with the video game franchise of the same name) movie.

Also I say the guys should of waited to upload this because the Need For Speed movie is coming out Friday and that looks like a Fast and Furious knockoff.

 

[Auron225]

I realy get the feeling i'm the only one who generally enjoyed "spirits within".
On the other side, i never played a final fantasy game (the closest was Mystic Quest legend on the SNES), so for me it was just an animated scifi movie.

Well at least 2 of us did. I quite enjoyed it and I have played many FF games. It did have jack all to do with the franchise but I enjoyed it for what it was; a film that actually made alien ghosts workable.

 

[Darth_Payn]

M. Bison, the man who you put on-screen was played by Neal [http://www.imfdb.org/images/thumb/5/51/Red2_08.jpg/600px-Red2_08.jpg] Freaking [http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100605022744/memoryalpha/en/images/1/1c/Hawk,_First_Contact.jpg] McDonough [https://lh3.ggpht.com/_eEzNOjrOo5I/TH__2lmmQwI/AAAAAAAAAR0/1-ZEhuM3VK8/s1600/1st_lt_lynn_buck_compton.jpg]

I just always remember him as "that guy from Band of Brothers" I'm not usually huge into propoganda movies but that miniseries was well done and had a really strong cast, and he was one of the standouts. Still from what I've heard of M. Bison's character in the Chun-Li film he's just a generic businessman rather than a Dictator, yeah I don't think anyone could have saved that.

I know Neal Freaking McDonough best as Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan of The Howling Commandos in Captain America: The First Avenger.

The best adaptation in recent years is Doom. Not a great movie by any means, but it did the one thing most movies like this fail to do, it used the source material as the foundation as well as the color. It told its own story but used the core elements and some of the window dressing from the game. To me that is what pretty much every other movie like this fails to do.

I beg to disagree. They had the simplest job in the world: make a movie about a guy shooting demons from Hell on Mars and they didn't. Yeah, they had Karl Urban and Wayne Johnson and it sitll didn't save the flick.

Mortal Kombat is the only good VG adaptation so far.

I like DOOM & the first Mortal Kombat, but one of the best and most game-accurate adaptation I've seen is Hitman, starring Timothy Oliphant.

 

[Goliath100]

Prior to ... 1998's Blade, did we see any good [comicbook] movies?

There was 4: Superman, Batman, The Crow & The Mask?

 

[ExtraDebit]

Games to movies was fun when games were 2D and heavily pixelized. Back then the idea of seeing gaming characters was a cool concept. But now games actually looked like movies, and we can control it while we watch! Why would anyone want to just plainly watch when they can watch and play?

Another point is a lot of games have poor material for a movie like most of the fighting games, mario, duke nukem, doom, etc. The story is there to give the game an excuse to kick ass and chew bubble gum, alot of it is a lame excuse of a cliche to begin with.

Games that have good story to be made into a movie doesn't NEED a movie, games like Mass Effect, Last of Us, Deus Ex......We already played the game and know all the plot and twist. We influence the story and cater it to our taste something movies can never do.

If they want to write different story base on a game universe that I can understand but making movies straight from the source material AND ignoring what the materials about that I don't get.

 

[Tanis]

I really enjoyed 'Spirits Within', as a sci-fi fantasy film.

I get the whole 'FF' did nothing to it, but I still think Spirits Within was a great movie for its time.

 

[GundamSentinel]

I realy get the feeling i'm the only one who generally enjoyed "spirits within".
On the other side, i never played a final fantasy game (the closest was Mystic Quest legend on the SNES), so for me it was just an animated scifi movie.

Well at least 2 of us did. I quite enjoyed it and I have played many FF games. It did have jack all to do with the franchise but I enjoyed it for what it was; a film that actually made alien ghosts workable.

+1 to people who liked it.

The story wasn't amazing and and the film overall had nothing to do with Final Fantasy, but it was fun, had a good cast and soundtrack and nothing stood out as being really 'bad'.

I'd rather watch Spirits Within than Advent Children any day of the week.