Poll: Are movies based on games even necessary?

[Dead Seerius]

I don't know about the rest of you, but when I hear someone talking about how much they want a Halo movie to be made I just shake my head. Nowadays, video games are practically movies in themselves! The only difference is that you get to experience it, not just watch it. When the plot has already been experienced, what's the point of making a movie adaption? Sure you could always stray from the game's plot, but then the fans (which would probably make up most of the viewing audience) would tear the film apart for being so different. It's a catch 22. On the other hand, you have film adaptions of not so story-based games like Mortal Kombat, and then they turn out to be shit. So should games even be made into movies?

(Tomb Raider may be an exception)

 

[FalloutJack]

Welcome to the industry in which men of business will do anything for money. Are video game movies necessary? No. Can they be done properly? Yes. Would the film industry benefit from video game movies being DONE well? Almost certainly. Have they been so far? Mostly not. There are exceptions to the rule. Street Fighter blew faster than Hurricane Katrina, but original Mortal Kombat was pretty good. (Annihilation sucked, of course, but what do you expect from borrowing the plot from MK3?) The point is, you can turn a profit and they CAN be pretty good. Most cases, though, directors are horrible at this.

 

[tippy2k2]

I think a video game movie can work but only this way: The Universe

We've already played the game with Character A, we don't need to watch the same plot with them in it. This is where I think Resident Evil fell apart. Once you started adding the game characters, there's no tension. We all knew that they wouldn't be willing to kill Claire Redfield or Jill Valentine so there's no tension at all. However, the Resident Evil universe is pretty interesting with Umbrella and the B.O.W's

One of the better game-based movies in my opinion was Silent Hill. No characters from the game (well, I suppose they were based on the first game but they weren't the same characters...or was that Cybil in the movie? Damn it, my best example and it's breaking my rule!...exception that proves the rule!)

Also, a budget that at least matches the damn game would be nice...

 

[karcentric]

I'm not really bothered, I'm sure some games would make good movies, but if they do make a movie based off a game, they shouldn't use identifiable characters from the game.

Cause there's bound to be some hardcore fan that while write in every forum they can about how it was all wrong...

Seeing as they haven't and most likely won't make a movie based on MDK I'm indifferent.

 

[frostay]

Stay true to and respect the source material.

 

[skywolfblue]

Some movies, like Tomb Raider and the Resident Evil movies are pretty good. Perhaps not "greatest movie of all time" material, but entertaining nonetheless.

So yes, I have no problem with games being made into movies.

 

[DementedSheep]

I don't really have anything against them but I'm usually not interested in them. Aside from the fact that they are generally horrible, I?ve already experienced the story thru the game. I don?t particularly want to go see a non interactive version of what I?ve already played thru unless they added a lot more to it or it?s a different story just set in the same world of the game.

 

[krazykidd]

No . They aren't done well , ever . However , games based on movies aren't all bad .

I think that games based on movies should always respect the lore and logic withingthe movie when making it . That elbeing said a silent hill-esq game bAsed on suckerpunch would be awsome .

 

[Terramax]

Depends on the franchise. Mortal Kombat worked as a film because it can be more enjoyable to watch two real people play fighting than playing it in a game. Also, with MK's case, the story in the game was so small an loose, it gave opportunities to expand on it i.e. the love between Sonia and Johnny.

Films can also be used as a way of introducing non-gamers to the medium. Whilst I hate the way the Silent Hill film has contributed to the dramatic fall in quality of later games, many people from the Silent Hill forums I've been to were introduced to the franchise by the film.

On a side note, why do people think Tomb Raider was even remotely a good film? Even when watching it in the cinema, at 14, when Tomb Raider was still all the rage, I felt short changed. None of the atmosphere, suspence or fear from the games were present. And Lara having a computer nerd sidekick, and fighting a cgi machine at her mansion? Really?

 

[Terramax]

And let's not ignore the elephant in the room: most game writing is terrible. There are a few studios and franchises that can be counted on for consistently solid writing, but think about how many games tell not a good story but a great one. The majority of game writing is still on the same level as B-movie drive-in fare.

I think you nailed the head on all of your post but I would like to elaborate on this point.

There are certain videogames where the stories are told through visuals and atmosphere as opposed to plot and dialog. The first Tomb Raider is a prime example of this. The game has pretty much no dialog and just a small number of cutscenes to string together a coherent way of taking Lara to various Tombs around the world.

The real story of Tomb Raider are the locations. The atmosphere and wonder. How were these places built? How did they fall and become forgotten? Even the action in the game derives from the horror of falling from a huge height, being impaled, eaten alive, etc. Very much the same emotions are evoked in Dark Souls.

But all of this is ignored in the film, replaced by cliched action sequences, a plot no-one cares about, boring dialog and shoehorned characters to make it more conventional. I think the film industry simply lacks the respect of videogame and fails to understand the beauty of how video games are able to tell a story visually, even symbolically, as opposed to talking heads holding our hands through beginning to end.

 

[Reaper195]

Sometimes. The Resident Evil movies have very little similarity with the games, but they're fuckin' cool. The first Tomb Raider movie was quite good, although I personally wasn't much of a fan of the second (And I've only played the first hour of the third game. Ever). DooM had next to nothing to do with the games aside from a singe character's name and a couple of the creatures. Yet I think it is one of the best horror/sci-fi movies to date (Although Event Horizon beats any other. Fuck the Alien series). Uwe Boll movies have been shit house, although I liked Alone in the Dark 1, and thought Postal was absolutely brilliant.

And in the end, it's entirely anyone's own opinion. Some people will think they are nothing but ways for companies to make more money (Which they are. Really...), and some think it's a different way of telling a similar story in a familiar setting.


Of course, no one will ever get what the fuck I mean since my top ten movies are almost the opposite of everyone else. I also think Michael Bay makes more entertaining movies than Christopher Nolan, that the Prequel Star Wars movies were cool (As was JarJar) and that I'd rather watch a movie with plenty of action than a drama movie about some dysfunctional couple....

 

[Vern]

I'm putting myself on the fire here, but I actually liked the Postal movie. Yes it was directed by Uwe Boll. But how many people here have actually seen it, and not just automatically hated it because he was the director? But then again, how many people have played Postal 2 and not hated it? I really liked Postal 2, yes it was immature, yes it was jackass, yes it was over the top. But it's still the best FPS sandbox I've played, and yes I still say it was fun to pour gasoline in the path of a marching band, light it on fire with a match, and then piss on their burning corpses. It was fun to shoot Osama Bin-Laden with a chemical missile. It was fun to chop off a zombie's head by throwing a boomerang machete at them. It was an absolutely ridiculous game, which took Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row a step further, and it had a great sense of humor. The movie reflected that, could've it been better? Yes. Could've I have gone my entire life without seeing Dave Foley's dick? Yes. But it was very close to the source material. Ridiculous, tasteless, and over the top. It worked.

In general, I don't like games made to movies, but I think Postal actually captured the game pretty well. It was tasteless, random, but was true to it's source. Now House of the Dead, that movie sucked. As did the Mario Brothers movie, Resident Evil, Prince of Persia. Yeah, pretty much every game to movie that I've ever seen. But Postal, for me, it worked.

*edit*
The Silent Hill movie wasn't horrible. Nothing like playing the game, but I didn't find it horrible. It had Pyramid Head ripping of a woman's flesh, so that's something.

 

[Random Fella]

It's better than having it the other way round
I despise games made after movies -.-
So indifferent really, it has potential, potential to be good and potential to be bad

 

[MetalMagpie]

Are any films "necessary"? Films based on video games can be fun (although they're often cheaply made and terribly written). And, in practice, most of them tell a different story to the game anyway.

Advent Children and Dead or Alive are both films of video games that I actually really enjoyed watching.

 

[SmilingWorlock]

I agree with those guys who said the IP is important. You cannot, YOU CAN NOT, make a movie with Gordon Freeman (although, I know the perfect actor works at our Surface lab, looks exactly like Gordon, but, and thats the funny part, has never even heard of half-life)
You can however take the background story of the combine invasion or black mesa or whatever and follow another character, just like they did in the original add ons. Then you just have to make a good movie (that's hard enough on it's own), and voilà (pardon my french ^^).

I kinda lost the question here. No, they are not necessary, as all fun and joy is just to push the cold thought of dead away. But they can be a good idea.

 

[deidara]

Even when video game movies turn out bad, and they do, if I'm a fan of the series I can usually still enjoy it as a guilty pleasure. Like the Tekken live action movie was so horribly inaccurate, but I was still entertained as it was Tekken. You'd think being a fan would make me hate it more, but it's really not that way for me.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

I would like a halo movie. You can focus more on the plot and things rather then just staying alive.
Also, no movie is necessary but they are still entertaining.

 

[WoW Killer]

And let's not ignore the elephant in the room: most game writing is terrible. There are a few studios and franchises that can be counted on for consistently solid writing, but think about how many games tell not a good story but a great one. The majority of game writing is still on the same level as B-movie drive-in fare.

I think you nailed the head on all of your post but I would like to elaborate on this point.

There are certain videogames where the stories are told through visuals and atmosphere as opposed to plot and dialog. The first Tomb Raider is a prime example of this. The game has pretty much no dialog and just a small number of cutscenes to string together a coherent way of taking Lara to various Tombs around the world.

The real story of Tomb Raider are the locations. The atmosphere and wonder. How were these places built? How did they fall and become forgotten? Even the action in the game derives from the horror of falling from a huge height, being impaled, eaten alive, etc. Very much the same emotions are evoked in Dark Souls.

But all of this is ignored in the film, replaced by cliched action sequences, a plot no-one cares about, boring dialog and shoehorned characters to make it more conventional. I think the film industry simply lacks the respect of videogame and fails to understand the beauty of how video games are able to tell a story visually, even symbolically, as opposed to talking heads holding our hands through beginning to end.

That's an very well put example.

And I agree with DrVornoff; the writing in most games is terrible. In fact I can't think of a single game with a genuinely good plot. Most games are written as cheap action flicks with the kind of dialogue seemingly intended for teenage boys. But even the more "intelligent" styled games are shocking from a literary perspective, with outrageous complexity, gratuitous clichés and abundance of Deus Ex Machina. That last one is a real pet hate of mine.