Weekend Open Forum: Best and worst video game to movie adaptation

[Shawn Knight]

It’s no surprise that a number of technology enthusiasts also happen to be avid video game players. There have been countless gaming franchises over the years, many of which were successful enough to warrant a transition to the big screen.

The first game-to-movie I remember seeing was Super Mario Bros. way back in 1993 although I wasn’t a terribly impressed with it. Other notable theatrical releases include Mortal Kombat in 1995, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001, Resident Evil a year later and Max Payne in 2008. If I had to pick a favorite, it’d either be the first Resident Evil or Max Payne, perhaps because I was a big fan of both games.

With this week’s open forum, we want to hear about your favorite or least favorite video game to movie adaptation. Optionally, which game would you like to see made into a feature film?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/50840-weekend-open-forum-best-and-worst-video-game-to-movie-adaptation.html

 

[Benny26]

Hitman was probably one of the best I've ever seen. I thought the story and acting was very good and payed to the games really well.

Max Payne is undoubtedly the worst I've ever seen. The one based on Final Fantasy was also not really well done in my opinion.

 

[Trillionsin]

Personally, I would like to see some more of the Final Fantasy games into movies... I know that a lot of people are going to think I am stupid for this... but I got so wrapped up in some of the story lines...

 

[SirDigby]

If I'm honest, I hated the Mortal Combat film. It was terrible, bad acting, bad costume, bad camera quality, everything about seemed to scream to me 'DON'T WATCH THIS FILM', so after 5 minutes, I turned it off.
However, I'm quite partial to fantasy films and dark films, Lara Croft and Resident Evil were pretty good, RE1-2 were good, but I will say, I bought Max Payne on DVD from Amazon for quite a cheap amount, and I've tried to watch it about 4 times, and each of the times, I just loose concentration, I just can't watch it, maybe after reading this I'll give it another go, but I just can't watch it.

 

[Guest]

Street fighter with van damme from 1994!

"quick! change the channel!"

 

[agissi]

Haha as a child I thought the Street Figher and Mortal Combat movies were way cool. But Im sure now as an adult if I were to watch them for the first time with my expectations from the games I'd probably puke. But as a child they were great

 

[Jesse]

My favorite is definitely the first Resident Evil, but I also love the first Silent Hill movie.

Oh! And I think that a Mass Effect movie would be awesome!

 

[Guest]

I don't know if this was true to the game, cos I never played them, but silent hill is a great film.

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation was pretty crap

 

[Guest]

As a college student, I watched streetfighter (starring van damme, damn you)

 

[TomSEA]

I couldn't think of any I'd seen and even went to Wikipedia to see if I'd missed any. And I hadn't - I really haven't seen any game-to-movie adaptations. I know they all suck...LOL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_video_games

But if it could be done RIGHT (fat chance...), I think a Borderlands, Fallout or Mass Effect movie would be interesting.

 

[Ranger1st]

Hitman and Resident Evil both were/are great.

Streetfighter was tolerable ONLY because Kyle Minouge was Cammy.. everything else was shite in the movie.

 

[Guest]

All the videogame movies are reaaaaaally bad, are you ppl blind or something? if we continue like this soon we are going to need license to see or put movie scores.

 

[Guest]

Actually, van damme's street fighter was quite funny and I think that makes it more entertaining than one would expect

 

[mailpup]

Although it wasn't the worst movie adaptation IMO, Doom could have been done a lot better.

I wouldn't mind seeing Homeworld (the original) made into a movie.

 

[davimous]

I quite enjoyed Halo: Forward Unto Dawn. I dunno if it classifies as a movie but its at least decently put together. I still love the first mortal combat but I'm not sure if its just nostalgia. The Mario Bros movie was pretty bad though.

 

[Tekkaraiden]

Hitman and Resident Evil both were/are great.

Streetfighter was tolerable ONLY because Kyle Minouge was Cammy.. everything else was shite in the movie.

I hope you meant Kylie Minogue.

I actually enjoy Mortal Kombat, it has just the right amount of 90's cheese.

 

[TS-56336]

Probably the worse among the video-game-to-film genres are those of director Uwe Boll's (House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, BloodRayne, In the Name of the King).

On the other hand, I'm in favor of Final Fantasy: The Spirit's Within and Max Payne. Two of my favorites when Playstation 2 reign supreme.

 

[captaincranky]

Probably the worse among the video-game-to-film genres are those of director Uwe Boll's (House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, BloodRayne, In the Name of the King).

You can't actually "watch" a Uwe Boll movie per se, the correct term is, "endure, with prejudice"...!

This:

was possibly the worst movie of all time, spanning all categories.

I only took away two things from suffering through it:

1. Natassia Malthe should have left her shirt on. Boll can't even make a vampire lesbian scene that doesn't cause you to avert your eyes from the screen in disgust.

2. Uwe Boll needs to give up making movies, and find a suitable avocation. For example, riding shotgun on a garbage truck.

The only possible way to feel somewhat clean after watching this movie is to , take a shower, wash your hands repeatedly, reformat your hard drive, and microwave the DVD.

Moving on, "Mortal Kombat", (as "Mortal Kombat: Conquest"), was a short lived TV series, It ran one season, 22 episodes, and sported the unhappiest ending I've ever witnessed. It's almost impossible to find the DVD set nowadays. It's become something of a collector's item.

Kristanna Loken was in that series, as well as the first (3?) "Blood Rayne" movies. I think an infatuation with carbohydrates may have prevented her from appearing in any more. Either that, or she wised up, and decided there were some things that shouldn't be done, even if there's money involved.

I enjoy the "Resident Evil" movies, mostly because of Milla Jovovich's "Alice". At 16 years of age, she was a more than worthy successor to Brooke Shields in, "Return to the Blue Lagoon".... (If you go in for that sort of thing).

 

[bugejakurt]

I'm looking forward for the new Assassin's Creed movie!

 

[TS-56336]

You can't actually "watch" a Uwe Boll movie per se, the correct term is, "endure, with prejudice"...!

This:

was possibly the worst movie of all time, spanning all categories.

I only took away two things from suffering through it:

1. Natassia Malthe should have left her shirt on. Boll can't even make a vampire lesbian scene that doesn't cause you to avert your eyes from the screen in disgust.

2. Uwe Boll needs to give up making movies, and find a suitable avocation. For example, riding shotgun on a garbage truck.

The only possible way to feel somewhat clean after watching this movie is to , take a shower, wash your hands repeatedly, reformat your hard drive, and microwave the DVD.

Moving on, "Mortal Kombat", (as "Mortal Kombat: Conquest"), was a short lived TV series, It ran one season, 22 episodes, and sported the unhappiest ending I've ever witnessed. It's almost impossible to find the DVD set nowadays. It's become something of a collector's item.

Kristanna Loken was in that series, as well as the first (3?) "Blood Rayne" movies. I think an infatuation with carbohydrates may have prevented her from appearing in any more. Either that, or she wised up, and decided there were some things that shouldn't be done, even if there's money involved.

So in other words, it made you a little too unclean having watched Boll's films? You know what, you and me both.

Looking forward for the Splinter Cell and Need for Speed film adaptations by the way.

 

[TS-56336]

I couldn't think of any I'd seen and even went to Wikipedia to see if I'd missed any. And I hadn't - I really haven't seen any game-to-movie adaptations. I know they all suck...LOL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_video_games

But if it could be done RIGHT (fat chance...), I think a Borderlands, Fallout or Mass Effect movie would be interesting.

The Mass Effect movie is in talks for casting for a long time.

 

[BMfan]

Really enjoyed resident evil,Silent Hill and The Hitman movies.

The worst one for me is Bloodrayne which might be over taken by the Uncharted movie
if it actually has Marky Mark playing the lead role.

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

Bad:
Hitman movie was horrible. Max Payne was really bad. Resident Evil comes nowhere close to the actual story of the game besides zombies.

Moderate:
Silent hill movie was near it but needed work. Tomb raider ill let slide.

Ok:
Prince of Persia: Sands of time was alright.

 

[psycros]

I've yet to see a game properly adapted for the screen, although I typically avoid those films. I've seen the first two Resident Evil and Mortal Kombat films - all crap. Tomb Raider I and II were barely tolerable. I'd say Prince of Persia was the pick of the litter, and it was at the bottom end of what I consider watchable. I've also seen the first two D&D films, if those even count, as well as Battleship: neat concept, incredibly bad execution. No idea how it got greenlighted, ugh. I'm honestly not sure if I've seen any more game movies although my friends have seen a lot. They've found all of them laughably bad. I will say that very few games are suitable for the cinematic treatment. Story is paramount, and so is proper suspension of disbelief. If I could pick three games for serious, big-budget adaptations, these would be my choices:

Star Control: Battle Beyond the Stars meets Battlestar Galactica (closer to original BSG in tone). A grand adventure with as much character development as you could squeeze into a trilogy. I'm talking Star Wars for a new generation here.

XCOM: it would be tricky, but man..if you could pull it off. Main character could be a new recruit, probably no higher rank than lieutenant whose selfless heroics should have gotten him killed in battle. Sudden interference from aliens that only he witnessed spares him, but his refusal to deny the truth seemingly kills his career. He ends up being transferred to the XCOM project, where all the former black ops and elite troops look down upon him..all but one, a somewhat unbalanced Delta Force op who claims aliens abducted his teammates several years earlier..

OK, I'm torn on #3. Its a tie between Fallout, Duke Nukem and Half-Life.

 

[Guest]

HITMAN hands down! I've watched it at least a half a dozen times, awesome movie.