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Game > Movie. Should they stop it?
- Thread starter Myoclonic Jerk
- Start date
The iDOLM@STER movie is the best videogame movie.
Accept no substitutes. The final concert is a sight to behold. Gave me chills.
Do they sing this song at the concert?
DiipuSurotu
Banned
Aside from the first game and maaaaaybe III, none of the SF games take themselves seriously...
Psamtik. Death's Demise
Banned
Super Mario Bros. is wretched, but there's mild fun to be had in watching Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper, both acutely aware that they're way too good for the material, try to wring something entertaining out of it. Also way too good: the animatronic Yoshi, which gets surprisingly little screen time considering it looks like it cost half the budget.
Seriously, though - so many games lift locations, visual designs, plot elements, even lines of dialogue from existing films that their adaptations are doomed to feel like copies of copies.
Seriously, though - so many games lift locations, visual designs, plot elements, even lines of dialogue from existing films that their adaptations are doomed to feel like copies of copies.
Yes, it's also literally how not to make an interesting movie.
From what I've seen reported the majority of the film will be spent outside of the simulations, so maybe that's for the best
Chû Totoro
Member
The sad thing for me is that even Wreck-It Ralph was not good :/
And they had the freedom to make the story they wanted. They just had the chance to use some iconic characters but failed to make something good with it.
Not a bad movie for sure but not good too. I assume average would be perfect here (yeah I'm a genius lol).
And they had the freedom to make the story they wanted. They just had the chance to use some iconic characters but failed to make something good with it.
Not a bad movie for sure but not good too. I assume average would be perfect here (yeah I'm a genius lol).
Experimenter
Member
Should we count Wreck-It Ralph as a game based movie? Because it's great.
Iztok Mravlja
Banned
Early impressions of Warcraft don't seem too good, either :\ I was hoping it was just the trailers that were bad (and boy were they), but no.
Spring-Loaded
Member
You can make a good movie about anything.
Chû Totoro
Member
lol
Sorry for my post then. I guess I missed something :/
But no I don't think it should be counted as a game based movie, it's just that since they had more freedom I thought they could do better (but hey, you liked it so a lot of others may have too... maybe the sequel, if any, will be good for me too).
I at least remember it being decent, although I was like 16 when I saw it last so it's entirely possible it's a nasty case of rose-colored glasses.
Please.
The actual song was a M@STERPIECE!
Of course the advantage the iM@S movie had was it was aimed solely at fans (it was a continuation of the TV adaptation) so it didn't have to try and appease the masses thus it could throw you into a world assuming you already knew who was who and what was what.
supermarioworldE
Banned
It's either a lack of knowledge/passion for the source material, or a miniscule budget. Then there are just bad film makers overall.
I think it's entirely possible to make a good vgm, but all the right pieces have to be in place. The current best imo is Mortal Kombat, as it was made with a respect for the source material while still being an entertaining movie overall. Can I call it a good movie though? No. But if more filmakers actually had the talent, passion, and a respectable budget, I dont see why it cant happen.
I think it's entirely possible to make a good vgm, but all the right pieces have to be in place. The current best imo is Mortal Kombat, as it was made with a respect for the source material while still being an entertaining movie overall. Can I call it a good movie though? No. But if more filmakers actually had the talent, passion, and a respectable budget, I dont see why it cant happen.
That would be Street Fighter the Movie the Game. Ironically the Street Fighter II anime movie released earlier that year was really good and Capcom drew on it heavily for Street Fighter Alpha.That must have been recently, right? Didn't follow anything Ratchet and Clank related.
The one I was searching for was something that happened years ago. Not important, just found it funny.
TheChewyWaffles
Member
I liked the original Resident Evil movie well enough. The rest were garbage.
Big games based on movies also seem pretty dead. Mostly they just get something cheap on mobile.
Taking the franchise (like EA does with Star Wars) and telling your own story seems much better suited for making a good game than trying to implement the narrative of a movie into a game.
Taking the franchise (like EA does with Star Wars) and telling your own story seems much better suited for making a good game than trying to implement the narrative of a movie into a game.
so the problem is that most games aren't story-driven, they're gameplay driven
and the ones that are story driven tend to just ape hollywood blockbusters badly anyway
the problem is that, unlike with books or comics, they're trying to adapt stories from a medium that generally doesn't actually care about telling good stories.
this is not a criticism of video games, by the way. it's just that games tend to have different goals, and the place that game stories shine is in giving the player the ability to affect the story themselves
and the ones that are story driven tend to just ape hollywood blockbusters badly anyway
the problem is that, unlike with books or comics, they're trying to adapt stories from a medium that generally doesn't actually care about telling good stories.
this is not a criticism of video games, by the way. it's just that games tend to have different goals, and the place that game stories shine is in giving the player the ability to affect the story themselves
I think this Extra Punctuation article summarizes my feelings rather well
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/art...070-Let-s-Stop-Making-Video-Games-into-Movies
Most of the time adapting games into film barely makes any sense beyond raw brand recognition. Especially today when the presentation of the narrative in AAA games is barely even distinguishable from cinema. The yearning for film adapations mostly seems to be another outlet for fan validation due to the ridiculous inferiority complex that still pervades gaming.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/art...070-Let-s-Stop-Making-Video-Games-into-Movies
Most of the time adapting games into film barely makes any sense beyond raw brand recognition. Especially today when the presentation of the narrative in AAA games is barely even distinguishable from cinema. The yearning for film adapations mostly seems to be another outlet for fan validation due to the ridiculous inferiority complex that still pervades gaming.
The narrative in AAA games is barely distinguishable from cinema if all of cinema was Lord of the Rings, and all those movies started with the council of Elrond and ended at Mount Doom. The reason games to movies suck instead of simply being derivative, is that they suck at storytelling. Not that they're similar to it.
Winterblink
Member
The first Resident Evil movie tried pretty hard to be good. If you listen to the commentary tracks on the DVDs, the director made the cast play the first game to get an understanding of what they were trying to achieve, and he was a pretty big fan of the series to begin with. He riffed on camera angles used in the game, and tried to nail the overall mood and aesthetic as best he could. Milla Jovovich was also a big fan of the series as well, and wanted to make the character and movie work well.
It's not a PERFECT adaptation but it did a pretty good job at being a video game movie in my opinion. In my opinion it's key to have a cast that's on board with what the video game was trying to achieve before getting into a movie adaptation, and that goes 10x for the director and producers. Because that never really happens, I think that's why you get these abysmal piles of shit.
It's not a PERFECT adaptation but it did a pretty good job at being a video game movie in my opinion. In my opinion it's key to have a cast that's on board with what the video game was trying to achieve before getting into a movie adaptation, and that goes 10x for the director and producers. Because that never really happens, I think that's why you get these abysmal piles of shit.
shadow_shogun
Member
This is the best video game movie adaptation to date IMO.
The iDOLM@STER movie is the best videogame movie.
Accept no substitutes. The final concert is a sight to behold. Gave me chills.
You know, I think the only video game movies I've enjoyed were this and Ace Attorney. Some games are easier to adapt onto the screen, I guess.
Winters_Solace
Member
I'm still pretty excited to see how TLoU movie turns out. Though apparently it was/is stuck in development hell
sixteen-bit
Member
Assassins Fist level stuff is fine imo
Uhhh WoW released in Q4 of 2004.
I know we should TOTALLY not adapt old things... I mean imagine if they made movies out of those LoTR books, things are ANCIENT!
And comic books?
I mean going on almost 100 years, time to move over gramps!
Jawmuncher
Member
Thread needs more dead or alive, possibly the worst movie ever made
I actually didn't mind DoA or Tekken for what they were.
phant0m
Member
This is the best video game movie adaptation to date IMO.
Yes and no. It's verbatim the storyline of the first game (shows the end of case 1 and 3 and goes through most of cases 2 and 4 as the meat of the movie) so you have the weird problem of the movie completely ruining the game if you've never played it. Likewise, if you've played the first game you know absolutely everything that's going to happen in the movie which also completely kills any sense of tension. It's like the game and the movie are good independently, but they ruin each-another so you can only really fully enjoy one or the other. I swear they must have lost the script they were going to work from and since they were going to start shooting in like 5 minutes they printed out a walkthrough from GameFAQs and worked with that.
More_Badass
Member
You can make a good movie about anything. That fact that they're game adaptations isn't the problem. The problem is that they're poorly-made movies, that usually just throw the imagery from a game onscreen for no reason other than because it looks cool in the game. They tend to be "Stuff from the game in live action" rather than trying to craft a good movie based on the concepts and ideas of a game
Assassin's Creed is doing it right. Doing its own thing and not being a slave to the game is the only way to do it right.
Assassin's Creed is doing it right. Doing its own thing and not being a slave to the game is the only way to do it right.
RipperGrim
Member
Lol okay, Assassins in the past, the whole concept of Assassins Creed and why it's famous is boring now. I'm sure all the fans of the games also agree, they were like "Hey why am I playing as this Ezio idiot?! He's boring, lets go back to Desmond!". If you think basing movie off of a league of Assassins who in the past influenced world events is completely boring and has no potential as a movie then I don't what to say.
You and possibly the people who are making this movie have no clue what the fans want from this film. Always has been the issue with games to movies.
EventHorizon
Member
Game content is ill suited for movies. Think about it. Games typically have the protagonist doing the same set of actions over and over again where ultimately the odds are in the player's favor. On the other hand a movie typically involves the protagonist overcoming an unique situation against the odds in a novel way.
The best way to to do a game movie tie-in is to ironically disconnect the two. One can borrow from the elements of the other but they must stick to the strengths of each media. A movie can take place in a game's universe, but it must be a movie first and foremost.
The best way to to do a game movie tie-in is to ironically disconnect the two. One can borrow from the elements of the other but they must stick to the strengths of each media. A movie can take place in a game's universe, but it must be a movie first and foremost.
Winterblink
Member
I had the default cringe when I heard they were making an AC movie, and after seeing the trailer (minus the shitty choice of music) I was pleasantly surprised. Sure they're hitting all the AC tropes in the trailer, that's obviously to market to fans of the game and to interest a wider audience. But it looks like they're putting some good effort into making sure there's a solid story and cast, and that it's not a copy/paste job of AC1's story.
GifGafIsTheBestGaf
Member
they really should just involved the people that created or knows the IP, sounds like that's the problem with these games/movies most of the times
More_Badass
Member
There it is. What the fans want, and what makes a good movie that can support a franchise in a medium designed for narrative rather than gameplay are two very different things
Making a movie for fans is why most video game adapations suck in the first place. Because they just throw in the imagery of the games onscreen with not much consideration for making a solid movie. The fans clearly want to see Pyramid Head and nurses, or think Las Plagas and Leon are cool, let's just squeeze those things into the movie.
No, if you want to make a series of movies based around exploring different time periods, you can't make the main character a different person each time. Then it's just a loosely connected anthology. That works in the game becaus that means a cool new world to explore, and new weapons, and whatnot, which is why the present stuff is practically nonexistent now so they can just make games in different settings
But in something where story is king, in a movie for an audience that likely knows nothing about Assassin's Creed, the focus on the present gives the franchise a single hero for people to root for and be invested in, a drive and motivation for going to the different time periods while still revolving around our hero's own struggles, and a multi-movie arc (normal guy becomes a master assassin and defeats the evil corporation)
Remember, the past stuff is the focus of the gameplay, but in the scope of the actual overarching narrative of the series, the only reason why the Animus exists is to service the agendas of Abstergo, and then later to help the present-day Assassins. The present-day narrative is what gives the past a purpose: 1) Abstergo needs info to stop/control the coming apocalypse and 2) Desmond needs skills and knowledge to escape the facility
Anoregon
The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
Mortal Kombat was fine for a teenage me, back then in 1995, but lets not kid ourselves that it's a good movie. It cheesy action pulp with some cool action scenes, a plot hole riddled story and a lot of stupidity.
Silent Hill... I love it for visuals, for atmosphere, soundtrack (duh) and for it trying to adapt the game's story in its own way. However, after rewatching it recently, it feels very... gamey. Rose is on a hunt quest (she goes from point A to point B, where she finds a clue/someone tells her that she needs to go to point C - repeat that for the whole movie) where in each location she fights against some kind of monster (one of my criticism toward the movie - the monsters doesn't feel natural in the world; aside from Pyramid Head, each kind of monster appear in just one place and that's it). In the mean time, her husband is on his investigating missions, which gives us story dump.
There is room for silly movies. However, when out of dozens of video game adaptations FF: The Spirits Within is the most critically acclaimed (and still only 44% on RT), you could think there is some kind of a problem.
AmuroChan
Member
Books are definitely easier to adapt than games because the defining attribute of a book or a movie is its story. They're similar in the experience they offer to the audience. A story is told to the audience without requiring any interactivity.
A game on the other hand, is as much about gameplay as it is about story. Great gameplay can sometimes mask a weak and shallow story in games, and that will be exposed when trying to adapt it into a movie. So now the writers have to take creative reign and retool the story, which more times than not turn into an utter disaster because it's not what the core fans of the game wants.
RipperGrim
Member
I get what you are saying but I would counter and say that the main reasons why the movies before have sucked isn't because they were trying to please what the fans want but instead making it in their eyes more appealing as a movie. The latest Hitman movie for example is really only Hitman in name only, it's an action movie with none of traits of the game and it sucks. They add the most generic twists to these movies because they have no faith in what makes the games unique in the first place. Hitman could have been a slower paced thriller with some very unique set ups. Prince of Persia does some similar things by taking the game and then adding the most generic cliche's you can think of to make it more "movie" friendly.
We love these games for a reason and from what I've seen so far, Hollywood really likes taking the things we like about the game and getting rid of it. Most of them should just say at the beginning of the film that they are inspired by the game rather than based off of it.
For AC in particular the abstergo stuff is necessary but if the movie is going to spend most of it's time in the part of the game that most people found boring instead of focusing on the potential action and story that happens inside the animus (which is a setting that hasn't even really been done before in a movie so potential is huge) then that's how you make a disappointing movie for the fans. People want to see that famous Hood.
Another thing to note is that this isn't like comic books or even normal books where the fanbase of the original is tiny compared to movie audience. AC has a huge following and makes more money than most movies ever do unless they are massive box office success. Appealing to the fanbase is what they should be focusing on because they are the ones who will literally be filling up the cinemas.
More_Badass
Member
As for other VG adaptations, I thought Prince of Persia was pretty decent and Doom was a pretty fun action movie, even if it did replace demons with Martian mutations
I adore the game, but I dont want them to make a Last of Us movie.
I really , honestly , find it completely pointless.
Its impossible to create the same emotions that the game does through the magic of interactivity. I mean the final moments of the game are impossible to replicate in a movie, simply because you dont have control of the character who acts in a way that perhaps you the player find it hard to digest.
Amazing game, wonderfully using the strengths of gaming, to tell a story.
I really , honestly , find it completely pointless.
Its impossible to create the same emotions that the game does through the magic of interactivity. I mean the final moments of the game are impossible to replicate in a movie, simply because you dont have control of the character who acts in a way that perhaps you the player find it hard to digest.
Amazing game, wonderfully using the strengths of gaming, to tell a story.