Gamertell

The lame game movie night was created with a purpose. As a game journalist and film student, I wanted to understand – to really get at the core of why game movies tend to be so terrible. So I’ve been trudging through the catalogue of game to movie adaptations, two at a time, suffering through it all so you, the reader, can watch from a safe distance. This week, the offerings were two completely lame, action-centric flicks from 2007: BloodRayne II: Deliverance and Hitman.

BloodRayne II is the sequel to the delightfully terrible BloodRayne, a film so bad; it dominated the razzies in 2006. In truth, it was one of those wonderfully stupid films you love to laugh at, and the sheer weight of talent (Kristanna Lokan, Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Billy Zane, Michelle Rodriguez, all of whom have proven star power) made the film the ultimate “WTF were they thinking!” guilty pleasure.

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The latest in a long line of videogame movie turkeys, Hitman has been getting reamed left and right by film critics. The Hollywood reporter recently posted an article listing its many flaws; from its emotionless main character (agent 47, played by Timothy Olyphant), to its clichéd plot to lame direction. Most other reviews have been negative as well, as the film is only 12% “fresh” on aggregate review site rotten tomatoes.

It’s really no surprise, considering the awful pedigree of movies based on games – just about every single one has been bad, from Super Mario Brothers back in 1993 to that atrocious Doom movie a couple of years ago. Really the only exception was the excellent wide-release documentary King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters this summer, but that wasn’t a narrative fictional film based on a game franchise. So why is it that game movies are always terrible?

Part of the answer must be that the filmmakers really don’t “get it” when it comes to what made the game so special, or they just aren’t able to translate it into film. I’m sure some stereotypes about gamers’ intelligence come into play as well (note to production companies: action sequences are cool, but some of us like characters and plot as well.) Lets hope that gaming’s new mainstream status helps to alleviate these issues.

Read [Reuters]

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While releases for upcoming videogames just keep getting better, the list of movie titles based on videogames keep growing. Soon, Hitman, starring Timothy Olyphant as Agent 47, will join the list of live-action films based on a videogame.

“I don’t go after video games because they are video games,” Adrian Askarieh, producer of the Hitman movie and gamer explains. “I go after them because of their strong concepts, strong characters, and strong stories. The fact that they are video games—and appeal to the video game demographic—is just icing on the cake.”

Like many directors before him, Askarieh was drawn to the game before he came up with the concept of turning it into a movie.

“I was attracted to the ‘Hitman’ series, for instance, because I was fascinated by the idea of an assassin with a very unique look and a very unique history. His is a wild world that is absolutely cinematic, and that was the key factor for me,” he said.

Many live-action films based on videogames have graced the silver screens since Tron in 1982. But often times, what seems like a great idea would often be met with mixed feelings. From 1982, other videogame based movies included: Cloak & Dagger in 1984 based on the arcade hit. In 1993, Super Mario Brothers starring John Leguizamo and Bob Hoskins as the famous plumbers. In 1994, Double Dragon and Street Fighter which were followed by animated series. In 1995, the popular game Mortal Kombat followed by a sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation in 1997. With Wing Commander the last to hit the screens in 1999.

Askarieh explains that many videogame-based movies failed “because their creators were too conscious of the fact that they were making video game movies,” he said. “If there’s a secret to all this, it’s to retain what attracted you to the video game property in the first place. Treat the game as legitimate source material, develop a great script, and then create the best movie you can. Don’t keep telling yourself that you’re only making a movie based on a video game; the minute you do that, you’ll wind up with a throwaway film that feels like a video game.”

With that in mind, movies appearing in 2001 started gaining the popularity it deserved beginning with the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider series starring Angelina Jolie. Another hit movie based on a videogame was the Resident Evil series the latest movie Resident Evil: Extinction which released early 2007. Then the movies began to fall out of favor again with movies like Alone in the Dark released in 2005 starring Christian Slater, which in the end became another snooze fest horror flick that immediately received poor reviews from critics and videogame fanatics alike. Doom was another videogame-based movie released in 2005 that didn’t receive favorable reviews as a majority of the action was near the end of the film. Another film that received poor reviews in 2005 was BloodRayne. The movie was so bad it received the Golden Raspberry Awards for worst film, actors and actresses.

Askarieh said many directors tried to cash in on the franchise based on the people who purchased the game.

“They would say, “OK, the game sold 10 million copies worldwide in the last seven years,’ as ‘Hitman’ did, ‘so let’s cash in and turn out the movie,’” he said. “That’s a recipe for failure right there. Secondly, they made movies that only appealed to video game fans. Why would you want to limit your audience that way? Look, making a movie is making a movie and making a game is making a game. People who make games don’t make movies and vice versa. So there was no need for them to be involved other than to send them the script and get their notes, which we did. And then we went off to make the movie. Nothing wrong with that.”

As the game movies grew, it wasn’t until the release of Silent Hill on April 21, 2006 that many gamers’ opinion of videogame-based movies may have changed. Silent Hill received mixed reviews from critics but fans of the game picked up on the elements Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 games in the movie. The emotional and aesthetic feel of the movie coupled with the soundtrack and familiar creatures were all present.

Not involving the game makers in the filming process may be a big mistake if the director is not familiar with the game he’s adapting to the screen, Askareih said. Many movies such as Super Mario Brothers and the CGI movie Final Fantasy: Spirits Within have deviated from the storylines so much it became something completely different causing the film to suffer greatly.

“I haven’t seen the final film so I don’t really know my reaction yet to what the movie makers did,” he said. “But it’s one of those things where you have to let go. If you want to influence something, you’d better be 100% sure that you’re good at it, and I’m not terribly sure that ‘Hitman’ would become a better movie if a bunch of game makers were running around with ideas. We’ve got a brand new plot that is an amalgamation of many of the scenarios in the four ’Hitman’ games. Does it capture the same look and feel as the game? My God, absolutely!”

Askarieh said he realizes the fact that filmmakers have stayed away from video game-based source material because of the lack of success many of the films have endured but believes that may change in future productions.

Some of the future productions in the works include the following releases, in 2008:

• Alice starring Sarah Michelle Gellar
• Far Cry directed by Uwe Boll and stars Til Schweiger
• In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale based on the 2002 PC platform RPG game Dungeon Seige starring Jason Statham and Leelee Sobieski
• Silent Hill 2 sequel to the movie Silent Hill no definite date set yet for this film and no actors or actresses announced yet.
• Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

Possible films rumored to be released in 2008 include Devil May Cry, Clock Tower and Cold Fear, but no information if these will be live-action or animated.

In 2009, the following live action film adaptations will include:

• Alone in the Dark II will be written and directed by the same people who did the first film adapation of Alone in the Dark. Christian Slater has been asked to star in the sequel but director Uwe Boll hasn’t received confirmation from the actor yet.
• Castlevania is currently shooting location photography for this film adaptation of the game. Jeremy Bolt explained that Castlevania will “integrate a Dracula origin story… with the story of the Belmonts.”
• Gears of War is in production now, but no information on whether it will be live-action or CGI yet. Only information found is that producer Wyck Godfrey is working with the game’s lead designer Cliff Bleszinski to produce the film. “I’m not a gamer, but what blew me away about Gears was how it captures the mythology of a war mission and how high the stakes are,” said Godfrey in an interview with Game Informer. The movie is rumored to be shot against a green screen much like the movie 300.
• Metal Gear Solid announced in 2006 and later in 2007 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo Hideo Kojima was working with Hollywood to turn this game into a movie. No casting of actors have been announced though rumors have spread on the web that possible actor for the role of Snake may be either Christian Bale or Viggo Mortensen. Honestly, as long as its not Jean-Claude Van Dame or Steven Seagal I’ll go see the movie, nothing like casting the wrong actor for the part to ruin a movie for me. *cough*Sylvester Stallone as Judge Dredd *cough.*
• Spy Hunter originally announced in 2003 that Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to the 1983 arcade game Spy Hunter from Midway Games. The following September, Universal signed actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to star in the film adaptation based on the game. Soon the news of the film stopped until May 2007 when Paul W.S. Anderson was hired to replace John Woo as the director and will begin writing a new script with another screenwriter. It is yet to be determined if the “Rock” will return to the project.
• Warcraft based on the popular MMO World of Warcraft. In June 2007, Thomas Tull chairman of Legendary Pictures announced that the studio was working closely with Blizzard’s designers and writers to adapt World of Warcraft for film. No word as to which quest they will be basing the movie on or if its live-action or not.

With games gaining popularity this year I wouldn’t doubt that somewhere in Hollywood a screen writer is adapting God of War for the big screen. Guess we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we?

Read [Hollywood Reporter] Also Read [Wikipedia] Also Read [Game Spot]

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