Will There Ever Be A Good Movie Based On A Video Game?

Last night while I was remodeling this blog my boyfriend was playing Death Stranding, a Hideo Kojima PS4 game. The game centers around a character named Sam who is trying to connect remaining us cities to a network. That’s an OVERsimplified version of it, for sure, but I am a little fuzzy on the details. However, if you are interested in knowing more about it, you can read its Wikipedia article here. I was focused on my own project so I missed a lot of the story but from what I did see and hear (including the soundtrack) it seemed incredible—cinematic, even. I may play the game eventually, but even if I do there is a good chance I won’t have the time, patience, or gaming skills to make it to the end. There are so many people out there who either don’t have PS4s, can’t have a PS4, can’t play the game, or just don’t want to that would love a film based on it, though. It is a shame so many science fiction fans are going to be left out of the conversation when it comes to Death Stranding because it seems like a story with the potential to hold up as a classic Sci-Fi staple. That got me thinking: why are there basically no good video game adaptations to be found?

Whenever I think of bad video game adaptations my mind goes immediately to the Resident Evil franchise. In an attempt to I googled all the adaptations in the genre to see how many I have actually seen because I was sure there are some that are way worse. Based on the research…yikes. I have never seen BloodRayne and I really don’t plan to, but the screen grabs that I saw really indicated to me that the lack of competent filmmaking behind these projects is probably the source of most of the problem. With no talent that cares about the integrity of a game’s story or characters to back the project these movies usually become cynical attempts at making money off gamers they think will come and see it no matter what. I hate to see it because it is a real missed opportunity for both the fans and the studios. And it’s time for that attitude to change. There was a time when comic book movies were treated the same way and the cartoonish adaptations were poorly received—not because audiences didn’t want to see heroes on screen but because they didn’t appreciate the cynical and disrespectful nature of the attempts. Tim Burton was the first in a series of creators to take the material seriously and now we have a flood of genuine talent making these pictures AND Oscar winners and nominees lining up to be in them. I see no reason why that kind of talent can’t be given a videogame movie to tackle; maybe it happens that none of these artists are fans of games.

To be honest, I don’t think that’s true. Going back to Death Stranding: there is a character with a likeness to Guillermo del Toro. Del Toro lent his image to the project and while he did not personally have anything to do with the project creatively the general consensus was that he is a fan of both Kojima and his work. I would wager that many in the industry ARE fans and would make great adaptations. Without all of the junky and corny looking CGI. These movie adaptations of games don’t NEED to look like the games themselves and someone with a tasteful look at CGI—like Christopher Nolan or Denis Villeneuve—could make a compelling visual story that viewers want to get lost in. Personally, I would love to see Kojima and del Toro produce a film version directed by Villeneuve and shot Bradford Young (Villeneuve’s cinematographer for Arrival). Give Kojima the job of rewriting his story for the silver screen much like Mario Puzo was hired to rewrite his beloved Godfather with Francis Ford Coppola; the movie would be all the richer for it. Not to say all video game film adaptations are bad. Although I haven’t seen it (and probably won’t) the new Sonic film was a huge hit with general audiences. Most fans also agree that while the first Silent Hill adaptation isn’t perfect, there is a lot of good and genuinely scary parts in the film that captures the essence of the game. Even the newest Tomb Raider film was given at least some praise and attracted actual talent to its production.

Back in 1986, a writer for (my beloved) Howard the Duck reacted to criticism of the movie by saying “it’s a film about a duck from outerspace…it’s not supposed to be an existential experience.” She continued to say that she frustrated that critics didn’t understand that, and why audiences couldn’t just have fun watching a duck in space. The comics, written as a satire of the 1970s American political atmosphere, had an entirely different tone to the movie (as well as artistic purpose). Fans didn’t appreciate the change and critics didn’t appreciate the poor quality filmmaking. Almost 30 years later a group of filmmakers and writers got together and made a movie starring another animal from outer space: Guardians of the Galaxy. This time, however, the character was treated with careful hands. His attitude, backstory, and arc may be bizarre and ridiculous but they were still written with respect to the source material and thus Rocket became a beloved character. In 30 years obscure comics ceased to be a niche filmmaking joke and instead have become major franchises with TRUE talent behind them. Games, which have not had the opportunity to shine, are rich content. It’s time that they are given the chance to become great films, and that audiences are given a chance to experience some of these beautiful pieces of artwork.

I want to hear from you! Which games would you want to see turned into movies, and who would be YOUR dream cast and crew?