What Does a Good Videogame Film Look Like?

There have been countless attempts at movies based off of video games, but it’s fair to say that most of them have been, at best, stinkers. From the epically dull Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time to the hilariously bad Super Mario Bros, the marriage of video games and cinema has always been riddled with tragedy. However, despite this omen, it appears as though several of these movies are on the way; including Assassin’s Creed (with Michael Fassbender as the titular hitman), Sam Raimi’s The Last Of Us, Duncan Jones’ Warcraft and the recently announced Thief movie, to name just a few. There’s no reason these films can’t be good, their source material is ripe for plucking. But what are the ingredients to a good video game movie? It’s hard to tell considering we’ve haven’t exactly had the perfect example yet, but there are definitely some components which can be pointed out.  

Firstly, it’s probably best for a video game movie to stick closely to its source material in terms of story and lore. As we’ve seen with comic book movies, fans don’t take kindly to narratives or characterisations that hugely diverge from their original content. Just look at the backlash to Iron Man 3’s take on the Mandarin, or the presentation of Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Similarly, I doubt fans would take kindly if Altair was presented as a wise-cracking lothario in the upcoming Assassin’s Creed. What made the original games great was, in a large part, down to their story, themes and world-building; and that’s exactly what the films could capitalise on for creative success.  

Secondly, these films need to be, at least in part, made by gamers for gamers. A lot of video game people I know have said that their favourite video game film is Wreck It Ralph, and I think I can understand why. The movie constantly proves itself to be as much of a die-hard fan of video games as the rest of us are. We get clever references to Metal Gear Solid, the Konami cheat code and even the infamous “All your base are belong to us”. The same can be said of Scott Pilgrim Versus The World. If this kind of fanboyism can be used to fuel the production of upcoming video game movies, it might do wonders. A professional film-maker who also happens to know what made the original video game great would be the perfect person for the production of these kinds of movies.

Last but not least, getting the right casting is essential. Whilst it might not make sense to hire the original actors in the game for the film adaption (don’t get me wrong, I love Troy Baker… but he looks nothing like Joel from The Last Of Us. Josh Brolin on the other hand…), you certainly need someone who can effectively capture what gamers love about a certain character. The reason there is such a strong calling for Nathan Fillion or Mark Wahlberg to play Nathan Drake in the rumoured Uncharted film is because both their looks and on-screen personas capture the globe-trotting adventurer rather nicely. There are so many iconic characters in video games, and they simply have to be done right.

One final, minor point; make sure the source material is actually appropriate for a film adaptation. Angry Birds? Temple Run? Really?

Over the next few years or so, we’ll see how these upcoming video game films pan out. Despite the complaint-ridden advice above, I really am genuinely excited to see how they turn out. What we do know about the films so far does indeed seem to be promising; The Last Of Us’ lead writer Neil Druckmann is penning the script for the games’ transition to film, whilst Duncan Jones (whose previous films Moon and Source Code have been great) is apparently a big World Of Warcraft nerd. And who doesn’t love Michael Fassbender? Regardless, considering the catastrophic history of video game films, here’s hoping these films can abide to the rules above to create something truly spectacular.