Let's Talk Videogame Movies...what do YOU like?

[Temjin]

I recently saw DOA: Dead Or Alive, the movie, and saw what reminded me of Charlie's Angles with Mortal Kombat....Utter nonsense and bullcrap...though, like the games...the ladies were 101% the main attractions and worth the ticket ....and the main gentlemen impressed as well(with their acting). Overall, the movie was..well...nothing special. Fun, but not worth watching again.

Based on that short spoiler-free review, it didn't do anything to restore faith in videogame adaptations...which, again, isn't necessarily JUST the studio's fault, but the source material's - there's not a lot to go by in the games to make a decent logical storyline.

Which brings me to the point of my topic: Should videogames be adapted to movies? Right now, the ratio of good adaptations to bad ones might tip 3:1 because of failures like Bloodrayne, House of the Dead, and Alone in The Dark....

DOA could be borderline successful because it pretty much is a fanservice title and the martial arts displayed actually mimic the games', but ultimately, those who see it won't like it.

But...is there hope? Are there actually games out there worth tapping into? Could M. Night Shyamalan trust in the system enough to make a decent movie out of, say, System Shock? Could peter Jackson draw enough strength to create a masterpiece out of "Shadow of the Collossus"? Should Disney imagineers and Square-Enix gurus come together to unleash "Kingdom Hearts" to the masses in a magical spectacle for the ages?

What would be needed for such a feat, besides money, a few good actors, a lot of heart, imagination, and hunger - as well as the technical resources to do it?

What do you guys think?

[Brick Side]

Only very few have actually been good... VERY few. The first Tomb Raider, I thought, was pretty decent. Resident Evil (the first one anyway) I also like a lot, but it's Mortal Kombat that is probably the best. They really did a good job on the first one anyway (second one was decent but I could've done without a lot of things).

What really scares me is the talk of Metal Gear and Metroid being made into movies, esp. Metal Gear. To me, there's only one voice of Snake, and unless the movie was CGI, then I won't have a problem with it. Metroid on the other hand, they need to just stay away from that. That's like sacred territory haha. As for the upcoming Halo, im glad it got dumped (although I hear it's being picked up again). Even with Peter Jackson having a role in it, I still think it would suck. Something like Shadow of the Colossus... Stay away from it. They'd screw that up, I know it.

[metal_bryan]

[Brick Side]

[CousinOfGodzilla]

[Brick Side]

[kamacuras]

To be honest, I hated the Mortal Kombat movies. I always thought Final Fantasy was pretty good, expect for the fact that it did not have the storyline of any of the video games.

BTW, I wouln't mind seeing a Sonic movie a la FF7:AC style.

[Brick Side]

I thought we were sticking to the movies that made it to theaters, but if that's not the case i'd like to say that I really enjoyed Advent Children. Some dog on it, others love it. I think it's great (not really a Final Fantasy fan too much). I also said Street Fighter the Animated Movie was good, in fact very good.

[CousinOfGodzilla]

"Final Fantasy: Spirits Within" was really one of the most beautiful films ever made. From a technical standpoint, as far as CGI goes, it was outstanding. The plot, and characters on the other hand, didn't do anything for me.

The recent FF7 movie was sort of similar, only that film managed to take characters, that everyone loves, and more or less do nothing of note with them. Cloud's slight character evolution was good though.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

[MireGoji]

Well, when I went to see DOA: Dead or Alive, I went in with low expectations, and actually, I'll admit that I quite liked it. I also then started to hate it because it made me like it.

But I think why I thought it was good was because it didn't really seem to take itself too seriously - it's supposed to just be a knowing wink and a tip of the hat to the original games, which is why you have Obligatory Volleyball Scene, Christie's shower scene I believe is a lift from her DOA3 ending, there's the system voice, things like that.

And, to be fair, although I didn't recognise half the cast names, I don't think you could have picked better actors and actresses to play the characters - I mean, although Kane Kosugi deserves something of a better movie to appear in than this, I thought he really worked as Hayabusa (dunno about the implied romantic feelings for Kasumi, like...)

Still, though, the best videogame-to-movie for me would have to be Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Okay, it doesn't really add anything new to the lore, but it was awesome to see the gang back and in such wonderfully rendered scenes. And I defy anyone not to grin when Sephiroth returns.

Actually, I don't really count Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within as technically an adaptation. Yes, it has the Final Fantasy title, and yes it was created by Square Enix, but I think that's as far as it goes, really.

I remember liking Super Mario Brothers. But then, I was eight at the time.

[Temjin]

I'll go temporarily off topic here....

Advent Children
Maybe it's because I'm a die-hard fan of Final Fantasy VII, but AC did absolutely NOTHING to improve or embellish the good history of that story arc.

I bought it believing it was some spectacle for the ages. Granted, it was, but the voice acting and the subtitles f$#@ed it up for me BIG TIME. Then you have about 2 mins. of reused footage halfway into the movie, like they couldn't render more scenes to go along with the storyline, and some really deep plot holes that make you wonder how the heck the characters even coexist with each other....AND...they don't even expalin HOW they survived the ending of FFVII....Moving on...

Don't get me wrong - I like Mena Suvari as an actress - she was great in "American Beauty", but she absolutely SUCKS as Aeris/Aerith in AC. Sure, she's hardly in it, but at least give it some thought when you voice someone, no matter how much screentime they give you. Put some effort to not just try to sounds sweet and innocent, but actually do it WITH some charisma. If you've played Kingdom Hearts 2, you'll know what I'm talking about. Mandy Moore did a better job in KH. But it's a small issue compared to the bigger problem....

They screw up the bedroom scene(not what you guys think....though I hope that's what it implied ) by having the conversation make less sense than it did in the original japanese release. DAMN.

Then, they add this kid who sorta resembles Cloud, yet Tifa, by Barrett's dialogue anyway, is his "mom"...They never tell you anything about him except he's gonna die if he's not cured....Yet Cloud is totally all over him when he's captured. I don't know but I'm hoping this means something happened between Cloud and Tifa since FFVII, because that's where it left off in the game.

but....Sephiroth just kicks ass. the climax is worth the price of admission. You have to wait a while, but this fight just kicks ass....I DARE Hollywood to top this.

Square plans to release Advent Children:Complete by Christmas with the deleted scenes reinjected into the story and some extras - hopefully they fixed what they broke.

Spirits Within would've been accepted, IMO, if it didn't have the Final Fantasy name. Honestly, that's what messed it up.

I firmly believe that if it had kept "GAIA", Sakaguchi-san's original name for it, no one would've pushed it aside. On its' own, it's a beautiful movie that had the potential to be revolutionary.

DOA
I liked Kane Kosugi, Kevin Nash, and <Hayate's Actor> roles in DOA. Kane should DEFINITELY return if there's a Ninja Gaiden movie somewhere down the road(granted, his dad brought the ninja movie genre to another level here in the states AND he was also Ultraman, so it'd make perfect sense for him to fill those shoes) Nash was hilarious and really played it cool throughout the movie as Tina's father figure*note Tina's bedroom scene and the prefight talk)

Also, I'm surprised - the only one that semi-stunk within the girls was Natasshia Malthe as Ayane, who not only looked waaaay older than Kasumi, but looked rather boring throughout. However, she didn't get that much screentime, so she's passable. Ali Larter as Helena? I thought Helena was the CEO of DOATECH, the company running the show? Also, wasn't she a bit older, more classy? Anyways, she did a good job of being young Helena at least...

All in all, the movie was a nice touch, and bearable, if you remember that the source material's not all that realistic either.

[KaiserGhidorah]

[Dr Kain]

Resident Evil
Resident Evil Apocalypse
Mortal Kombat
MK Annihilation
Silent Hill
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider 2
FFVII Advent Children

I think I'm forgetting one or two.

[ultrazilla2000]

[Temjin]

[MireGoji]

[Temjin]

[Dr Kain]

[Temjin]

[metal_bryan]

[Temjin]

[Dr Kain]

[Temjin]

[metal_bryan]