A recent bout of procrastination led me to flipping on a movie channel around 1 a.m. The movie playing was "Tomb Raider," a 2001 summer movie based on a videogame of the same name. At first, I was mildly intrigued, but it was about the time that Angelina Jolie started beating up mysterious agents while on a bungee string system that what was left of my brain started leaking from my ears. But that loss of gray matter must have rattled something loose because I started thinking "Why are videogame movies so uniformly terrible?"
After considering this question, I went where I always go for answers: The Old School. In the early '90s, Hollywood was impressed by the potential of this newfound interactive medium. A few games equivalent to movies with a choose-your-own-adventure twist were created, most notably "Night Trap" for the ill-fated Sega CD. Apparently, the companies hadn't learned from the failure of the Atari 2600 game "E.T." The games were disasters. The problem was that the unique advantage of videogames, the interactivity, was completely overlooked. The games were nothing more than movie on a console system. The mediums didn't mix, money was lost, I assume people were fired. And Hollywood left the videogame market.
Hit the step button on your DVD remote and skip to today: Movie companies have wised up to how to make a good videogame out of movie, a revolution which kicked off in earnest after Nintendo 64's "Goldeneye." Unfortunately, the reverse has remained at the same level of terribleness since the '90s. Hollywood tries to make movies out of videogames. The movies are disasters. From "Super Mario Bros." to "Final Fantasy," those movies have the same level of quality as the fake ID you bought off sketchy Steve.
One of the most frustrating complications in this equation is that the games themselves are very good. Before directors like Uwe Boll ("House of the Dead") and Paul Anderson ("Resident Evil") get their grimy mitts on properties, the videogames entertain millions. The absolutely horrid "Alone in the Dark" movie was originally an absolutely horrifying game. The famous "Grand Theft Auto" series has achieved an amazing level of popularity from the free-roaming gameplay. Want to race? Sure, but you can also cause carnage with a flamethrower, eat some fried chicken or drive into a wall!
A movie of "GTA" would immediately lose the open gameplay and, at best, turn the game into a knock-off B crime movie. If the studios had their way, they'd turn "Tetris" into the story of one lone z-block's quest to save squareworld.
Videogames and movies are mirroring another crossover in mediums: the comic book movie. Lets rewind back to the early '90s (again). The company Marvel Comics made some terrible movies. I mean atrociously, frighteningly, mystery-Dewick-wrap horrible. "Captain America" was released in 1991 and was too more terrible than your naked mom. "The Fantastic Four" was created in 1992, but made with such vomit-inducing awfulness that it was never to be released. DC comics were no better, whoring out Superman and Batman to terrible sequels.
Recently, things have gotten better for the comic book fanatic. Hollywood began to treat the source material seriously, and attach talented actors and directors to the projects. "X-Men" and "Spiderman" were excellent movies that redefined the amount of money a blockbuster could make. The recent "Sin City" directly lifts the visuals from the comic, making a daring piece of art from a comic book. Marvel is remaking "The Fantastic Four," which is to be released this summer (but I won't yet vouch for its quality).
Like it did with comic books, Hollywood needs to capitalize on the strength of videogames. They must translate the most compelling elements visually while pleasing the core audience. Also, Hollywood shouldn't be afraid of complexity because the source material is "just" a videogame. From the analysis of warfare in "Metal Gear Solid" to the rich, religious overtones of "Xenogears," videogames have more than enough depth to qualify as works of art.
If major studios attach creative and talented people to videogame adaptations, there is a mint to be made. Who wouldn't love Pixar rendering "The Legend of Zelda" in vibrant computer animation? Who will be the person intelligent enough to greenlight a fully first person movie based on "Half-Life"? Could someone please make a "Duck Hunt" movie where the dog gets shot?
Is there anything on the horizon that says things will get better? The short answer is "no." The long answer is a movie based on the popular videogame "Doom" is scheduled for release this summer.
Until movies recognize and respect the videogames as a storytelling medium, we will be stuck with horrible adaptations that make a quick buck but ruin the awesome potential of videogame adaptations.
Is your high-score name "AAA"? Send e-mail to Brett.Weiner@tufts.edu
