When will we start seeing video game movies that don't suck?
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How long will it take to get a good port of a video game to the silver screen? Square-Enix almost did it with Final Fantasy Advent Children and Capcom with Resident Evil: Degeneration.
How long will it take to get a good port of a video game to the silver screen? Square-Enix almost did it with Final Fantasy Advent Children and Capcom with Resident Evil: Degeneration. But most movies based on video games turn out horrible. Why is that? Couldn't the screen writers just follow the plot of the game and cut the boring stuff and replace it with good dialog or brief action sequences?
I'm sure that could be done but studios tend to pull money when they think that only a hardcore audience will understand and enjoy a film so they force the screen writer to abandon the familiar story fans love for a dumbed down or over explained version that is hard to get into. The point of a story is to lose yourself in it, to believe it's really happening for just that moment. It's hard to lose yourself in a moment when characters on screen have to explain the plot to the audience because they never played the game which explained everything over the course of 20 hours of game play. The Hardcore fans already sat through a very detailed story that they hoped would lead to a moment of revelation on the screen. Instead they get a butchered retelling of what they already know only now key elements have been changed to suit the movie which has cut half the characters or combined them into one character that no longer has the unique personality that he had in the game.
The same thing happens in novels as well which is why I personally have a hard time watching films based on great stories whether they be books or games. but when a game maker that owns its own CG studio decides to make an original story set in their games universe I start to see a light in the gloom that brings hope to possibility of a movie based on a game that actually follows the games story and makes sense to the hardcore gamer.
I only wish that game companies would start building movie departments that not only specialize in making in-game movies but also making feature film companion films that are set in the gaming universe that have great stories and great acting and allow families to come together and enjoy each others interests.
I can imagine a day when the kids are sitting with their parents watching a great Final Fantasy movie and having the parents asking the kids that played the games for details on backstory and becoming interested in the games deep story line much like parents try to get kids interested in books by telling them about the much deeper story lines that exist in novel of a great film.
Someday story telling will move to the forefront ahead of the flash of special effects and big studios desire for bland stories that the worlds idiots can understand. Pretty soon epic stories will be made into truly epic films with no real boundaries because of the internet and because of giant flat panel TVs. In the near future a movie can be 20 hours long and be watched at home at the leisure of the viewer just like reading a good book or playing a good game. Believe it.
