Skip to content

Best movie based on a videogame ever made.

Ronin13Ronin13 Member Posts: 53
Really, I'm not kidding. I was rather surprised. My wife & I saw "Halo: Forward Unto Dawn" recently, and it's shockingly good. The production values are fairly high, the acting is solid, the story is interesting & not all that predictable. It's also fairly intelligent and does not deal with all issues in a simplistic Hollywood fashion. It's also lore-respectful for those familiar with the Halo Universe.

If you've played the games, this is the 'bridge' between Halo 3 & Halo 4. If the film has a weakness, it might be that someone going into it completely blind would likely be confused about the context. But most of the story is self-contained enough that I don't think it would be a huge issue.

Anyway, when I saw this was actually made by Microsoft without any direct Hollywood involvement, I realized that's likely why it doesn't even come close to sucking. Tinseltown has proven over the decades that they are utterly incapable of adapting good game stories to the big screen.
TeflonIllustairQuartzMoomintroll
«1

Comments

  • agentmulderagentmulder Member Posts: 114
    I really doubt that it's better than Silent Hill. Must watch it.
    TeflonKank
  • BalquoBalquo Member, Developer Posts: 2,746
    Never played any of the Halo series but Halo: Forward Unto Dawn was a fantastic watch.
  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
    Cuvbadbromance
  • Ronin13Ronin13 Member Posts: 53
    LOL That film typifies all the cluelessness that Hollywood has about adapting videogames. (And Not that trying to make a film out of SMB was a brilliant idea to begin with.)
  • LythunylLythunyl Member Posts: 30
    Considering the competition, you're hardly paying it a compliment. But I'll give it a try.
    Quartz
  • lain2501lain2501 Member Posts: 12
    I think Silent Hill was the best adaptation.
  • mlnevesemlnevese Member, Moderator Posts: 10,214
    Silent Hill was good. Now I'd really like to see a good Fallout movie.
  • MadhaxMadhax Member Posts: 1,416
    I've never seen a video game-to-movie adaptation that satisfied me. Cautiously optimistic for the upcoming Assassin's Creed project starting Michael Fassbender, though.
    SwordsNotWords
  • CuvCuv Member, Developer Posts: 2,535
    I rather liked Doom:)
  • Stargazer5781Stargazer5781 Member Posts: 183
    Personally I'm holding out for the Angry Birds Movie.

    http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/news/a374278/angry-birds-animated-series-confirmed-for-2012-movie-after-2014.html

    That's gonna be a gem.
    TJ_HookersandmanCCL
  • Ronin13Ronin13 Member Posts: 53
    @Cuv Doom was completely silly, but a great Popcorn & Beer flick. :D
    CuvTeflon
  • CoM_SolaufeinCoM_Solaufein Member Posts: 2,607
    edited December 2012
    Mortal Kombat.

    Flawless victory!
    Post edited by CoM_Solaufein on
    ChowQuartzMoomintroll
  • ChowChow Member Posts: 1,192
    edited December 2012

    Mortal Combat.

    Flawless victory!

    I agree, though this speaks more about the general quality of the adaptations of video games, rather than the quality of this one movie.

    Also it's Mortal Kombat.
    CoM_SolaufeinTeflon
  • CoM_SolaufeinCoM_Solaufein Member Posts: 2,607
    Ah yes Kombat. MK was my favorite NES game next to Mario Brothers and Paperboy.

    The movie, the first one, was pretty good. The soundtrack kicked ass and it introduce me to that great metal band, Fear Factory.
    Teflon
  • sandmanCCLsandmanCCL Member Posts: 1,389
    There have been a handful of great anime movies based off video games. Then again, that's a culture that seems to get it while Hollywood big budget stuff doesn't.
  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122

    Mortal Combat.

    Flawless victory!

    I was gonna like that but you spelt Kombat wrong :p

    Yeah, this was probably the best one I've seen.
  • Ronin13Ronin13 Member Posts: 53
    I agree that saying it's the best videogame movie isn't saying much in and of itself. But it was actually a good movie based on its own merits and was a solid sci-fi film compared to *other* sci-fi films. As I said before, I think that one of the biggest reasons it was good was that it wasn't a Hollywood film, so didn't have all the Hollywood Executive meddling that is responsible for most Hollywood films sucking.
  • SilySily Member Posts: 91
    edited February 2013
    Sadly I must say that there haven't been any "really good" movies based on video games.
    Seems like they are all given to guys like Uwe so they can f*** them up completely.


    PS. Actually, if we count the first Resident Evil movie (the rest of them sucked -so- bad) in this, then I certainly vote for it as the best movie based on a video game!

    PPS. OP - You talk about that new Halo movie. I personally didn't like it. Horrible actors, horrible acting and only thing going for it in my books was good CGI. But that wasn't enough to save it. That Silent Hill movie was also quite terrible.
    Post edited by Sily on
  • Ronin13Ronin13 Member Posts: 53
    @Sily Well, we'll have to disagree on the actors & acting.

    I didn't think anyone sucked and there were many good performances. Max Carver as Cadmon Lasky gave a particularly nuanced performance as the main character's older brother. When he was relaying on a vid his engagement with some insurrectionists, though his words were all 'Rah Rah, we're fighting the good fight', his eyes and his body language conveyed his pain & confusion at what he had actually done. I thought Tom Green as Cadet Lasky not only had a solid American accent (in the outtakes he talks in his normal voice & it's British), he brought across the conflict the character was going through very well.

    Story wise, his reveals were done very well, the intro with Cortana was engaging ("I've got to think..." "Thinking is what's *killing* you!" Great line.), and even with as familiar as I am with the Master Chief & his character, his first introduction is gripping & dramatic. I could go on & on, but I'll avoid TL;DR territory.

    Suffice to say, next to 2009's "Moon" and 2010's "Inception" it stands out as one of the better Sci-Fi films of recent years.
  • SilySily Member Posts: 91
    edited December 2012
    @Ronin13

    Good point! If I remember right, I would agree with you! That "brother" pulled his role more than well, but the rest of the cast was bad. Come on, I facepalmed when I saw that poor effing.. girl from "The hunger game" or what was it?

    Also, their acting squad leader was just terrible to watch/listen to. If we go into the action, then I will say that it was quite bad too (especially the slow-mos.)


    Off-topic: Moon was awesome! I would not say the same for Inception though...
  • EdwinEdwin Member Posts: 480
    Tron.
    rexregAHF
  • H0RSEH0RSE Member Posts: 115
    edited December 2012
    Ronin13 said:

    Really, I'm not kidding. I was rather surprised. My wife & I saw "Halo: Forward Unto Dawn" recently, and it's shockingly good. The production values are fairly high, the acting is solid, the story is interesting & not all that predictable. It's also fairly intelligent and does not deal with all issues in a simplistic Hollywood fashion. It's also lore-respectful for those familiar with the Halo Universe.

    If you've played the games, this is the 'bridge' between Halo 3 & Halo 4. If the film has a weakness, it might be that someone going into it completely blind would likely be confused about the context. But most of the story is self-contained enough that I don't think it would be a huge issue.

    Anyway, when I saw this was actually made by Microsoft without any direct Hollywood involvement, I realized that's likely why it doesn't even come close to sucking. Tinseltown has proven over the decades that they are utterly incapable of adapting good game stories to the big screen.

    I actually thought FUD was kinda lame. I don't agree the production value was fairly high - it looked cheap and homemade, and the story itself wasn't interesting. It also didn't seem like it was the 'bridge' between Halo 3 and 4. To me, it seemed more of a prequel to all the Halo movies. The clues come from a couple of things: (SPOILERS)


    1. The reactions the kids/soldiers have when they see the Master Chief - like they never saw or heard of a Spartan ever. This is also strengthened from the reactions they have from the classified vid they watch, when they are asking themselves "what is that?" when they see glimpses of Master Chief. If this was taking place between Halo 3 and 4, Spartans wouldn't be so rare and unknown.

    2. When the Covenant attack, the overall feeling and atmosphere is that they are a completely new threat to humanity - nobody seems to know what they are or where they came from.

    The only evidence that the movie takes place around Halo 4, is that one of the main characters is Thomas Lasky as a child - the Captain of the UNSC Infinity in the Halo 4 game. For the story it was trying to tell, it seemed completely off-base.


    As for best video game movie in my opinion - The Resident Evil movies proved to be the most entertaining. I also enjoyed TRON, especially Legacy. I still think a Starcraft and Half Life would make excellent films, along with WH40K. and am hoping the Warcraft movie is actually still going to be released. Looks like Blizzard approaches development time and release dates with with films, the same way it does with games...
  • mlnevesemlnevese Member, Moderator Posts: 10,214
    edited December 2012
    H0RSE said:


    As for best video game movie in my opinion - The Resident Evil movies proved to be the most entertaining. I also enjoyed TRON, especially Legacy. I still think a Starcraft and Half Life would make excellent films, along with WH40K. and am hoping the Warcraft movie is actually still going to be released. Looks like Blizzard approaches development time and release dates with with films, the same way it does with games...

    I really hope not because that means you'd discover AFTER buying the ticket that the movie is only available dubbed in your language because you bought a "limited" ticket although those who bought the ticket online for the same price can choose to watch the movie in the original language with subtitles.

    And of course the movie would have a new version released every month for story corrections, although Hollywood actually seems to be following this practice already. Just check how many versions of Blade Runner and Starwars have been released over the years :)
  • DJKajuruDJKajuru Member Posts: 3,300
    Silent Hill was amazing!
    Stargazer5781Moomintroll
  • thedemoninsidethedemoninside Member Posts: 188
    My favorite 3 in order of best to not-so best would be

    1) Resident Evil (first 3)
    2) Silent Hill
    3) Mortal Kombat

    I think this is probably also close to matching how well they did in theaters as well. Horror films based on video games seem to make the easiest transition to film. For Halo to top the first 2 would be incredibly surprising for me. I do love a good sci-fi film though, so I'll have to check it out.

  • mister_ennuimister_ennui Member Posts: 98
    Bright Falls.
  • CamDawgCamDawg Member, Developer Posts: 3,438
    Ha, glad to see Mortal Kombat get some love. As Sola mentions, it's the soundtrack that makes it.
    CoM_Solaufein
  • CoM_SolaufeinCoM_Solaufein Member Posts: 2,607
    That it does. It makes you want to get up and make some martial arts moves.
  • Ronin13Ronin13 Member Posts: 53
    I would definitely put Mortal Kombat in the 'Beer & Popcorn' territory, as with the Doom movie. For what it's worth, the current IMDB ratings for the films jibe pretty well with my estimations.
  • amftronamftron Member Posts: 109
    Another vote for Mortal Kombat.

    I suppose Dungeon Siege wasn't terrible, especially when you consider it's a Boll flick.
Sign In or Register to comment.