Movies Inspired by the Gaming World (Pt.1)

Since the dawn of the gaming era, many directors attempted to make movie adaptations of video games. The examples are many such as Silent Hill, Mortal Kombat, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter or even BloodRayne (LOL)!! In this post im gonna kill my time refering to the most noteworthy ones! So pay attention!

Mortal Kombat

Well.... who hasnt even once played Mortal Kombat back in the 90's and not anticipated the next wave of blood-spilling combos to fill the screen or the awesomeness of a Fatality's gory atrocity? NONE! And dont say "me" cos ur a liar! The number of the fighting games is really vast but Mortal Kombat sticked out because of the dark atmosphere and the infinite gore!!! This was enough for Paul W.S. Anderson to direct the Mortal Kombat movie. The movie adaptation of the video game (1995) was a really good attempt if u think that it was a bit less than 2 decades before!!! The movie plot is quite similar to the game. Raiden is trying to gather some fighters to defend the EarthRealm against the Outworld. The main characters are Rayden, Johnny Cage, Liu Kang, Sonya, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Shang Tsung, Kano, Kitana and Goro. The fighting scenes are impressive with a very good combination of martial arts and choreography. Also the cast was really well chosen having  Christopher Lambert  in the main role of Lord Rayden, Robin Shou as Liu Kang and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as the main villain. The soundtrack was also based on the classic one (found even on the gameboy's cartridges!!) with a touch of a techno-house (wtf???) remix! In other words this movie had a really good n successful formula: 1. really good scenario 2. strong cast 3. awesome soundtrack 4. and stunning martial arts that afterwards ud say "Get over here" and get dissappointed cos nothing came out of ur palm!

Resident Evil

Another video game of the 90's that sent numerous chills down the spines of the gaming community was Resident Evil (unofficially based on George Romero's Night of the Living Dead). When graphic processors started processing 3D environments or 2D pre-rendered environments with 3D characters, game designers set high standards on the gameplay and the athmospere. And that was what Capcom took advantage of to create one of the most classic horrifying titles. Resident Evil gives u the impression that u are watching a movie rather than playing a game cos its really well directed (i.e. the point of view constantly changes to emphasize on important objects or places). And here comes Paul W.S. Anderson again, in an attempt to direct Resident Evil (2002). The movie had some really good parts and some parts that had absolutely nothing to do with the game! One thing is that there is so much advanced technology in the movie that is not found in the game. When i first heard of Resident Evil the movie i was sooooo excited to watch it but got frustrated when I finally did see it... And who the FUCK is Alice anyway!?!?! And what about all those Matrix-like stunts? All those things automatically played down the importance of the movie! Yes the actors were really good, the plot, though brutally butchered to some parts, was good, the direction was impressive BUT THAT WAS NO RESIDENT EVIL!!! Id say it was more like an Alien-Matrix-Evil Where has the lordly mansion gone? With the victorian-like atmosphere wandering in it? Jill, Wesker or Barry? Summing up is a very good movie if u are not going to relate it with the game version. Im not gonna refer to the sequels though cos they were really indefferent to me.

Tekken

If there is a fighting game that has surpassed Mortal Kombat, then this is Tekken. The anime style fighting games are so many (Virtua Fighter, Dead or Alive, Rival School etc.) that i could name titles for hours. One of those is Tekken which managed to be the number one in that genre for more than a decade. The successful formula i think was a combination of addictive gameplay, stunning graphics, real martial arts and combos and characters with interesting background. But as far as the movie version, my words wont be so nice! First of all it was completely unfaithful to the game ( yeah i know i get obssesive with this thing but this is a gaming blog after all) and dont even dare to say that it was an alternative aspect of the game, cos if u are using a successful title to be famous n make money out of it u ve got to be respectful! To me it was more like a badly fan-made movie or a well made cosplay!!! I dont really know what the director, Dwight H. Little, had in mind when he changed so many things and neglected even more! When someone attempts to make a movie based on such a legendary title, he/she MUST stick to some principles (which many directors seem to avoid SO successfully) such as sticking to the main plot and using the main characters as the main characters! The main characters of Tekken are Law (Marshall & Forest), Heihachi, Kazuya, Yoshimitsu, King, Jun, Paul, Lei... Not Dragunov, Christie or Steve (who, btw, doesnt fight at all!!!). When i was really laughing and crying at the same time was when Yoshimitsu appeared! Are we to suppose that THING is a flexible cyber-human samurai??? Definitely not! And surely he didnt deserve such a laughable single-punch defeat. Do i even have to mention the role of Heihachi in the movie? I dont think so. Whoever has played the games and seen the movie knows exactly what i mean. Someone has to tell those wanna-be-directors that simply putting ripped bodies, and sexy leather outfits in a movie doesnt make it successful, just trashy! Therea are also 2 more adaptation attamepts. One is Tekken: The Motion Picture made in 1997. This anime version was really good if u think that it had a nice game-based plot and characters. But why fighting competitions in movies have to take place on far away tropical islands (Tekken The Motion Picture, Mortal Kombat, Dead or Alive ???). The last movie based on Tekken was Tekken: Blood Vengeance (2011). Finally the game series got what they so long deserved! A fast paced movie with stylish and full of martial arts fighting scenes, well made characters' background, and graphics that remind of the games' cut-scenes! What more is there to ask?!