Why are there no great video game movies?
This is a question we hear a lot, and given that we're less than a year out from an Assassin's Creed movie,
and man, only a few months away from a Warcraft movie,
we're probably going to be hearing this question asked a lot more in the near future.
Or, maybe one or both of those will turn out to be really good.
I mean, stranger things have happened.
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Now, film is not our main area of critical expertise,
So, we have called in our good friend, Movie Bob, to give us his thoughts.
Today's episode is pretty much thanks to him, and I highly recommend checking out his channel after this.
I'll link to it at the end.
The problem with questions like, "Why are there no great video game movies,"
is that they don't really have one answer.
Making any movie is really, really hard work, regardless of whether it's an original idea or an adaptation.
And even projects that sound absolutely perfect on paper frequently turn out to be... not.
At first glance, the most obvious answer would seem to be
That games and movies are just too different as media.
Interactive versus passive storytelling,
Player focused versus audience focused,
Linear versus open narrative progression and so on.
But while I'm sure that that has some to do with it, I actually don't think it's the main issue.
And honestly, I think it's somewhat overstated.
I mean, yes, games work differently than movies do, but so do books, and plays, and songs.
And they have made plenty of great movies out of those.
Heck, they've even made movies out of board games. Not many good movies, but still.
Basically, if there is a story being told,
or even just a compelling visual or a theme that a story could be married to,
You can probably make a movie out of it- if you want to.
And that's probably the more pressing concern.
Not enough of the people with the money or the power in the film industry to make these kinds of decisions
are familiar enough with the games medium.
Remember, video games have only been widely popular in mainstream culture
for a relatively short amount of time, especially in the West.
By contrast, "The Lord of the Rings" was one of the most popular works in western literature
For nearly half a century before it got a proper movie.
It's easy to think of modern Hollywood as just going down a spreadsheet
And looking for whatever might make money,
But a lot of it still comes down to directors and producers and studio executives
Making decisions based mostly on their own instincts and personal preferences.
Like, here's a good example.
When Tim Burton's first Batman movie came out in 1989, it was a massive box office hit.
And that told Hollywood that comic book superheroes were something audiences wanted to see.
But instead of responding with movies about, say, Spider-Man or Wonder Woman or Captain America,
Studios greenlit features about older,
By then, less popular characters from the pulp and the newspaper strip era,
Like Dick Tracy and the Shadow and the Phantom. Why did they do that?
Well, possibly because the folks in charge didn't really know much about comics beyond the fact
That those were the kinds of comic book heroes who had made money as movies in the past.
But of course those new versions performed mostly poorly when they came out.
Meanwhile, some studios did try to look for what was actually popular.
But since they were mainly working from sales figures rather than first-hand understanding,
They passed right over the properties with proven long-term viability,
In favor of heroes who turned out to be short-lived fads.
In other words, it's no accident that we didn't get the present day renaissance of comic book movies
Until a generation of film professionals who grew up during that mediums popularity explosion
Was firmly established in positions of industry power.
And as the gaming generation comes into its own,
it's pretty likely that video game movies will at least try to follow a similar trajectory.
So the question then becomes:
When it's time to get serious about making video games into movies what does that actually mean?
And not just in terms of which games do we make movies out of,
But in terms of what kinds of movies do we wanna make of them.
What story do we wanna tell, and how?
Because one thing that does set games apart from other media
Is that the story isn't always the core of the appeal.
And I'm not talking about a lack of originality or complexity either.
Even some of gaming's simplest stories endure
Precisely because they're grounded in classical narrative frameworks,
Like a mission to rescue a loved one from captivity,
Or the relationship of children and animals,
Or tensions between humanity and our technological creations,
Or war, or revenge, or family.
No, I'm talking about how caring about the story isn't always necessary to love a game.
Like how many people played through the early Zeldas without really embracing the mythos.
Or how you can become a master at "Street Fighter"
Without ever bothering to learn why any of these people are punching each other.
This is a strength to the accessibility of games
But it has also contributed to a skewed hierarchy of priorities in design culture
Where some of our most visually unique or mechanically satisfying games
Find themselves stuck with stories mainly cobbled together from retreads of earlier familiar media
And that presents a challenge for any movie adaptation.
Look at how "Resident Evil" movies had to invent an entirely new main character just to help differentiate it
From all the previous zombie and monster movies the games had liberally borrowed from.
But even that doesn't necessarily have to be a hindrance.
You see, there actually has been at least one good movie based on a game: "Clue."
Now, if you haven't seen "Clue"... well, go se "Clue." It's a really, really great comedy, and the cast is terrific.
But what's truly impressive about the film is the way it manages to faithfully adapt the source material,
Even as it transforms it for an entirely new medium.
"Clue" is a relatively simple board game where players take turns trying to solve a mystery,
Through process of elimination and educated guessing.
And in order to keep things compelling, the board, the pieces, and the overall scenario,
Are all based around tropes and stock characters familiar from old detective stories,
Which effectively means that simply playing a game of "Clue" tells a story,
Complete with a hero, a villain, a supporting cast, an inciting incident, and an ending.
And one of the things that make the "Clue" movie so unique and great is that it pulls from the very mechanics,
The very play of the game by being a movie that was released with multiple different endings,
Making it a dynamic mystery in fashion of the game itself.
It takes all the names and ideas and iconography that make the game memorable,
Recreates a sense of why the game is fun in the first place,
And (where necessary) it adds a few elements to round things out.
It might not be a perfect model for every situation,
But it's at least a blueprint for how this idea could be accomplished.
But here's another thought:
What if there is something about a game worth adapting outside of its story or characters?
We know that cinematic techniques like atmospheric music,
And manipulation of camera angles and shot composition have all been used to enrich games.
But why can't the same be true of techniques unique to our medium?
Consider, for example, "Call of Duty." No, for real. Hear me out.
People may enjoy "Call of Duty" singleplayer campaigns, but basically nobody plays the series for the storylines.
In fact, a big chunk of the fanbase is primarily or only interested in the multiplayer.
But that franchise has an enormous presence in the popular culture,
Even among people who don't play or follow games.
And that presence is that "Call of Duty" is synonymous with war from a first person viewpoint.
So why not make that movie?
What if "Call of Duty: The Movie" didn't just slap the franchise branding onto a generic military action film?
What if it instead used the stylistic perspective associated with the games
To tell a war story in first person through the eyes of an individual soldier,
To put the audience directly into the experience of armed service.
And not just for combat scenes, like the games, but also for smaller experiences:
basic training, deployment, briefings, patrols, long nights of fear and uncertainty, brief moments of levity,
The making and losing of friends, victory, defeat, pain, loss, injury, maybe even death.
Think about the intensely human drama and nerve-wracking thrills that a film could create
By showing you that from directly behind the eyes of someone experiencing it first-hand.
But also, think about what that could say and mean to a civilian audience
That's increasingly disconnected from the duty it asks of those who do enlist.
In the rights hands, something like that could not only be powerful cinema,
But also, thoughtful and important.
And those are two words not often associated with that franchise.
But that's just one idea.
For all the talk of games and movies being rival media,
Or a bad influence on one another,
At the end of the day, not every one of them's going anywhere.
They share the same culture, and despite differing approaches,
They ultimately share the same goals within that culture.
To entertain, to inspire, to enlighten, to provide an escape, and sometimes, even to teach.
And they both have a lot to learn from one another,
Far beyond merely borrowing each other's characters.
I believe we're only just beginning to see a future where both mediums have evolved and transformed
In fascinating ways, through an exchange of influence and ideas,
And they're gonna be thrilling, informing, and telling a story using ways we can hardly begin to imagine today,
And I believe it's gonna be a truly exciting time to be a gamer and a movie lover,
Even if you gotta endure a few more bad movies to get there.
Thank you again, Bob, for the help with today's episode, and I will see you guys next week.
Thanks for watching!
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