In life there are three immutable laws: Death, taxes, and apparently the impossibility of make a decent movie based on a video game.
There may be some which are enjoyable (or likable, or charming, or whatever other positive description you wanna’ give them (for me an example is the first Resident Evil), but in terms of quality, they just aren’t any good. Hopefully that can be remedied at some point in the future… perhaps with the BioShock or possible Metal Gear Solid movies, but at this point in time there are no live-action video game movies (there are a couple of animated ones that are decent, notably Street Fighter II) that could be considered “quality stuff.”
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Need examples, do you? OK, try this partial list out for size: Doom, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Resident Evil: Extinction, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Street Fighter, Super Mario Bros., Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, Silent Hill, Hitman, Bloodrayne, Max Payne…. I could go on and on…
However, even in the face of this, studios seem hell-bent on making more of them. The latest is a live-action adaptation of The Wheelman, which is set to star Vin Diesel and be directed by John Singleton. The game was just launched last month, and it also features the likeness, voice and producing force of Diesel himself. It’s extremely basic storyline is of an experienced getaway driver who comes out of retirement to help a woman from his past.
Oh the complexities that could be driven from that plot…
Diesel had already bailed on the Fast and the Furious series after the first and before Singleton came on-board for the second (although he didn’t direct the third or fourth, but Diesel had a cameo in the third and was recently in the fourth… confused?). Maybe the two of them will come together to make the fast car movie they could’ve done before…
Well, maybe not…
The script for the film was originally written by Rich Wilkes (who wrote xXx), but has been rewritten by writing team Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell. It will be produced by Diesel himself (as he did with the game) along with Lorenzo di Benaventura. The studio developing/releasing the project will be Paramount Pictures.
This was a project that was supposed to have gotten going back in 2006. The original plan was to make the movie and the game at about the same time, and then release the two of them in close proximity to one another (which may have stopped it being another one of those games-based-on-movies that are rushed just for the sake of getting it out there quickly). Sumner Redstone (the big honcho who owns Paramount and game company Midway) then sold 87% of his stake in Midway (the company which made the Wheelman game) and so it went to Ubisoft.
So here we are, three years later….
Until the third law is broken, all video game movies in production will be presumed to be bad, and The Wheelman is certainly included. It’s not a game I’ve played (I haven’t had a chance yet since it only came out last month) but by the sounds of it, it’s just a thin storyline that’s there simply to serve gameplay… and that usually is the thing which results in movies based off of these games being awful.
I welcome with open arms a video game based movie which ends up being defined as “great,” but as it stands at the moment the odds are not good.
What do you think of a live-action movie of The Wheelman? Have you played the game, and if so do you think it could make a decent movie?
Source: Variety
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53 Comments
I’ll agree that there have been no movies based on games that were great but some were good, like the afore-mentioned Resident Evil. I also liked Doom, Hitman, Mortal Kombat and Tomb Raider, but these films were not as good as Resident Evil. I think John Singleton is a pretty good director, not great, but pretty good. I liked the 2nd F&F, Shaft and xXx; and Diesel is a definite draw but he needs to get busy on the sequel to Riddick.
No good video game to movie movies?
Silent Hill was amazing – Christopher Gans is one of the most talented directors today.
Mortal Kombat – an AWESOME movie, great music, great fights, good acting and good story.
The last Resident Evil movie was pretty good, Shooter (based on Silent Scope) was also good.
I think video game movies are in it’s initial stages, like comic book movies. We just need some talent behind them (think of what Nolan did to Batman and Snyder to Watchmen).
Problem is, movie studios are after the money first, quality second when it comes to these movies. They hire hack, music video directors to make stupid, watered down versions of their video game counter parts.
Once someone with a real passion and real talent tackles a game like halo, bioshock, metal gear solid, etc. we’ll see video game movies gain credibility just like comic book movies did.
I think that a couple of the Final Fantasy games could be adapted well. But then again, the amount of detail that would have to be compressed could make them rather crap-tastic.
@ OGB
Silent Hill was decent as was the first Mortal Kombat, didn’t know that about Shooter. I disagree about the last RE, the First Resident Evil good, but the last one was corny bordering on abdsurdness.
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Wasn’t a fan of any of the XXX films, and I’d rather have Spy Hunter with Tha Rock come out before this film.
I think this network has been taken over by Skynet. I know I posted to this earlier. Anyway…
I actually like Doom, Tomb Raider, Mortal Kombat and Hitman; they were not great but I liked them. I agree that Resident Evil was the best of all of them. Vin needs to stop fooling around and get working on Riddick 2.
@Mark
The first Final Fantasy movie was awful. My son and I just laughed at how bad it was after it was over.
37 minutes and counting for Trek.
@ogb
Gosh I can only agree with that last paragraph of yours, none of the movies you mentioned before, especially silent hill, could I ever even consider recommending to anyone even just as a simple popcorn flick.
As for this Wheelman, the brief plot just sounds like a watered down Transporter if you ask me. Interested? Not in the slightest.
I’m a huge game and film enthusiast, IMHO, in a movie, in any sort of movie, story and character development is the most important. You have one or the other, or none, your movie will fail, plain and simple. Let’s hope Hollywood stops trying to play things safe soon and get back to the roots of filmmaking.
As of right now, I’m trying to keep my hopes up for Prince of Persia Sands of Time, but only time will tell whenever the trailer comes out.
Oh and to this day the only game-related film I would consider decent is still the first Resident Evil. Very enjoyable.
I actually agree with ogb. Mortal Kombat is a good movie. Granted I watched it in theaters when I was like 10 yrs old, I still enjoy it today. I think MGS, BioShock, and Halo offer more in depth stories that can be adapted to the big screen, I sure hope talented directors can do them justice.
The Wheelman will probably be like every other Vin Diesel film, enjoyable with quite a bit of action. We’ll see.
ogb, you said it, Silent Hill & Mortal Kombat were good movies! Clear examples of good videogame-turned-movies. Silent Hill stayed true to the source material, and Mortal Kombat, that was great!
I will say this about Doom, you had a great story line with demons arriving from Hell. HELL!!! Why would you change that to bio-engineered mutants from space or whatever that was! Anyone see Event Horizon? How awesome that movie was!
@ SK 47
Event Horizon was AWESOME (don’t know why Paul Anderson gets so much crap, he’s made some great movies). Much closer to Doom. However I do admit I had a good time watching Doom…a mindless flick and I liked it a lot.
@ Liam
A lot of this becomes based on opinion. A LOT of video game movies are, almost as a fact, bad (Mario Bros anyone? Uwe Boll movies too).
But Silent Hill is not one of them. Maybe you didn’t like it, fine. But if you played Silent Hill 1 and 2 (still the scariest experiences I’ve had when it comes to movies/games/books) and then saw the movie, you AT LEAST will appreciate what Gans did. True to source material, some truly disturbing scenes. The only part I HATED was the little girl (when she was yelling “silent hill! silent hill!” it almost ruined the movie for me).
Same thing for Mortal Kombat. As a martial arts movie enthusiast, the fights were awesome. Actors fit their roles for the most part. And the MUSIC, I’m confident saying that most people in the world know the mortal kombat theme when it plays.
Any way, my 2 cents
@ogb,
Was Event Horizon based on a game? That’s actually a really good movie.
Can those defending those video game movies REALLY say they are “good” movies? I can accept fun, enjoyable, guilty pleasure, and such but in terms of quality… no…
I’ve played the Silent Hill games (truthfully the ONLY games to ever genuinely scare me) and even though they may have stayed true to the source material with the movie, and there WERE some genuinely frightening scenes (those little burnt dudes in the park… eek!) but as far as quality of movies go… again, no…
Resident Evil (the first one – NOT the awful sequels) is A LOT of fun and one I pop into the DVD player every so often if I just want a brainless (no pun intended) movie to pass the time. But it’s no Godfather…
Yeah, I have to disagree with that too. I thought the first Resident Evil was very good actually, the other two not as good but still enjoyable to watch. Mortal Combat…kind of a cult classic, a bit cheesy maybe, but it’s Mortal Combat for goodness sake…what can you expect. And I’m sorry, but the Tomb Raider movies were Spot on as far as Laura Croft goes. Angelina was like born to play her. Just my opinion of course.
I dont mind video game movies, obviously the plots usually leave something to be desired but just as an enjoyable movie i cant complain. Im hoping that IF a gears of war or god of war movie gets off the ground, that they are well done.
Ross
No Event Horizon was not (someone mentioned it’s more like Doom then the actual Doom movie)
As for Silent Hill, I can honestly say that it was quality. Of course in the end this is my opinion but still, the movie is great and had a lot going for it (great acting, awesome story, truly scary and disturbing parts, and a thought-provoking ending and not to mention the AMAZING score by the original game music composer)
Mortal Kombat is on a cheesier, culty side as someone mentioned but it’s just so much better than most American martial arts movies. Have you seen Dead or Alive movie, one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen and that’s what MK could’ve been if it was truly bad.
I haven’t seen Dead or Alive, which is why I never listed it in the post. It looks like nothing more than an excuse to have semi-naked woman far-too-easily kick the crap out of men.
Wait… and that’s bad HOW?!
@ John “Kahless” Taylor
I agree the Final Fantasy movie WAS bad. But that wasn’t based on a game. Really, it felt like a rejected video game plot. I’m referring to Final Fantasy VII, IX, X, and XII. But, again, I think there is too much to the plots in those games to compress into a good film.
Final Fantasy games are sort of the opposite of most of the video games out there. The gameplay and environment in Final Fantasy games functions as a way to interact with the rather Detailed Plot. All the games adapted into movies so far have been based on games where a thin plot and environment serves as a way to connect the levels of Game Action.
@ Ross
I know what you mean but the women weren’t that hot (Jamie Presley from My name is Earl and that Asian chick from Sin City) and the rest of it was sooo bad. So good call on not seeing it.
@ ogb
yea see that’s where my issue lies. I have played all of SH except for 3 to the death, and read any reference materials on them quite thoroughly as well. What makes SH such a great game is the fact that those who get involved with the town are forced to face their own dark entities/past in a very twisted manner. They come to life and are out to get you. That was NOT how the film portrayed it. I had trouble seeing anything the film referenced back to the game other than pyrimid head which wasn’t even held true to what his character should have been.
I could care less about how when you shoot the creatures some acid like black goo comes spewing out at you, which never happened in the games. For that I would say was a decent attempt to add to what the film’s Silent Hill was trying to hint as its dark past (the melting and burning of witches etc…). I was ok with the ending, was a clever way to show how she’s now stuck in a parallel world which would be the only true reference back to the games that I could really see.
The cult? What? Pit of whatever melting Cybil away? Pyramid Head showed up only briefly…
Ok all that food for thought, but bottom line is, Silent Hill was meant to be so much different than Resident Evil in terms of HOW it horrifies people, and that’s not through plain goredom, it’s with psychologically disturbing references and portrayals that may appear weak but is more fearsome than shear dominating power.
This is why in my opinion, Silent Hill was such a failure. It failed to capture what made the game so unique and instead they just brought it down to another simple brainless horror film. So I suppose I’ll take something back, I’ll recommend this to anyone who never played Silent Hill, if all they’re looking for is a gruesome horror flick to scare themselves with, if they don’t get disgusted first.
@ogb & Ross
I *hated* Event Horizon. I thought it was a horribly bad movie.
Vic
I actually liked Mortal Kombat, lol. Yes, it was VERY cheesey, but that was what made it cool and funny to watch. The sequels were HORRIBLE however…
And about Wheelman, if you read the reviews, you’ll see that even as a video game it sucked, so the movie can’t be much better…
@ogb, where is it said that Shooter was based on Silent Scope?? I thought there was a novel it was based on? It’s not just because they both have “sniper” rifles in it right? They’re not even the same rifle… And besides the point, Shooter was horrible. Technically they got a lot of the long range shooting stuff right, but the story was just stupid. Conspiracy theory stories are hard to get right and that one missed (no pun intended) its mark big time in my opinion.
@Ross Miller
“Can those defending those video game movies REALLY say they are “good” movies? I can accept fun, enjoyable, guilty pleasure, and such but in terms of quality… no…”
Well, isn’t that true of most action movies? They simply exist to be fun, enjoyable, guilty pleasures? Not every movie has to aspire to be The Godfather Part 4, sometimes being Cammando 2 is all you need.
Sorry for the double post.
Ken J, Shooter is based on a novel called Point of Impact.
I thought Event Horizon was based on an original screenplay by Philip Eisner..
@ Liam
Good points but I respectfully disagree completely. Yes the story was different than the games, but Gans never set out to redo the story lines completely. He borrowed from the SH1 and SH2 to create an original story that fits perfectly into the SH realm.
“I could care less about how when you shoot the creatures some acid like black goo comes spewing out at you, which never happened in the games.”
– In the movie the creature sprayed acid as an attack, not necessarily just because it got shot. And in the 2nd game they had the EXACT same creature (actually the first creature you meet in SH2 under the bridge). So he got that down perfectly.
Silent Hill the movie captured exactly what the game captured. And for comparison reasons, it is VERY different than RE the movie, which was “jump out scary” whereas SH movie messed with your head a lot and created real fear and the feel of helplessness and loneliness.
I really strongly disagree with you when you say it was a brainless horror movie. It really wasn’t.
@ Vic
Um okay…no offense but that’s a strange thing to contribute to the conversation (”I hated it”, period) But again, opinion based. I loved the movie, thought it was an awesome horror/sci fi movie, which we don’t see a lot lately at all. Come to think of it, EH is a very underrated movie. Great plot, GREAT acting, good visual effects, etc. I think it’s AT LEAST on the same level as Boyle’s SUNSHINE.
@KEN J
Maybe i was mistaken but that’s what I read a long time ago when it was being made. And as far as it being good/bad, I don’t get it. You’re throwing around words like “horrible” describing that movie. Was it really “horrible”? I mean it was a decent flick. I liked it more than an average person because they came close to nailing the shooting mechanics of the rifle and the person shooting it (Walberg spent a Ridiculous amount of time researching that role, training, etc.) Not saying it’s great, but almost everyone thought it was a decent, slightly above average action movie. You say it’s HORRIBLE. I don’t know, maybe your standards are too high.
@ Dudelove
Good point
Excuse me ogb, I forgot to say “I thought” Shooter was horrible for the story, it is just my opinion, I know plenty of people who liked it. But like I’ve said, it was good on the technical side of the whole long range shooting stuff, but the story was crap, in my opinion.
@ogb
I could only stand to sit through it once and all I remember is how awful it was.
Backup:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/event_horizon/
Vic
I’ve lost faith in Rottentomatoes.com Vic, lol.
I thought Event Horizon was merely OK. It was interesting in that it was different, but it wasn’t anything I would watch more than once.
Event Horizon was decent but I can’t stand anything after Mortal Kombat that Paul Anderson is involved in. Just Blah. RE 2 and 3. Dead or Alive baaaarrrrrffff. lets not Forget teh Terrible AVP movie, and I think he had a hand in scripting AVP -Requime. SOme one needs to make a movie Based off of Bubble Bobble to end the terrible Video Game movie madness.
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