Favorite movie based on a game?

[kitsunebi]

Well, with Warcraft just released, I figured it was time to ask: what's your favorite movie based on a game?

Here's a handy list to refresh your memory:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_video_games

They're all pretty bad, but surely everyone has a guilty pleasure? I'm personally fond of the Resident Evil series, if for no other reason than it has remained creatively consistent with the same director and actress in all (soon to be) 6 films (I guess it helps that they're married). Extra points awarded to the first one because Michelle Rodriguez is awesome.

Remember: movies based on games, not movies where the games came later or movies about games. So no Star Wars or King of Kong or whatnot.

[RetroDefense]

Live action? Probably Mortal Kombat. It's passable and I dig the techno soundtrack.

I've yet to see any of the Resident Evil movies, actually.

Some of the anime isn't bad - Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, and the 90s Sonic the Hedgehog OVA.

[Depressor]

Before 26th May it was Silent Hill)) After 26th May it's Warcraft, of course... I see all i want to see from WoW locations. The movie not without shortcomings, but we wait for Director's Cut)))

P.S. Also, i like Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, even Mario if i look at them without connection with games.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Depressor

[twiztor]

Mortal Kombat, by a wide margin. MK: Annihilation was complete garbage tho.

i actually was a big fan of the Double Dragon movie when i was a kid. i'm sure it's terrible by today's standards. i actually have it downloaded and sitting on my PC, but i've been too scared to watch it and ruin my good memories of it.
saw the first two Resident Evil movies and they were both perfectly acceptable.

the Street Fighter movie was another that i really enjoyed. It is a complete farce of the game series, but it totally works for me.

as direct-to-video movies, there was a live action Tekken movie in like 2010 that i didn't see on the list, but it was better than i expected.

the Super Mario Bros. movie is complete shit, and if anybody tries to defend that utter filth, then i can't be held accountable for my actions.

[kitsunebi]

I just noticed that the highest tomato rating in the entire list goes to Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within at 44%.

I have hopes that the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot will raise that ridiculously low bar. It seems to be in competent hands.

[Areala]

Mortal Kombat, by far, is the best video game to film adaptation. It's a cheese-ball martial arts flick that knows exactly what it's supposed to be, and thus walks that fine line between utter absurdity and trying-to-be-too-serious. It's got great stunts, the perfect cast (Linden Ashby has more fun as Johnny Cage than anyone else in the picture, I fell in love with Bridgette Wilson in Last Action Hero and would watch her in anything, and it's remarkable there's any scenery left between Christopher Lambert's portrayal of Rayden and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa's Shang Tsung), a fun script that follows the video games well enough but makes concessions when necessary...to quote Cage himself: "What more do you want?"

Aside from that, I enjoyed the first Resident Evil movie (the rest have just been too over-the-top), and while I admit there are some major problems with it in terms of the way it handles the original storyline, the first Silent Hill is also very enjoyable. I'll also claim Bloodrayne as a major guilty pleasure...it's objectively an awful movie, but I'd watch Kristanna Loken and Michelle Rodriguez beat people up all day long.

The Dead or Alive movie is damn near as much fun as Mortal Kombat, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong.

Finally, while the first House of the Dead is just laughably awful, the direct-to-video sequel, House of the Dead II, is actually...well, I won't say 'good', but I will say 'fun' for a zombie movie. It knows where its predecessor fouled up and takes a lot of steps to say, "The whole thing is pretty absurd, isn't it? Yeah, we think so to."

*huggles*
Areala

[KanViInte]

My favorite movie based on a game would have to be Street Fighter from 1994, the one with Jean Claude Van Damme in it.

[perfinpuz]

I'm not sure if this counts, but I enjoyed the movie Battleship

[kitsunebi]

I'm not sure if this counts, but I enjoyed the movie Battleship

Yeah, I guess I should have been more specific and said VIDEO game, but if there was a "best movie based on a board game" thread, I would refuse to accept any answer other than "Clue."

[MontrealTurbo]

Yeah, I guess I should have been more specific and said VIDEO game, but if there was a "best movie based on a board game" thread, I would refuse to accept any answer other than "Clue."

Clue was a good one with the late great Tim Curry.

It also qualifies on this list as it's a game as well.

[Areala]

Clue was a good one with the late great Tim Curry.

It also qualifies on this list as it's a game as well.

Um...Tim Curry isn't dead. He turned 70 this year.

*huggles*

Areala

[Areala]

Yeah, I guess I should have been more specific and said VIDEO game, but if there was a "best movie based on a board game" thread, I would refuse to accept any answer other than "Clue."

"Battleship" has also been turned into a video game, as has "Clue", so technically...

*huggles*

Areala

[kitsunebi]

"Battleship" has also been turned into a video game, as has "Clue", so technically...

Ah, but I did specify that the game (meaning video game) had to come first. So a movie based on a video game based on a board game doesn't count, as it was the board game that came first. Not that I'd consider either of those movies to be based on their video game versions (in the case of Clue I doubt there even was one at the time.) Although I think there was a video game of Battleship based on the movie. A game based on a movie based on a game based on a game, if you will.

[perfinpuz]

Battleship (and Clue) were released on the Sega Genesis way before the movie came out. Of course they were "computerized" versions of the board games. That is why I said "I'm not sure if this counts,"

Tim Curry is the narrator and worked with the cast extensively in the new TV remake of Rocky Horror Picture Show.

[MontrealTurbo]

Um...Tim Curry isn't dead. He turned 70 this year.

*huggles*

Areala

Ouch yes sorry I was wrong.

Being such a fan of his work I really should have known that.

I guess I thought he didn't survive his recent stroke.

Thanks Areala

[kitsunebi]

Battleship (and Clue) were released on the Sega Genesis way before the movie came out. Of course they were "computerized" versions of the board games. That is why I said "I'm not sure if this counts,"

Err...Clue (the movie) came out in 1985. The Genesis game came out in 1992.

As for Battleship (the movie), I think it would be a stretch to say it has anything to do with the original board game or the 16-bit games. I mean...yeah, there might be a battleship...but other than that? Aliens? Yeah, not actually part of the game. I'd imagine there are several old b&w movies about WWII naval battles that are better adaptations of Battleship than the actual Battleship movie was (even if they came out before the board game...) Not saying it isn't a good movie (haven't seen it), just that based on the description, I don't see what it has in common with the game other than some very superficial elements.

Edited June 13, 2016 by kitsunebi77

[marktrade]

Mortal Kombat, for sure.

I didn't expect I'd be saying that so many years later because I originally considered the movie somewhat disappointing, but over time I've really come to appreciate it.

I thought Need for Speed was decent as well, but Mortal Kombat wins for music and cinematography.

[te72]

Yeah, I guess I should have been more specific and said VIDEO game, but if there was a "best movie based on a board game" thread, I would refuse to accept any answer other than "Clue."

Clue is probably the only movie mentioned so far that I would consider "good" but as has been said, the bar here is rather low... That said, I rather enjoyed the following:

-Mortal Kombat

-FF Spirits Within

-FF Advent Children (I really dig the soundtrack)

-Most any 90's anime based on a fighting game (Tekken, Fatal Fury, Street Fighter)

-Silent Hill (although it wasn't nearly as good or creepy as the game)

-First couple Resident Evil films, by the fifth one though... ugh.

I think that's about it. Haven't seen any of the more modern game-based movies, and I flat out refuse to watch anything by Uwe Bolle.

[ddark]

Resident Evil Degeneration. Game movies are best in full CGI.

[orthicviper]

Mortal Kombat of course

[te72]

Resident Evil Degeneration. Game movies are best in full CGI.

OOH, good call! Both the RE CGI movies were a lot of fun, and well made, close to the source of the games as well. I rather enjoyed them. I guess technically, there were three, but I'd really only count Degeneration and Damnation as movies, considering 4D Executor was more of a short.

Still, good call.

[Magazine]

Mortal Kombat. It's still the best game-to-movie adaption imo.

[te72]

I just had a thought... TMNT. I know it started as a comic, but if I recall my history, it was a game next, then a cartoon, and finally, a movie.

If you'll allow it, I would propose that the original (and to a slightly lesser extent) TMNT movie was a really good one.

[kitsunebi]

I just had a thought... TMNT. I know it started as a comic, but if I recall my history, it was a game next, then a cartoon, and finally, a movie.

If you'll allow it, I would propose that the original (and to a slightly lesser extent) TMNT movie was a really good one.

Well, first of all, the cartoon was on the air for over a year before the NES game was released. The miniseries ran in Dec. 1987 and the daily syndicated show started in Oct. 1988. The NES game didn't hit until May 1989.

That's all irrelevant though. While I don't dispute that the movie is decent kids fare, there's really no way you could argue that it was based on the game. I would be willing to accept an argument that the movie was based on the cartoon, even though the comics came first, simply because the cartoon had a far wider cultural impact than the comics did, but saying that the movie was in any way based upon the game is simply reaching too far.

[te72]

That's all irrelevant though.

Fair enough, you make a solid argument there. However, getting it out there is enough to get it into the discussion, my whole point all along.