Because the people making them just see a quick cash-in and don't consider things like plot, coherancy, actual links to the material their movie is based upon or fan reactions? I think the only one which has come close to being decent was Silent Hill and that was solely upon an aesthetic level - the look of the town and the monsters was perfect, but the plot still descended into OTT lameness by the end and they seemed to believe that a Ringu style formula of annoying woman plus annoying child would be better than the original set up.

I have to say I loved Mortal Kombat though (guilty pleasure.) - it was just cheesy and lame enough to be fun and the fights were actually quite nicely co-ordinated.

They play the DoA movie here on S.Korean TV all the time - god knows why because it stereotypes Asians so, so badly. It does have lots of gratuitous bikinis tho

FakeSteve[TPR]

Valhalla18444 Posts

February 11 2009 01:37 GMT

#43

all the mortal kombat movies are great

Scamp

United States1086 Posts

February 11 2009 01:37 GMT

#44

My general opinion on this topic is that movies made from video games often try to be faithful to the storyline of the video game in some way. This is usually a horrible idea.

wurm

Philippines2296 Posts

February 11 2009 02:01 GMT

#45

Blizzard Entertainment refused Boll's request to make a World of Warcraft adaptation; Boll said, "I got in contact with Paul Sams of Blizzard, and he said, 'We will not sell the movie rights, not to you... especially not to you.'"

LOL...

Max Payne would have been one the best video game movies ever if it didn't deviate from its original storyline and had a little more action. 2 bullet-time scenes for god's sake. WTF

MadNeSs

Denmark1507 Posts

February 11 2009 02:15 GMT

#46

Isnt max payne originally a comic? If so , then it cant really be considered a vg->to movie.

falls

United States168 Posts

February 11 2009 02:16 GMT

#47

The problem is that the only people who would watch these video game movies are people who have already played the video game. So, either they recreate the video game perfectly in movie form and put 90% people watching the movie to sleep (because they already know everything) or piss off 90% of the people watching the movie by changing everything too much.

I don't get why movie companies still make video game movies....-.-;;

ghermination

United States2851 Posts

February 11 2009 02:25 GMT

#48

I liked the silent hill movie. I thought it was atleast passable.

prOxi.swAMi

Australia3091 Posts

February 11 2009 02:42 GMT

#49

WarCraft movie should be ok... As much as the game isn't...

Raithed

China7078 Posts

February 11 2009 02:46 GMT

#50

i loved silent hill. fuck you haters! all of you!

The Storyteller

Singapore2486 Posts

February 11 2009 03:34 GMT

#51

It's a combination of factors.

First of all, most video games have crappy plots that are just shallow devices to drag you from one action scene to the next, and then maybe set up for a sequel. For instance: There is a martial arts competition to prove who is the best fighter in the world. Player fights 12 characters, one by one. He kills big boss in the end but big boss is not really dead... That is hardly movie material but it can be a very entertaining video game.

Secondly, there is a lot of conflicting pressure from fans, video game companies and Hollywood executives which makes it difficult for scriptwritiers to do their jobs. A lot of fans want to see certain characters in the movie. They can also get caught up in what the video game has presented, and insist on things being done just as the video game has said, even though it will make for a lousy movie. The video game companies that own the rights to the characters and brand name will want the movie to at least uphold the spirit of the game so that buyers of the game do not get confused. And the executives have a certain audience in mind which is not hardcore players. They want something that appeals to young people who may have heard of the game but haven't played it.

Thirdly, a lot of video games are fantasy/science fiction. You need a big budget to get good effects for that kind of movie. However, because the audience for such shows is limited, executives will not release funds to get good effects done. So the movies end up looking cheesy.

EvilTeletubby

Baltimore, USA22259 Posts

February 11 2009 03:37 GMT

#52

Two words: Uwe Boll.

Jesus fucking christ.

mahnini

United States6862 Posts

February 11 2009 03:56 GMT

#53

ive been waiting for the fatal frame movie to come out since forever creepiest game ive ever played

Sadist

United States7328 Posts

February 11 2009 04:05 GMT

#54

On February 11 2009 10:37 FakeSteve[TPR] wrote:
all the mortal kombat movies are great

no....

#2 was horrible
Cyrax and Sector wearing BMX motocross suits?

please.

noob saibot suddenly comes out of ermac?

RAIDEN IS A DIFF GUY?
JOHNY CAGE DIES IN BEGINNING?????
ISNT SONYA DIFF TOO????

GOD IT WAS HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!

NeverGG

United Kingdom5399 Posts

February 11 2009 04:20 GMT

#55

On February 11 2009 13:05 Sadist wrote:

Show nested quote +

Amen to this - too much spandex, not enough awesome cheesiness.

r0kamo

Canada34 Posts

February 11 2009 04:37 GMT

#56

Has anyone seen the Street Fighter Animated film? How about the American animated version? Here's an entertaining comparison.

Since there seems to be a lot of Mortal Kombat love amongst you folks, I figured I'd give it another go and watch it for the first time in years. Sadly, the rental store did not have a copy. After debating with myself for a good 15 minutes on how much pain I wanted to force upon myself, I settled (reluctantly) on Tomb Raider from the available selection. Ew Blockbuster -____-; I'll let you guys know how much I hated it when I finish watching it... assuming my heart doesn't collapse from the stress D:

In the mean time, you guys should also check out There Will Be Brawl. It's an adult oriented Super Smash Bros. short film. I thought it was rather brilliant. I'd like to point out that this, while not exactly ideal for mass consumption, is a pretty good example of how a film adaptation of a video game should be like.

As I said, it contains many elements that just would not be tolerated by a large scale audience (due to both a lack of familiarity and perhaps too great a sense of surrealism). But the direction There Will Be Brawl takes - an atmosphere of maturity and a sense of relevancy, both in the personalities of the characters and in the environment that effects them - is something that an adult audience can appreciate. It's something that video game movies really seem to lack. IMO, anyway.

Fen

Australia1848 Posts

February 11 2009 07:04 GMT

#57

I enjoyed this movie. It didnt take itself too seriously like most game-to-movie adaptations which made it fun to watch.

jinwoooooooo

United States176 Posts

February 11 2009 07:09 GMT

#58

On February 11 2009 07:26 Tadzio wrote:
Anyways, there's the Final Fantasy CG films Advent Children

Agreed. Watch it if you haven't already, even if you haven't played the game! I'm really surprised FFVII AC has been only mention once in this thread so far.

The movie is amazing, definitely lives up to it's expectations and it's video game counterpart (considering FFVII is arguably the greatest game ever made by mankind, this is, for lack of a better term, a strong assertion). Looking forward to your analysises (analyses?)

Ghost151

United States290 Posts

February 11 2009 17:30 GMT

#59

FF7: AC is defintely the least suck out of all video game adaptions. THough it's own story is hollow, it actually successfully latches on where the game left off. RE: Degeneration fails at this hard, but it was still better than all 3 piece of shit live actions put together.

probably the worst one I've ever seen though was parasite eve. there's like no reference to the game at all. Just a weird b-grade japanese sci-fi.

On February 11 2009 11:16 falls wrote:
The problem is that the only people who would watch these video game movies are people who have already played the video game. So, either they recreate the video game perfectly in movie form and put 90% people watching the movie to sleep (because they already know everything) or piss off 90% of the people watching the movie by changing everything too much.

I don't get why movie companies still make video game movies....-.-;;

great explanation.

the thing i don't get is...a video game movie SHOULD only appeal to the fans of the game. Fuck deviating from the original premise to try to cash in on the general public that would only go see it most likely because they'd be dragged to it by a game fan. Game movie =/= profitable in the bigger picture.

I'm still pissed about the RE movies. RE is my fav series ever and way back in april '98 when I remembered seeing on the RE2 game box about a movie cameo contest I was SO pumped. FF to 2002....utter clusterfuck trainwreck shitfest of a movie.

Degeneration is only par at best, but it was still better than live action where they do whatever they want to it (the nemesis is fucking robotic?!?!?). And it used RE4 Leon, who you would know if you;ve ever played RE4 is a qualified ninja and BAMF.