Taking a beloved video game franchise and transforming it to the big screen is no small task. I don’t know if you have met any video game enthusiasts, but they typically have strong feelings about these types of things. This is unfortunate because some of the greatest stories ever written have been in video games. The Last of Us television show proved that Hollywood could take an amazing story from a video game and turn it into a heart pounding, and sometimes heart wrenching show. But long before The Last of Us many films came out that deserve to be talked about more. Films that took the genre of video games and flipped it into something we could enjoy on the big screen for 90 minutes or so. Here is a short list of some great films based on video games. They may not be the best films ever released, but they accomplished what they were meant to.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) ” – When the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie came out, it was met with ridicule and confusion. Although Bob Haskins and John Leguizamo played extremely fun brothers, the film was overshadowed by strange direction and ridiculous plot lines. Looking back on it now, the age I was at the time was perfect seeing how I loved it back then and when re-watching it now as an adult, I can appreciate the nostalgia of it all. Having said that, it was not a great movie and there is no wonder why critics hated it so much. That’s why when the 2023 animated film was announced, many were skeptical if it was going to live up to the hype of the franchise. Then finding out that Chris Pratt was attached as Mario, all familiar confusion started setting in again. Was this going to be another flop? Luckily Matthew Fogel had written a fun story that was unique in its own right, while still tickling the toes of nostalgia just enough to hold everything together. Without a doubt, Pratt is a strange choice for Mario, and I wonder how much the film could have benefited from casting someone else. Having said that, it was not a horrible role and paired with Jack Black as Bowser along side Charlie Day as Luigi, the pair saved the film. If nothing else, we got an amazing song from Jack Black that lasted all about two minutes before our kids annoyed us with it.
“Werewolves Within” – In 2021 Josh Ruben directed the first film written by Mishna Wolff based on the 2016 video game of the same name. The game is all about social deduction where one of the players is a werewolf and everyone else must find out which. If that sounds intriguing, you should also check out the board game One Night Werewolf which plays the same way, only in real time face to face. In the film, Sam Richardson (I Think you should Leave, The Detroiters) plays Finn Wheeler, a newly assigned Forrest ranger in the small town of Beaverfield. The town holds a cast of strange folks, and one of them holds a secret. The first watch through of this film is such a blast trying to figure out who is the werewolf and what’s going to happen next. Then on the second watch through, you get to see all the signs you missed the first time and start putting things together from a different aspect.
“Rampage ” – Back before Dwayne Johnson overstayed his welcome in action movies, he starred in the 2018 film Rampage, based on the video game of the same name. This movie has an amazing cast consisting of Malin Akerman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Joe Manganiello, just to name a few. It’s a strange concept to look at the old arcade game Rampage and decide to make a Hollywood blockbuster based on it. There really wasn’t much story in the video game, just giant creatures destroying towns. So, when Ryan Engle, Carlton Cuse, Ryan J. Condala md Ada, Sztykiel put together the script, it couldn’t have been an easy task. That’s probably why it took so many of them. However, what we get is exactly what they intended, an action-packed thrill ride chocked full of jokes and amazing acting. I wouldn’t say this is an amazing movie but think about how absurd it must have been to pitch this idea. They nailed the over the time action film they set out to make and because of this, it belongs on this list.
“Resident Evil” – No surprise that the Resident Evil film franchise would make its way onto this list. Possibly the best film adaptation of a video game ever made. Not only did they crush it with the creepy overtones, jump scares and intense action in the first film, but it spawned an entire franchise of seven movies. They might not all be plus films, but they are all Resident Evil films and that’s what keeps us coming back for more. The casting must be the catalyst that kept the stories going. In the first film we get Milla Jovovich as Allice, Michelle Rodriguez playing Rain and Colin Salmon playing One, who I feel like never gets talked about enough, what an amazing talent. The story is about a Spec Opps unit that is tasked with taking down a supercomputer that is going haywire after a lab accident that caused hundreds of people to mutate into flesh-eating creatures.
“Silent Hill” – Resident Evil and Silent Hill go together like peanut butter and Nutella, some like one more than the other but there is room for both. I have never been more scared of a video game then when I first played Silent hill alone in a dark bedroom at 1 am. That is precisely what I wanted in the film adaptation and while it didn’t scare me nearly as bad as the game, I felt that the creepy aspect along with the Asian inspired horror elements gave me enough of a feeling of discomfort, that the job was well done. As always, casting is one of the most important parts of adapting a video game franchise into a film, and when you bring in the talent of Sean Bean, Radha Mitchell and Laurie Holden, you know what you are doing. Upon its release, the film had somewhat of a lukewarm response from critics, but over the years it has gained a cult following and for good reason. I cannot stress enough how creepy some of these scenes on in this psychological thriller. It has this sort of early 2000s ‘heavy metal” feel much like Ghost Ship or Thirteenth Ghost that honestly, I kind of miss in film.
