In a few days, yet another Resident Evil movie will be released. My friends say, “Let’s go watch it, might as well since we watched the last one.” Does it sound like they are excited about it? Definitely not; and neither am I. But we probably will go because, just las my friend said, we already saw the last and maybe, just maybe, this one will be good. What needs to happen for a video game movie to really be great?
In my youth I was exposed to some of the first big name games being made into movies. Super Mario Brothers and Mortal Combat come to mind. I remember myself somewhat enjoying Mortal Combat and knowing it was cheesy (fanboyism at work) and Super Mario Brothers I will not speak of.. Anyway, as I grew older and saw both games and movies progress around me, I thought to myself, “I can’t wait to see how a movie version of this game would be!” Guess what? I will no longer say that. Instead I have grown into a bitter man resentful of video games being made into movies. Though I’m not saying that they can’t be enjoyable, but it’s very disappointing when a game that has a serious plot, is made into a less-than-serious movie!
Let’s face it, when games are made into movies they are made with the sole intention of making money. Studios practically jump on the hottest video games knowing the millions of copies they are selling will turn into millions of tickets sold and dollars made. Is it because of this that a vast majority of them are generally disappointing to both fans,Is it because studios know they are cashing in that they don’t bother trying to make the movie worthy of being good? I can list for you, and Wiki can as well, the video games that were made into movies and more than half aren’t even worth watching if your friend downloads it for you and burns it on a disc. (I say your friend because clearly you and I do not do such things 
I feel like the studios, when spending millions on a video game movie, spend it all on two things – advertising and special effects. Because we all know a video game has to have awesome special effects! I mean the game was all digital anyway!! This trend clearly has to stop.
I understand that video game play is usually lengthier than the 2 hour time frame of a movie, and I also understand that video games generally are level-based or allow players to choose their own path. But, in the end, both movies and games have a start and finish. They have characters. They have villains and conflicts. Do you need any more? A video game movie director, is like a chef who is catering a meal for someone special. If the chef was given the personal preferences of the diner, a specific recipe and a detailed ingredient list, you’d assume that he would follow those directions–wouldn’t you?! Not if you were the video game movie director– you’d buy your own ingredients, skim the recipe book and put everything together based on your own extensive knowledge. Why do this? Is it the director’s inner artist saying, “I can’t make it exactly like the game. I must make it something.. more.” This is not art, it’s butchery!
It is simply not okay to put characters who are not in the game in a movie that’s about the game! It also seems that the video game publishers do not care at all–they get paid for the license and the video games sales don’t suffer either way because, for gamers, games > movies. Look at this Resident Evil picture. The main character is not even a character in the series. She has super human strength and in this particular movie, tens if not hundreds of clones! This is just an example of Hollywood milking the fans by tagging a Resident Evil name to the movie.
You’d think that video game movies made by the original creators would always be amazing–right? Nope, they have their own problems, but it should not stop a video game publisher from trying. Two great video game movies that I’d like to mention are Resident Evil: Degeneration and Final Fantasy Advent Children. They were both created beautifully in their digital glory and had the characters taken directly from the game. I personally liked both and really felt that each movie was an episode of the characters adventures. I liked them because they stayed true to the game, the story and the fans.
Some people might argue that great movies can’t be made that based on video games (Especially video games that are series.) Great books have been made into great movies, and last I checked, books can also be quite lengthy. Peter Jackson didn’t stay entirely true to the Lord of the Rings books, but he worked out his changes flawlessly.
The digital character in video games shouldn’t be underestimated as great characters for real actors. Look at Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Imagine Nathan Fillion as Nathan Drake or, what I would like to see, Charlize Theron as Samus Aran <3! All are great actors, who bring all of the characters that they play to life. They become the fact to the fiction for the fans. I’d like to thank the actors who have portrayed video game characters. I know that to being cast in a video game movie is different from more prestigious roles but, I want them to know how much their fans appreciate it!
Real Life Hollywood RE vs CGI Publisher RE
Video games can, and eventually will, be made into great movies. That I am hopeful of, but not this year. I see the long list of movies based on games that will be released in the next two years and I cringe. So more games are being made into more movies, but can they be good? Time will tell. Please Sam Raimi and Blizzard, deliver us from our fate of not having a good game movie that makes it to the big screen!
