Santikos Cine-opsis

I was perusing Slashfilm when I saw a lively discussion about the possibilities of a third film in the “Mortal Kombat” franchise.  Sure it began 3 months ago, but it’s never too late to chime in!

I thought I’d comment on that, and it turned into a dissertation about video game movies in general that I thought might stimulate discussion in here that didn’t come from spammers.

Enjoy.  Oh, and here is the link to the slashfilm discussion on MK3.

“In general, video game movies don’t work because most video games are based on playing through levels of increasing difficulty, dating back to the first Mario Bros. game (and talk about a horrible idea for a movie!!)

It’s only been recently that advances in technology have allowed for video games to include cinematic plots, but even then, most players tend to buy games for their playability, and in the current environment, online playability.

Let’s look at World of Warcraft.  Blizzard created an entire universe complete with tolkienesque races and a lore-filled history.  Why do most players buy it?  To nerf their characters to the highest level and join guilds.  Or to run the same instance over and over.  Or to spend 5 hours as a ghost hitting the run button to find their mutilated bodies.

But even if we said that all these obstacles could be surmounted, a fighting game is still the most difficult to adapt to film.  Whereas most RPGs at least have a goal (save the princess, retrieve the artifact, kill Diablo) fighting games all follow some sort of tournament formula.  This makes writing a compelling script that stays true to the spirit of the game nigh impossible. You either abandon the initial premise (new street fighter movie) or try and follow it as closely as possible (MK1).  Either way, the result is usually pretty bad. And having just netflixed MK1, I echo the sentiment that it was mostly cheese, but still one of the better video game movies out there (not saying much).

In my opinion, the first “Resident Evil” was probably the most successful transition.  While the plot deviated from most of the games, it hit all the high notes and was for the most part an enjoyable zombie action flick.  I agree with the comments about “Silent Hill”.  But let’s not forget that there have been some successful Final Fantasy movies as well.

Currently, I think that the franchises that would best make the switch are Metal Gear: Solid and Soul Caliber (see!  I even picked a fighting game!)  The Metal Gear: Solid games are so close to movies already that it’s almost cheating to pick them, but they would be really easy to convert and they have great action and plot, so how could you fail? (I’ll answer that myself: by casting Nicolas Cage or Tom Cruise as Snake)  As for Soul Caliber, yes it’s a fighting game, but the Soul Caliber franchise has always had an interesting “story” behind it, and a tale could be weaved blending the Soul Caliber characters into an Arthurian model that could be quite successful. And no, we do not need another MK movie…unless it’s MK vs. DC Universe.  That would be sweet.

That’s my 2-million cents.  Any thoughts on who would make a good Snake?  Kurt Russell anyone? Hehheheheheh.”