Watchable Video Game Movies

Mortal Kombat (1995)

I was a big fan of the Mortal Kombat games back then and was looking forward to this movie until I learned that it would be rated PG.  Mortal Kombat really needs buckets of blood and over the top violence to work well and this was lacking both.  Still, it was surprisingly better than I expected which, I admit, isn't saying much.  I would still like to see this one re-made with a serious blockbuster Hollywood budget.  If they could get the greatest martial arts stars of today to each take a role (Jet Li as Liu Kang, perhaps?) and get Quentin Tarrantino to bring his Kill Bill direction (or perhaps John Woo) to the project we really could have something.  As it is that probably would never happen and we're left with this version of MK (the only actual star is Highlander's Christopher Lambert and calling him a star is even a stretch) and it's god-awful sequel.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

Look at the date on this movie and the one before it.  It took six years for Hollywood to make a second film based on a video game that I could stomach.  Wow.  And the thing is, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider really isn't that good at all.  It has the appeal of Angelina Jolie (The Bone Collector, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) cast as everyone's favorite female spelunker and a small role played by her dad Jon Voight (Deliverance, Mission: Impossible).  A pre-007 Daniel Craig also appears.  The story is completely original to the film and bears little resemblance to the games.  It involves an ancient artifact that as been split into multiple pieces (see Double Dragon, above) and which, if made whole, offers some form of Absolute Power.  You can watch it without incident, but then you can also drive your car into a brick wall at a low enough speed to walk away unscathed.  Would you do either more than once?

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)

This is only loosely based on the Final Fantasy game series and was heralded as a crowning achievement in CG films at the time.  In truth the movie does look fantastic and boasts some impressive voice actors including Donald Sutherland (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Animal House), Ming Na (The Joy Luck Club, ER), and Steve Buscemi, but has a rather lackluster storyline.  Elements that are constant in most FF games are present (spirits, elemental forces), but the futuristic and technological setting is far different from anything ever seen in a FF game.  It's worth watching for the sheer beauty of the project, but it will never have the impact that the producers and studio hoped it would.

Resident Evil (2002)

Rumor has it that this movie was slated to be directed by the one man who should have directed it: George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead - you get the picture).  Reportedly Romero was released from the picture due to disagreements with the producers concerning the script.  Despite the fact that I'm a bit of a Romero fanboy I enjoyed Resident Evil for what it had to offer.  The story from the first and (considerably better) second games is all but completely tossed aside for one that involves a manic computer and industrial espionage at an underground
Umbrella facility called The Hive.  Milla Jovovich is the eye-candy lead and Michelle Rodriguez is at her butchy-best as a member of an elite task force, but that's all the star power this has to offer.  Some elements carried over from the games include the zombie dogs and an end sequence where Alice (Jovovich) emerges onto the disheveled streets of Raccoon City which look remarkably like they did in RE2 and RE3.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)

I wrestled for a while with the decision of whether to list this movie as watchable or awful.  The story is average as is the acting, but Jovovich returns and is still easy on the eyes as is Sienna Guillory who plays a no-nonsense Jill Valentine.  Guillory's Jill is molded after (and dresses like, thank you sexist film producers) the Jill from Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and her juxtaposition against Jovovich's Alice produces a chemistry that works surprisingly well.  The Nemesis from RE3 also puts in an appearance and it's kind of cool to see him stalking after the members of Raccoon City's S.T.A.R.S. unit (complete with his maniacal exclamation of "STARS!" that was so chilling in the game).

The plot involves Umbrella's attempts to clean up and cover up the Raccoon City incident but devolves to the inclusion of a sub-story that Alice is something more than human.  It gets very silly, but it's all in good fun.

Silent Hill (2006)

I look at Silent Hill in much the same way that I looked at Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses.  I loved the hell out of both films, but find it difficult to recommend either one of them to others.  The reason is that neither is really a "good" movie in the traditional sense of the word.  Zombie made "house" for an audience of people like himself - those that are fans of the last twenty years or so of B grade horror flicks.  There's not a scene in that movie that wasn't some kind of homage to the horror genre, but you really have to have seen every good and bad horror flick of the past few decades to really appreciate it and be in on the joke.  If you're not it just looks like a bunch of random violent scenes thrown together to make people puke up their popcorn.

Silent Hill is very similar in that the outsider will see it as a convoluted mess with no real plot and no believable explanation for the things that happen in the movie.  Those who played the games (and there's stuff here from pretty much all of them), however, will love the little tidbits here and there that remind them of the best moments during those games.  There are even sequences that seem lifted from the games almost shot for shot.  Rose's approach to the town of Silent Hill mimics that of Harry Mason in the PS1 original right down to the point where she is attacked by what can only be described as freaky, knife-wielding children of Hell, just as Harry was. 

Static on the radio announces the approach of a baddie just like in the games and the streets (all named after famous science fiction and horror writers) have sign posts with maps just like the first one you find in the first game.  The list of comparisons can go on and on, but if you missed them before you owe it to yourself to go back and check them out.  If you've not played any of the Silent Hill games you probably need not apply as you're just not a member of the club.

Great Video Game Movies

Naught, nil, neggits, and none.  Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children comes close, but since it was not a theatrical release I decided it really didn't count.  Perhaps Gears of War will fill this void in the future?  My guess is, sadly, no, but one can hope.