The Problems With Video Game Movies
There have been many attempts at bringing like action video game franchises to the big screen. Many films like Street Fighter, Resident Evil, and Assassins Creed, just to name a few, have failed in doing so but there have been some that have had successes but many have flopped quite hard. What is the problem with these adaptations and why has each one been awful in the fans eyes. Time and time again production companies will green light a movie based on a successful video franchise, let alone a stand alone game. Within the passed decade there has been too many video games to count but there films that will be looked will show how production companies try to pack too much into a ninety minute film, stray too far from the source material, and use CGI to hide bad acting and plot.
The most recent video game that failed to meet expectations and ticket sales was 2022’s Sony film Uncharted Staring Tom Holland as Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg as Sully. Uncharted was released during the global pandemic which could be a big reason that the film did not sell a lot of tickets at the box office. Upon the low ticket sales that Uncharted received this film was not did not deliver in being a good film in general. This film just like many other live adaptations suffers from straying too far away from the source material. There were many times during the film that featured scenes that were in the game but the problem is that they were all over the place in comparison to the Uncharted game franchise. These scenes were taken from other Uncharted games such as when Nathan is falling out of the Cargo Plane which was from the third game, Uncharted “Drake’s Deception”. Decisions like this tend to split the audience. One one side there is the fans who are upset that everything was all over the place, and the other side who is unfamiliar with the franchise and enjoyed the “Indiana Jones’ treasure hunt style.
Uncharted gained mixed reviews among viewers but it was clear why the live adaptation film of Monster Hunter failed to meet expectations. Monster Hunter was released in December 18, 2020 starring Milla Javovich, Ron Perlman, and T.I., whose characters are new to the Monster Hunter franchise and received very low reviews from the critics and the fans as well. This film is soo far from the source material that the only thing they have in common is the name and they feature monsters. When the first trailer of this film was released it was clear the company was trying to capitalize on the success of Monster Hunter: Rise, and right after seeing the trailer to movie many fans were immediately turned off. This film hides its terrible story and acting with big CGI monsters and loud explosions and is an embarrassment to the Monster Hunter franchise.
