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Question for all...

OK, I'm doing a paper on this, but need input.

Why is it that when a game is based off a movie, it CAN be good, but a movie based off a game ALWAYS 100% of the time is horrible?

Comments

  • Two reasons I can think of right off:

    1) [b]Most movie based games are based upon 'good' movies.[/b] Only two kinds of movies are made into games; very popular movies (considered to be already 'good' to the unwashed masses) and movies which provide an interesting backdrop for a game (less often). Thus, games based on movies probably come from 'good' movies.

    2) [b]Game-based movies are only a small % of movies and are disadvantaged to begin with.[/b] Only a small percentage of movies are 'good'. Next add that game-based movies are usually stuck with the dramatically simple storylines of the games (there is more to games than just the story, so it is usually too thin for a movie, especially in dramatic and interpersonal depth) which means that even good game stories will probably be bad movies. Next add the egos and involvement of the game creators, who are simply not qualified to have the level of input, influence, and possibly control over the movie based on their game. What do you get as a result? Probably a flop...

    -- john :shadow1:

    (who truly hopes there is never a [i]Half-Life, the Movie[/i]) :rolleyes:
  • Actually, I LOVE Resident Evil!!!! One of my fav. movies. Almost everyone (with the exception of you FO members) I know loves it, too.

    I also liked STREET FIGHTER (pretty funny movie, at times, too), and the first Mortal Kombat. (Never saw the second one, but it didn't look that great, anyway.)

    Ummm..... what else is there?

    I guess Wing Commander was okay... I just didn't like Freddy Prince Jr. and Mathew Lillard in Blair and Maniac's roles. Mathew Llliard, least of all. Maniac should be big, tough, intimidating, like the real guy.. (forgot his name). But Mathew is all skinny and shit.... lil' wus. hah... He SO did not belong in Maniac's role. But I guess Freddy Prince and him go way back, and have an arrangement. They can't seem to make a movie without each other! lol (Either they're BOTH in it, or none at all.)

    I never saw Final Fantasy... but quite honostly, it didn't look too interesting to me, anyway. I never played any of those games, either.

    However, all in all, my #1 fav. movie is still RESIDENT EVIL. (In that sci-fi/action thriller, game-based, genre that is, anyway.) The soundtrack owns, too! :P

    *Ducks behind a level 10 forcefield* Fire away... :D:D:D:D:D

    -Zoltan
  • Data CrystalData Crystal Pencil Artist
    Wellwell... Resident Evil was a good B-movie in it's own might and Mortal Kombat actually rocked! The second movie was horrible but MK is a great(!) b-movie.

    B isn't necessarily bad. :)
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Movies based on games are always horrible because they are always based on popular games, and so they rely on the popularity of the game to sell the movie rather than the movie selling itself by being good.
  • Does it even need be asked? Movie to Game= good plot, no need for originality (always a dangerous thing), whereas Game to Movie = thin plot, lots of originality to turn run-and-gun into... on screen run-and-gun.
  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    Hey... Final Fantasy was good.
  • Captain,SimmondsCaptain,Simmonds Trainee trainee
    I found movies based on games to be good.
  • Street Fighter had Kylie in it!!! :D
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    I like both Final Fantasy and Wing Commander... but then I might be a simple person... I watch movies to be entertained...

    I'm not into the nit-pick perfectionism routine...

    :)
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Bekenn [/i]
    [B]Hey... Final Fantasy was good. [/B][/QUOTE]

    Technically, Final Fantasy wasn't based on any games.
  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    Good point.

    Though I still feel that Wing Commander could -- no, [i]should[/i] -- have been good. It's an awesome universe with some already-great storytelling from the games, and characters that actually [i]develop[/i]. I feel that if the story had been based on the two Secret Missions expansion packs for WC1, and Chris Roberts had chosen a different co-writer, and it had had better editing, and better acting, it would have been an excellent movie.

    But, hey -- at least the soundtrack's good....
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    Yeah, the soundtrack is really good. And, the effects are nice.
  • [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Bekenn [/i]
    [B]Good point.

    Though I still feel that Wing Commander could -- no, [i]should[/i] -- have been good. It's an awesome universe with some already-great storytelling from the games, and characters that actually [i]develop[/i]. I feel that if the story had been based on the two Secret Missions expansion packs for WC1, and Chris Roberts had chosen a different co-writer, and it had had better editing, and better acting, it would have been an excellent movie.

    But, hey -- at least the soundtrack's good.... [/B][/QUOTE]

    If the writing, acting, and editing had been better, it wouldn't have been bad, basically? :rolleyes:
  • RubberEagleRubberEagle What's a rubber eagle used for, anyway?
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by the_exile [/i]
    [B]If the writing, acting, and editing had been better, it wouldn't have been bad, basically? :rolleyes: [/B][/QUOTE]

    how about: If they actually would have finished shooting, and not aborted due to money-problems (fox basically pulled the plug after only 2/3 were filmed and told them to do a movie with what they had, if i'm not too mistaken).

    And to answer A#'s original question:
    Basically, when people see the film, they want to feel exactly what they felt playing the game. that's basically impossible, because they aren't as immersed (sp?) in the movie. And then, they don't want any deviation from the game.
    to take the WC-movie as example, people complained that they didn't have ships looking like in WC1. I don't want to start a flamewar or something, but the WC1 ships are hideous, and aren't very cinematic, they were products of their time, and if i made a game with ships looking like that, everybody would trash me for non-existant design skills (that was a bit harsh formulated, but i think you'll get the point)
  • WORFWORF The Burninator
    They also made a Wing Commander cartoon series...and a Sam and Max series (they were both quite good, but not as good as the original games)

    I think the problem is people making films out of the wrong games or changing them too much (Aliens vs Predator for example). Another problem can be the film makers probably don't understand the game. Wing Commander had the bonus of being written by Chris Roberts, the creator of the games, so he knows the universe he created.

    The best films to games are the ones that take the universe and create something different (X-Wing, Jedi Knight, Knights of the Old Republic, Aliens vs Predator, Buffy etc) rather than following the story of the film (because film's are too short, so the game designers end up making their own content that tries to fit in but doesn't). Perhaps the reverse would be work too, taking the basic setting/theme from a game but writing a new story.

    Worf
  • [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Mr Shadow [/i]
    [B]Street Fighter had Kylie in it!!! :D [/B][/QUOTE]

    *Shudders*

    Regards,
    Morden
  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by the_exile [/i]
    [B]If the writing, acting, and editing had been better, it wouldn't have been bad, basically? :rolleyes: [/B][/QUOTE]

    Well, actually, yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I was saying. The most surprising thing about that movie was not that it wasn't good, but that it was so astronomically [i]bad[/i] in so many different ways. It's just mind-boggling how much went wrong with that film.

    Even so, I can see [i]some[/i] promise in what's there. The very beginning of the film is actually quite good, and I'm certain that a good WC film is not an impossible concept.
  • JamboJambo Scriptkiddie
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by WORF [/i]
    [B]They also made a Wing Commander cartoon series...and a Sam and Max series (they were both quite good, but not as good as the original games)
    [/B][/QUOTE]

    Sam and Max wasn't based on the game.
  • WORFWORF The Burninator
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Jambo [/i]
    [B]Sam and Max wasn't based on the game. [/B][/QUOTE]

    It doesn't follow the plot of the game but it has Sam and Max in, same as the Wing Commander cartoons, they have Blair, Maniac and Tolwyn but when they were much younger.

    Worf
  • JamboJambo Scriptkiddie
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by WORF [/i]
    [B]It doesn't follow the plot of the game but it has Sam and Max in, same as the Wing Commander cartoons, they have Blair, Maniac and Tolwyn but when they were much younger.

    Worf [/B][/QUOTE]

    Yes, but Sam and Max the game was based on a comic, so was the series.
  • JamboJambo Scriptkiddie
    [URL]http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/~dml/SamNMax/samnmax.html[/URL] ! Pow!
  • WORFWORF The Burninator
    Ahh, didn't know that.

    Worf
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    The comic is actually pretty funny, although I haven't read that much of it.
  • shadow boxershadow boxer The Finger Painter & Master Ranter
    [url]http://diabloii.net/columnists/a-movies-suck.shtml[/url]

    's prolly too late but I thought I'd post the linky anyways

    you find these things when it doesnt matter
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