The Rotten Tomatoes Show | March 06, 2009 | Comment on this video (32)

Why Video Game Movies Suck

Brett_Erlich
Brett Erlich takes a critical look back at Mario Brothers, Mortal Combat, Doom, and the work of six-time video game movie maker Uwe Boll, and tries to explain why every video game movie ever made has failed. Miserably.

The Rotten Tomatoes Show is a movie review show that airs on Thursday nights at 10:30 e/p on Current TV. From reviews of the newest releases to commentary on cult favorites and movie trends, each episode of The Rotten Tomatoes Show is a fast-paced, comedic journey through the week in cinema. Premiering movies get the treatment, but so do DVD releases, trailers, childhood favorites, DVD extras, and film classics. Sprinkle in some irreverent Top 5 Lists and you've got the first movie review show to embrace the way we watch, talk, and over-talk movies. Viewer interaction will be a big part of each episode. By submitting webcam reviews, three word reviews, haiku reviews and comments through this site or responding to specific callouts and questions asked by the hosts during each episode, viewers will help define which films are "fresh" and which are "rotten."
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32 comments // Why Video Game Movies Suck // Video

  • SupaDawg
    • 0
      SupaDawg  

    • Like a handful of the above, i would note that the Resident Evil movies were all quite well done.

      I mean, at the very least they remedied the terrible voice acting of the games.

      Great segment nonetheless guys. Entertaining as per usual.

    • 2 years ago
  • dionnosaur
  • Catie_Havoc
    • 0
      Catie_Havoc  

    • I have to say that most movies based on games are never that good, however I did enjoy Silent Hill because it almost had the same plot as the game. Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter are good movies in the sense that they were cheesy as hell and that made them enjoyable. One last thing, Resident Evil 1 and 3 were good, Resident Evil 2 was crap.

    • 3 years ago
  • samply
  • samply
    • 0
      samply  

    • DOA: Dead or Alive, Blackgossbo. As for the video, you could have mentioned Tron when talking about the history of video game movies. Also films like Hitman, Max Payne, Postal and Oneechanbara when talking about current films. Sure, not high art but they are good pop corn movies. I think everyone making and seeing them understands that.

    • 3 years ago
  • Blackgossbo
    • 0
      Blackgossbo  

    • No mention of the Street Fighter movies or Dead of Alive? Jean Claude VanDamme as Guile, bad...very bad...I havent seen the new Street Fighter movie about Chun Li but allow me to say it's probably a piece of sh*t...They just timed it so it would come out around the same time as Street Fighter IV...
      There hasnt been a single good one...
      Now brace yourselves for Dragon Ball the Movie.
      (I know it doesnt come directly from a video game but the manga has generated many many many video games for years now)

    • 3 years ago
  • tootersmoocher
    • 0
      tootersmoocher  

    • I must admit that I am particularly fond of the first Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter movies. They just take me back to a time and place of late adolescence. I know exactly what I am getting every time I turn them on. The 15 year-old inside of me is very satisfied with the results....campy but entertaining, particularly Street Fighter. It was one of the last works of Raul Julia (M. Bison,) and I absolutely love his performance in the film!

    • 3 years ago
  • Sexirobot
    • 0
      Sexirobot  

    • they suck because their makers never know who to please - the fanboys or the general public. A better reason is that the reanimated remains of Satan's second abortion ( Uwe bole) directs 50% of all video game movies.

    • 3 years ago
  • Ayahuasca2012
    • 0
      Ayahuasca2012  

    • I still think the Resident Evil movies and Silent Hill were pretty decent...

      Tomb Raider was complete balls though... I only saw it because my dad wanted to see it... and the same goes for the sequel.

      Wanna talk about a horrible video game movie... Double Dragon... I never bothered watching it until one really, really boring day when it was snowing and I want my 96 minutes back! I only have myself to blame though, I knew how terrible it was. It was like a car accident though, you just cant turn away...

    • 3 years ago
  • ClassicWinter
  • snanders
  • PROYECTOarismuca
  • Argon18
  • mthompson1
    • 0
      mthompson1  

    • I must say, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was a phenomenal video game movie. [Opinion, yes, but a wide one.]

      But -- I agree, most video game movies are terrible.

      I will throw a twist into this and say what about the idea of making a movie video game? I'm not referring to the idea of Iron Man [great movie] to a video game [shittttyyy game], but the concept that Ninja went with when creating Heavenly Sword. The idea that it's merely a movie that you are participating in. Worked very well in Heavenly Sword [shame it was such a short game.]

    • 3 years ago
  • CarlosIsDown
  • pirho338
  • Argon18
    • 0
      Argon18  

    • Of course he wouldn't dare mentioned the ones that were good like Tomb Raider and Resident Evil since that would go against the whole spin that he took for his story.

    • 3 years ago
  • pirho338
    • 0
      pirho338  
    • Argon18:

      tomb raider was a terrible movie, so was resident evil, so they actually kinda support this very true point, also interesting to note is that the reverse is true, movies made into video games are pretty much always terrible with maybe an exception or two

    • 3 years ago
  • Argon18
    • 0
      Argon18  
    • Argon18:

      Se what I mean about spin? You can make that claim about any movie, since it has been long known that "De gustibus non est disputandum"

      But the reason why Hollywood Studios have 20 movies of the genre in development is that Tomb Radier made $274,700,000 and $62,800,000 in rentals so a lot of people must have seen it no matter what and that is what counts objectively to continue the trend

    • 3 years ago
  • kremlin
    • 0
      kremlin  
    • Argon18:

      @pirho338 - I submit Ghostbusters for the NES as an exception to your corollary.

      @Argon18
      * Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
      * Sed et tellus ut urna feugiat rhoncus.
      * In quis nisi ut purus volutpat fermentum.
      * In placerat aliquet urna.
      * Sed tempus mi sit amet risus.
      * Maecenas venenatis ligula non ligula.

    • 3 years ago
  • Argon18
    • 0
      Argon18  
    • Argon18:

      Apparently your knowledge of movies is equal to your knowledge of latin, since the phrase "In matters of taste there is no disputing" is wildly different than of the traditional greeking used by graphic designers as placeholders for where text goes on a layout.

      That is why box office revenues are a lot better measure of the success of a movie than an opinion of those who can't tell one use of a phrase from another completely inappropriate application.

      How does "Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" that apply in any way to how to tell if a movie is good?

    • 3 years ago
  • kremlin
    • 0
      kremlin  
    • Argon18:

      Would somebody with a casual knowledge of Latin, or who knows how to operate Wikipedia, please come to my rescue here?

      Perhaps I can appease you, Argon18, by agreeing that Resident Evil was a good video game movie, and by admitting that I never saw Tomb Raider.

      tgif,
      kremlin

    • 3 years ago
  • snanders
    • 0
      snanders  
    • Argon18:

      hrm i wonder why tomb raider was successful even though it was terrible.... hmmm omg COULD IT BE BECAUSE IT HAD A YOUNGER HOTTER MORE BAD ASS ANGELINA JOLIE??!!!

    • 3 years ago
  • Argon18
    • 0
      Argon18  
    • Argon18:

      So what made it terrible in that description?

      Successful and a younger, hotter, bad ass Angelina Jolie are all things that make a movie worhwhile.

      I hope you realize the contradiction in that idea, and hopefully take the warning PROYECTOarismuca made to "Never judge a game by its movie. Never judge a movie by its game. Period."

    • 3 years ago
  • snanders
    • 0
      snanders  
    • Argon18:

      omg you seriously judge a movie by the hotness of its actors/ actresses? that's really shallow! You know, people usually judge a movie's quality on its plot, character development, stuff that deals with i dunno, content? so no i'm not contradicting myself. and what's up with the latin?

    • 3 years ago
  • Argon18
    • 0
      Argon18  
    • Argon18:

      The flaw in that is the assumption that just because the actress is hot that it doesn't have plot, character development, and stuff that qualifies as content.

      Which is more shallow? Making the assumption that it can't have both or judging the movie as a whole? You still haven't said anything about what made it terrible.

      The latin was an attempt to make a point that was apparently lost because it was to sophisticated by those that can only focus on a single fragment.

      Since most movies are subject to individual tastes to be enjoyed that it makes it a lot more difficult to judge the relative merits since the content will be lost in the subjective appreciation of the things like plot, character development, and stuff that deals with content by those that have different tastes.

    • 3 years ago
  • Ogaal
    • 0
      Ogaal  

    • There is one way, and ONLY one way that a video game-to-movie would work. (In my opinion) These are the Guidelines that would allow it to work and prosper.

      1- It can NOT be done in live action.
      2- You MUST use the people who did the voice acting for the video game characters, ALL OF THEM, no replacing them with Hollywood Actors.
      3- NO adding and/or taking away of vital characters. Adding of non-vital characters is okay. (i.e. if it was a Halo movie you could add more marines, flood, or Covenant)
      4- NO changeing of the Established story line (the in-game cinematics & cut scenes)WHAT SO EVER!

    • 3 years ago
  • kremlin
  • metalcookiesxy70
    • 0
      metalcookiesxy70  
    • Ogaal:

      I'd say #6 is that the character are based upon the game sorty line and if there is any crossovers, they must make relevant data upon each and every character's own ablility....Holloywood can never establish a good videogame movie..

    • 3 years ago
  • flyingkick
    • 0
      flyingkick  

    • Mortal Kombat and Super Mario were the only two that are at least watchable. Actually Mortal Kombat had some great fight scenes, like Liu Kang vs. Reptile

      Movies make crappy games too, it works both ways. Except for the 'Chronicles of Riddick'.

      That was cool Current Jacket the guy playing Doom was wearing! I want one!

    • 3 years ago
  • roguedeals
  • smurph25
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