Video Game Movie Adaptations

Arguably, the biggest, most cursed movies of this day and age are video game adaptations. From the ridiculous Laura Croft: Tomb Raider, to the hilariously cheesy Bloodrayne,and to Doom, which may be the prime example of the lot, there is one thing lacking in all of these films which has caused them to tank in reception critically and financially; quality. Speedy production time, a lack of believable acting and a trend of unfaithfulness to the original material drag down all of these box office bombs in the same way.

Sure, Angelina Jolie's scantily clad Laura Croft in both Tomb Raider movies may have seemed ideal to lure in the drooling masses of fanboys fervently awaiting the films' release, but in it's execution both movies come off as exceptionally corny in almost every aspect, whether it be the questionable special effects or the poorly written and laughable scripts. No self respecting lover of the classic video game series could honestly respect the film makers who brought them the adaptation. They simply do not do justice to the source material.

The Doom franchise, which is revered as one of the greatest achievements in video game history would have seemed to be the perfect candidate for a flashy, action packed movie spin off. But the finished product comes off as a desperate attempt to attract as many unsuspecting fans of the games as possible, before they realize what a pile of junk it really is. Some merit is due to the producers of the movie for coming up with the idea of shooting the latter half of the film in first person, paying homage to the game with which it shares its name. But in doing so, they only managed to add to the effect of total disparity.

In early 2007, news broke of what seemed at the time like a knight in shining armor for this dying breed of movies. The holy grail of video games, Halo, was going to receive a high budget movie of its own, with supervision by one of the highest regarded fantasy film directors of all time, Peter Jackson. The Lord of the Rings director was going to oversee the production which would be directed by newcomer Neil Blomkamp, whom some of you may know as the critically acclaimed director of District Nine...but I'm getting to that. With such an amazing production team, fans of the video games couldn't be happier. The blogosphere began to teem with updates of the movie, a sensation whose pinnacle was a short teaser released on Xbox Live in October of 2007 titled "Halo:Landfall". Critics all around the video game universe were abuzz with praise for the project. That is, until later that same year.

Everything from the production team to film crews were all procured and ready to begin filming, when the finances of the film abruptly fell threw. Not wanting to lose all of the work, time, and effort already invested in the collaborative project, Jackson and Blomkamp decided to pursue an alternative project. This is what most of you will recognize as District Nine. The film was shot entirely in South Africa, Blomkamps birthplace, with a low budget and limited production time. By the time the then independent movie had been finished, it had been picked up by Sony Entertainment for distribution. District Nine went on to receive an academy award nomination for Best Picture, and is currently a front runner for the award alongside Avatar and The Hurt Locker.

Now I'm not saying that if the financing for the Halo movie didn't fall through, it could have been Halo sitting atop that pedestal with James Cameron's Avatar, but what I can say for sure is that many a fanboy and video game fanatic are hanging their heads in reverence at the death of video game adaptations.