I love video games. Though I generally talk and write about movies, I likely spend the majority of my free time playing video games. And, while I play basically every genre of video game that there is, my favorites have always been the ones with captivating stories. As video game technology has gotten more powerful and advanced, games have begun to have more complicated stories, interesting characters and narrative depth. The story-telling in video games is sometimes even better than that in films, using branching paths, player choice and different dialogue options to tailor the story to the player. Thus, with video game narrative becoming more advanced, one would think that video game based films might share a similar level of story-telling prowess. This Friday, a movie based on the Warcraft franchise will be released, hoping to capture the feel of the games on the big screen. Unfortunately, video game movies usually only capture the flashier aspects of gaming, leaving behind the complicated stories in favor of more mindless entertainment.
Super Mario Bros.
This is one of the strangest movies I’ve ever seen, and most certainly the strangest adaptation of another work. The movie follows the Mario Brothers, Mario (Bob Hoskins) and Luigi (John Leguizamo), who have to rescue a young college student named Daisy from the evil King Koopa (Dennis Hopper). King Koopa, the leader of an alternate-universe world where dinosaurs survived and evolved to be as intelligent as humans, plans on merging his universe with ours to control both worlds, needing to eliminate Daisy, who happens to be the rightful leader of the dinosaur world.
Now, if I were tasked with the writing of a movie based on the Super Mario Brothers video games, especially in the 1990’s when games barely had a story at all, I’m not sure what I would do. I envision a fantasy-like story, where Mario must rescue a princess from an evil dragon. However, I have no idea where the writers of this film came up with this story. At no point in the movie does it stop being insanely bizarre, with its gross half-dinosaur/half-human creatures and future technology. The Mario Brothers and dinosaur people use guns, have flying cars and other crazy pieces of tech. The futuristic weaponry mixed with strange dinosaur people creates a crazy atmosphere that never seems to relent.
The movies performances are also crazy and over-the-top, especially that of Dennis Hopper. It has become obvious that the actors did not enjoy their time on the film, with both Hoskins and Leguizamo having mentioned that they heavily drank throughout the production, so the craziness of the performances almost seem like a coping mechanism for the actors. The performances are as bizarre as the rest of the movie, creating some meme-worthy lines of dialogue ("Mario Mario" and "Luigi Mario" is the first one that comes to mind). The performances almost compliment the acid trip that is the rest of the movie, which is what makes the film so hard to describe. Is it so bad it’s good? Or is it just bad? I think the movie is fun, so long as you are looking for something crazy and nonsensical, but certainly has no merit as a quality film.
Grade: C-
Now, if I were tasked with the writing of a movie based on the Super Mario Brothers video games, especially in the 1990’s when games barely had a story at all, I’m not sure what I would do. I envision a fantasy-like story, where Mario must rescue a princess from an evil dragon. However, I have no idea where the writers of this film came up with this story. At no point in the movie does it stop being insanely bizarre, with its gross half-dinosaur/half-human creatures and future technology. The Mario Brothers and dinosaur people use guns, have flying cars and other crazy pieces of tech. The futuristic weaponry mixed with strange dinosaur people creates a crazy atmosphere that never seems to relent.
The movies performances are also crazy and over-the-top, especially that of Dennis Hopper. It has become obvious that the actors did not enjoy their time on the film, with both Hoskins and Leguizamo having mentioned that they heavily drank throughout the production, so the craziness of the performances almost seem like a coping mechanism for the actors. The performances are as bizarre as the rest of the movie, creating some meme-worthy lines of dialogue ("Mario Mario" and "Luigi Mario" is the first one that comes to mind). The performances almost compliment the acid trip that is the rest of the movie, which is what makes the film so hard to describe. Is it so bad it’s good? Or is it just bad? I think the movie is fun, so long as you are looking for something crazy and nonsensical, but certainly has no merit as a quality film.
Grade: C-
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Based on the popular series of action and adventure games, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider follows the journeys of the titular character Lara (Angelina Jolie), as she uncovers the secrets of an Illuminati plan. The Illuminati plan to use powerful ancient artifacts during the alignment of the planets, which would give them the power to control time. Thus, Lara must find the pieces of the artifact before the two Illuminati-backed archaeologists (Iain Glen and Daniel Craig) can.
This movie feels like the writers saw The Matrix and decided they wanted something like that, but without any of the deeper philosophical issues and ideas about humanity and technology that The Matrix had. Tomb Raider keeps all the tight leather, sunglasses, flips and gun kata that The Matrix popularized, but gets rid of all the thought-provoking elements. Like a mix of all the flashy elements from The Matrix and Raiders of the Lost Ark, the movie is about as skin-deep as a film can get. There is no grand meaning to any of the work they are doing, no depth to any of the characters. The closest we get to depth is that Lara contemplates using the device to bring her father (Jon Voight) back from the grave, but the lackluster performance from Jolie keeps that scene from being meaningful.
For a movie like this, one with a bare-bones plot and no narrative depth to succeed, the action must be flashy and interesting for the audience to forget that what’s happening doesn’t matter. The film's action is so sloppy, however, that I was more distracted by how fake and messy everything looked than I was by it being impressive. The action is so obviously trying to emulate the feel of the video game, with Lara flipping all over the place and dual-wielding pistols, but the effect is far cornier than it is satisfying. The result of the film’s many issues is an empty but colorful disaster, the kind of movie that wishes it was more pleasing to the eye than it is.
Grade: D
This movie feels like the writers saw The Matrix and decided they wanted something like that, but without any of the deeper philosophical issues and ideas about humanity and technology that The Matrix had. Tomb Raider keeps all the tight leather, sunglasses, flips and gun kata that The Matrix popularized, but gets rid of all the thought-provoking elements. Like a mix of all the flashy elements from The Matrix and Raiders of the Lost Ark, the movie is about as skin-deep as a film can get. There is no grand meaning to any of the work they are doing, no depth to any of the characters. The closest we get to depth is that Lara contemplates using the device to bring her father (Jon Voight) back from the grave, but the lackluster performance from Jolie keeps that scene from being meaningful.
For a movie like this, one with a bare-bones plot and no narrative depth to succeed, the action must be flashy and interesting for the audience to forget that what’s happening doesn’t matter. The film's action is so sloppy, however, that I was more distracted by how fake and messy everything looked than I was by it being impressive. The action is so obviously trying to emulate the feel of the video game, with Lara flipping all over the place and dual-wielding pistols, but the effect is far cornier than it is satisfying. The result of the film’s many issues is an empty but colorful disaster, the kind of movie that wishes it was more pleasing to the eye than it is.
Grade: D
Check back every Wednesday for another installment of This Week in Movies!
Last week reviewed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise in preparation for the release of the latest installment.
Last week reviewed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise in preparation for the release of the latest installment.
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