Game to movie: The cursed adaptation

Well, considering that Prince of Persia, the highest budgeted game-to-movie adaptation ever, just came out I figured it's a good time to talk about why game to movie adaptations are usually so freaking terrible. Now I have seen Prince of Persia, and in my opinion, it isn't half bad. I got exactly what I expected out of it, which was a very popcorny summer action flick, and not a bad one either. They kept in elements from the game, like the time mechanic and the free running, which was nice. I think in essence that is where most of these adaptations go bad. They either stick incredibly close to the game (Resident Evil) or go completely away from it (Doom). Both of these are usually bad ways to go. As when you stick incredibly close to the game, you get long segments of no story that was just gameplay in the game, and going really far away alienates fans and is usually bad for the story. I think Prince of Persia finally got it right. It kept some elements from the games, yet took its own path with its story. Sadly, it seems it will be the biggest flop in the genre, as its 200 Million dollar budget is a lot to make up. Granted, these movies hardly ever get that much, but they also don't have that big of budgets either. Currently, one of the Tomb Raider movies holds the record for highest grossing video game movie, and it isn't very high. Before I close this post though, I have to touch on something, or rather, someone. The man that is singularly responsible for the bad reputation that most video game movies get, UWE BOLL. Seriously, this man directed Alone in the Dark, House of the Dead, and Bloodrayne, all beloved franchises (well maybe besides Alone in the Dark). None of them have over ten percent approval on rotten tomatoes, in fact Bloodrayne is the highest with an 8% approval rating. It is said that he makes a fortune if his movies sucked, so if that was the idea than mission freaking accomplished. In the end though, video game movies need that one thing, that one masterpiece of a movie, to pull them out of the hole they are in now. A hole dug, by one Mr. Uwe Boll.

-Smith