Video games have always been a source for Hollywood to bank off of, much like comic books. When a video game franchise reaches a certain amount of success it’s only natural to want to see it portrayed on the big screen. In the 90′s we saw a plethora of video game adaptations, ranging from Double Dragon to Mortal Kombat to even our favorite plumber Mario himself.
They had a good run in the 90′s but it seems that recently video game adaptations haven’t fared nearly as well. The movies made during that time certaintly don’t stand the test of time but they hold a cult-like fan base for their sheer ridiculous – something that generally doesn’t happen today. As movie goers today we have higher standards, and when we see one of our favorite video game franchises butchered by Hollywood it’s no longer funny. Video games have taken over and become a serious medium for story-telling, so it’s only natural to want to see them portrayed well in theaters.
So here you have it, the 5 worst and 5 best live-action video game adaptations.
The Worst
5 – DOA: Dead or Alive: Dead or Alive used to be a respectable fighting franchise. It had a typical lineup of characters to fight with, but what made it stand out was that the women in the game had implausibly large breasts. As each game came out it became less and less of a fighting game and more of a boob show. A perfect fit for Hollywood. I’ll give the movie some credit though, it’s very enjoyable to watch. It features the hottest cast, possibly ever, and they don’t wear too many clothes throughout the film. It is one of those movies that is so cheesy and cliché that it becomes fun to watch for the wrong reasons. That’s all the good I can say about this movie though. The story is subpar, even as video game movies go, and really has no redeeming quality other than its extremely hot cast. Overall, this was a game that didn’t have enough substance to be made into a full-length movie.
4 – Street Fighter: Street Fighter is widely regarded as the best fighting franchise ever. It doesn’t get bogged down with a fully fleshed-out story and chooses to focus on the fighting itself. Its two stars that have appeared in every Street Fighter game to date have been Ryu and Ken. They’ve been the fan favorites since the game’s inception. So when the movie came out and it’s revealed that the title character is Guile, a Major in the USAF, played by the Belgian martial arts star Jean-Claude Van Damme, you could sense the fans’ disappointment. I remember seeing the movie as a kid and being disappointed – and I fully enjoyed the third Ninja Turtles movie as a kid, that should tell you something about this film. I’ve never seen Street Fighter: The Legend of chun Li, but I’m amost certain you can throw it in with this movie.
3 – Resident Evil (and every sequel it ever spins off): When Resident Evil fans first heard that there was going to be a movie we were pumped. The game featured a decent story full of zombies, a scary mansion, and a plot twist that had us all talking. So when the movie came out and featured none of the characters from the movie, We. Were. PISSED. While the movie did fairly well in theaters and is about to release its 4th sequel, it is the franchises lack of ties to the original story and horror direction that lands it on this list. This was a game that should have made an easy transition to the big screen, but this franchise was screwed to hell in a way that only Paul W.S. Anderson could do. The worst part is that with every new sequel, characters from the games are thrown in without reason. How many more franchises are we going to let Paul. W.S. Anderson ruin?
2 – Super Mario Bros.: (sigh) Welp, we tried… we really did. I mean, it had to happen. Somewhere inside of us all we were demanding a Super Mario movie be made, it’s only the most succesful and most recognizable video game franchise there has ever been. We wanted to see our two Italian friends save Princess Peach from that pesky Bowser. Once we saw this movie though we soon realized how wrong we were for ever wanting to see a Super Mario movie. The Magic Kingdom was replaced by Brooklyn, Peach was replaced by Daisy, and Bowser was Dennis Hopper with a Flock of Seagulls haircut. Let’s face it, Mario was never meant for live-action.
1 – Anything ever done by Uwe Boll: Uwe Boll has adapted video games into classically awful movies for a while now. He is the mastermind behind such classics as Alone in the Dark, Bloodrayne (and its sequels), House of the Dead, and other video game franchises I’ve never really heard of. I saw Alone in the Dark in the theater knowing absolutely nothing about it – it is not only one of the worst video game movies, it is one of the worst movies I have ever paid to see. And I’ve seen Crossroads.
Doom, you just missed the cut…. hit the next page to read the 5 best
