MovieChat Forums > Assassin's Creed (2016) Discussion > How to break the video game movie curse

How to break the video game movie curse

posted 8 years ago by paradoxone
7 replies | jump to latest

I'm a huge Assassin's Creed fan. AC with all its lore and in all its glory has so much potential. And I really really wanted to like the movie...

As I see it, the problem that video game movies have in general, is two fold:

1. They have to establish a lore that is densly packed and often consists of dozens of hours of story, and then compress that lore into a package of roughly 2 hours - it can't be done. (Thank Peter Jackson and R.R. Martin that we didn't get one 3 hour short Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones movie - it would have been a disaster...)

2. They have to reach a broad audience, including movie goers who are not familiar with the source material at all. As well as cutting back on the bloody realism to get a PG13 rating, and hurting the movie even more in the process. (Oh PG13 what's happened to you?)

So will we ever get a good film adaption of a video game? No. At least not on the big screen.

The only way to break the video game movie curse is to adapt a game as a TV Show. Games by their very nature are episodic. You progress from level to level. So why not from episode to episode? Games are begging to be made into TV shows.

With all these shows that are popping up left and right, I don't get, why they haven't yet tackled a video game as a TV show. It's the only logical conclusion: no time constraints, therefore enough time to establish the lore and really dive into the characters and their motivations.

Movies have at most a 2-3 hours time limit to get from start to finish. No matter how intense the story, the action, the character transformation - all of it has to happen in this short window of time. And often it is not enough or it feels rushed.

We live in a time where TV shows have become better than movies - the next step in the evolution of cinema if you will. Think of all the movies turned TV Shows. I think the final proof that TV shows have grown up is the fact that even someone like Anthony Hopkins is doing TV now.

I still love movies. But often I think about how awesome a TV show of the movie I'm watching would be. How awesome would a Matrix TV show be?

I saw glimpses of what Assassin's Creed could be if it received the TV show treatment. The memory sequences were really good! All the parcour we are used from the games and then some! That's where it really felt like AC. I also liked the idea of the Animus. Acting out their memories, rather than to strap them down and just experience all of it in their heads.

Although... Some have understood that the TV format is better suited than a movie. I hear they are adapting time travel mystery drama "Life is strange" into a TV show. So there's hope yet.

____________________________

All I can see is an owl, but I know it's not an owl.

[–] patrick5020 8 years ago

The problem is is that a lot of people would rather see a movie because it'd be bigger than a tv show most likely depending on who's in charge. Also a tv show can get cancelled whenever they feel it's not attracting enough viewers. At least with a movie you have a good conclusion instead of being left on a cliffhanger.

[–] paradoxone 8 years ago

That's true. But I believe the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. I would even go so far as to say, they have no other choice. The track record of video game movie adaptions is horrendous! Best proof is that people still speak of a video game movie curse. They must have realized this by now. Time to try a different tack - go TV!

____________________________

All I can see is an owl, but I know it's not an owl.

[–] niallgllr 8 years ago

Some bad VGM's that don't have a lot of lore;

Tomb Raider
Hitman x2
Prince of Persia
Doom
Resident Evil post 1&2
Max Payne
Need for Speed

The issue has nothing to do with lore, its the idea that people expect the same experience as a 13+ hour game, or they expect it to be the exact same as the game and don't understand that not every aspect would work in a movie, ie the majority of the film being set in the past and no present sequences.

[–] paradoxone 8 years ago

What I said exactly - minus the "lore" part. Let me fix that:

They have to "convey an experience" that is densly packed and often consists of dozens of hours of "game time", and then compress that into a package of roughly 2 hours - it can't be done.

There.

____________________________

All I can see is an owl, but I know it's not an owl.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] niallgllr 8 years ago

Oh, it can be done. Take out all the filler within an AC game and you're left with a handful of influential missions that are directly connected to the Piece of Eden or overall plot.

I think the movie succeeded for the most part. The only issue I have is that the ending seemed a bit rushed. I felt like they need another 30 - 40mins to spread it out.

[–] paradoxone 8 years ago

The movie was merely exposition. A build up. The pay off is supposed to come in part 2. I think their strategy might have been a tad overconfident though. I'm not sure this mess of a movie will get a sequel...

Christ, they should have at least shown the actual power of the apple, they never did. All it did was glow a bit and then a bit more. Very disappointing finale.

I still think that a TV show would be a much better way, maybe even the only way, to handle Assassin's Creed.

____________________________

All I can see is an owl, but I know it's not an owl.