Games worth discovering

The best movies and TV to watch at home that started as video games

912 View2022-07-19

MORTAL KOMBAT (1995)

Director Paul W.S. Anderson grew up playing Mortal Kombat at the arcade, and his first of what turned out to be quite a few video game adaptations was, naturally, 1995’s Mortal Kombat. Unlike the more recent adaptation of this property, this movie actually features the titular fighting tournament. While the effects certainly look dated at times, Mortal Kombat is a colorful, delightfully cheesy tournament movie that embraces its source material (the needle drop of the title theme!) and goes to great pains to recreate the atmosphere of the bloody game. —Pete VolkMortal Kombat is available to watch on HBO Max, or for free with a library card on Hoopla.

THE RESIDENT EVIL MOVIES

Anderson’s most ambitious and extensive video game adaptation work is the six-part Resident Evil series. Four of those six are directed by Anderson, while all six are written by him and star his collaborator and wife Milla Jovovich. While fans of the games have long complained that the series diverts from the source material (at the time, Anderson said “under-performing movie tie-ins are too common and Resident Evil, of all games, deserved a good celluloid representation”), the movies themselves absolutely rule. As well as being an outstanding display of Jovovich’s action star bona fides, the Resident Evil movies are also a fantastic study of genre and of a filmmaker’s continuing refinement of his unique style.The first movie, 2002’s Resident Evil, is the closest to straight horror of the franchise, and features some truly unforgettable moments (like the laser grid trap — if you know, you know). The second movie, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, is helmed by renowned second unit director Alexander Witt (Skyfall, Avengers: Infinity War) but is in my view the most forgettable of the franchise.Things really start to kick off with 2007’s Resident Evil: Extinction, directed by Russell Mulcahy (Highlander) and best described as a “zombie Western.” Anderson returned to the director’s chair for the last three entries, all of them bangers that see Anderson refine his frenetic style of shooting action, imbued with a chaotic energy and supported by the undeniable badassery of Jovovich. —PVThe first five movies of the Resident Evil series are available to watch on Hulu, or on Tubi for free with ads. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is available to watch on Tubi for free with ads.

MONSTER HUNTER

Anderson went even bigger with his latest video game adaptation, as Jovovich, Tony Jaa, and the rapper T.I. take on enormous monsters with very large weapons. Embracing the scale of the video games, both in opponents and fighting styles, Monster Hunter is fun popcorn cinema, and is the rare modern blockbuster to use CG effectively to create believable set-pieces. Featuring action-comedy buddy synergy between Jovovich and Jaa and gigantic set-pieces, Monster Hunter is big and dumb in all the best ways. —PVMonster Hunter is available to watch on Starz through Prime Video, or for digital purchase at VOD vendors.

The best and worst TV shows and movies based on games

I'll go ahead and say it. We're in a bit of a gaming revolution. What was once a widely recognized fact — video games make terrible adaptations has recently been tested through popular series like HBO's The Last of US and Netflix's Arcane: League of Legends. For gamers like myself, this gives hope that maybe some of our favorite titles will finally get the attention and dedication they deserve, but until then, now's the perfect time to explore and take note of some of the best and worst game adaptations in TV and movies I've seen over the years.

StaggerLee2K2023-02-08