Opinion: Worst movie based on a video game?

[TheDarkOne]

Just as there are video games based on movies, there have also been a great deal of movies that were based on video games. So, I want to invite people to weigh on on what, in their opinion, what was the worst ever movie that was based on a video game, and if you like, the reason behind it.

For me, I'd have to say one of the overall worst was Super Mario Bros. I'd say watch the movie to see why it was so bad, but I'd rather not subject anyone to that.

[Tim]

I actually loved that movie, as crappy as it was.

The Doom movie was trash, and so was the Final Fantasy one.

[Aliem]

Far Cry (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2AgFecNaks). Followed closely by Alone in the Dark. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is up there too.

[King Aquamentus]

Super Mario Bros was generally kinda laughable, but it had some damn good special effects. Plus it took some courage to adapt something that difficult to adapt. It would have done better though if they changed the demographic.

I do not like Mortal Kombat: Annihilation at all. It relied on CGI (and this was the 90's) way too much compared to the original, and quite often just got ridiculous compared to the first film (which I still hold as one of the best adaptations out there.)

[Tim]

Street Fighter is probably the worst one I've ever seen... My god.

[rock_nog]

There are probably worse ones that I haven't seen, but of the ones I've seen, I'd have to go with Doom. I mean, it wasn't even entertaining, it was a boring mess to sit through. At least with, say, Super Mario Bros., as radically different as it was from the games, they had the sense to make it entertaining, even if only entertainingly bad. You know, you can turn it on and have a good laugh at how silly it all is, even if nothing else works for you. With Doom, you don't even get that kind of enjoyment out of it. It's just boring. Which I found perplexing - it struck me that all you really needed to do was combine Aliens with Army of Darkness, and that would've been a fun romp, but they managed to suck any joy out of the thing.

[Gleeok]

Street Fighter is probably the worst one I've ever seen... My god.

All things considered, Street Fighter may not be too bad when compared to most of the other crappy action flicks out there from that era. Now Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li on the other hand was just awful.


Alone in the Dark or the Resident Evil movies gets my vote.

[mrz84]

Generally I'm neutral when it comes to VG movie adaptions. I will say though that the Doom movie was one of the worst movies I ever saw. And I've seen every movie mentioned in this thread (so far) except for Alone in the Dark, and the Silent Hill movie. I liked the Double Dragon movie, though it was kinda meh-ish at times.

[Tim]

When are they making a Paperboy movie?

[Chris Miller]

Super Mario Bros. was pretty bad. It still made me laugh though.

[Beldaran]

There are probably worse ones that I haven't seen, but of the ones I've seen, I'd have to go with Doom. I mean, it wasn't even entertaining, it was a boring mess to sit through. At least with, say, Super Mario Bros., as radically different as it was from the games, they had the sense to make it entertaining, even if only entertainingly bad. You know, you can turn it on and have a good laugh at how silly it all is, even if nothing else works for you. With Doom, you don't even get that kind of enjoyment out of it. It's just boring. Which I found perplexing - it struck me that all you really needed to do was combine Aliens with Army of Darkness, and that would've been a fun romp, but they managed to suck any joy out of the thing.

I am in full agreement. Plus, they changed the entire premise anyway by getting rid of the Hell/Demons element. They took the most exciting, blood pumping action crotch kick of a game there ever was, and made a drifting, boring, thematically unrelated turd which I found hard to sit through. Fortunately I saw it at a movie house that served beer, so I found a way to keep myself entertained, but in general the movie sucked.

[TheDarkOne]

I never saw Doom, and from what I have heard from others, as well as posts in this thread, I am probably better off that way.

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation sucked to the point of being able to pull a bowling ball through a straw.
Street Fighter was just awful, Legend of Chun-Li even worse.

I don't know if Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was meant to be based on a game. Why it counts as Final Fantasy is a mystery to me...if they had just called the movie The Spirits Within it would have been fine. Slapping a "Final Fantasy" title on it was just to generate more interest in the movie, IMHO.

[Nightmare]

Ugh, don't get me started on the Super Mario Bros. movie. Arguably one of the worst movies of all time.

I lived through Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. It really should've been split into two movies and focused more on the story. Losing actors didn't help either. But I don't think it was all THAT horrible.

-James

[Tim]

These producers are like the reverse LJN.

[rock_nog]

Personally, I'd be more interested in talking about what the best video game movie is - a much bigger challenge, I realize, but that's part of the fun. 'Cause even after all these years, I'd still have to say Mortal Kombat. Yeah it was PG-13, yeah there was no blood or gore, but the movie actually followed the story of the game, to the extent that the game had a story, and actually delivered us exactly the kind of action we were expecting. Was it an objectively good movie? No, probably not, it was silly and cheesy and ridiculous, but goddamn, it's exactly what I expected from a movie based on Mortal Kombat - despite the flaws, it delivered exactly what I wanted.

[TheDarkOne]

The only real problem I had with the first Mortal Kombat movie was the lack of character development involving Scorpion and Sub-Zero. And they were supposed to be bitter enemies, I don't care what Shang Tsung did to them.

On to the second one: First of all, the cast change. Apart from Liu Kang & Kitana, EVERY role in the movie was recast, including Rayden. Why? That's the thing...it turns out none of the other actors were even approached about reprising the roles. Secondly, they went a little too far by trying to combine three storylines (MK2, MK3, and MK4) into one movie. Since when is Shinnok the father of Shao Khan? Since NEVER! And the same goes for Rayden being his brother! Rayden is a GOD, Shao Khan is not, so how can they be related? And Jade never worked for Khan, either. I could go on, but this movie failed on so many levels, there isn't enough room in one post. Definitely one of the worst. To be fair, the fight scenes were well-done, as good as the first movie, and it was nice to finally see Mileena (my personal favorite), even if only for a short time.

[Aliem]

The first Mortal Kombat movie is actually pretty good, by 90s action standards. I agree with TheDarkOne that some development between Scorpion and Sub Zero would have been really cool, though the movie came out when the games stories were told pretty much exclusively through character endings. The sequel though was a cinematic abortion, and I feel bad for not including it as number one on my original post. Nothing is good about it; the acting was awful, the writing was enough to make E. L. James cringe, the SNES games had better visuals, and it was painfully boring (in my opinion). Not a fun watch. I don't know if it has a single redeemable quality.

[rock_nog]

Truth be told, I've never even seen the second Mortal Kombat movie. I remember I had wanted to as a kid, but never got a chance. By the time I actually had a chance, I had already heard such awful things about it that I never even bothered.

[Dechipher]

That Mortal Kombat web series was pretty dope though.

[TheDarkOne]

Yes, the web series was good, much better than the second movie.

[Xyvol]

I wanna jump in and say Wing Commander, but it's been so long that I barely remember it. All I remember is feeling disappointed that it wasn't what I was expecting or hoping for.

Resident Evil, whether considered good or bad, has been an enjoyable series for me. I am looking forward to seeing the next and final one.
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn was a good movie/web series. Though I'll admit I was more into the props than any of the actors.

Final Fantasy: Spirits Within had some parallels to FF7, though it didn't seem like most people understood it at the time. Both stories feature a planet unable to heal itself due to some extraterrestrial influence. As for why the FF title, I can only assume it was because Square and Sakaguchi made it.

[TheDarkOne]

Was Wing Commander originally a video game? I remember there was an animated series, but I was under the impression the game was based on that. I've never actually played the game, though, so I could be wrong.

There were some Final Fantasy-ish elements to TSW, but I still think they only put a Final Fantasy title on it in order to profit for the name. If they were going to base a movie on an actual Final Fantasy game, I'd like to see it done with Final Fantasy 6. Or another Square game, Chrono Trigger, would make a good movie.

[Brasel]

I actually kind of avoid video game movies, mainly because the movies Hollywood greenlights aren't interesting to me. I missed Legend of Chun Li because I heard it was so horrible. Other than that, it's all first person shooters or horror games that they adapt. Neither of these genres interest me.

I honestly like Super Mario Bros. It may be nostalgia talking, but I do enjoy it. I remember being disappointed initially as a kid, but grew to like it for what it was. It was a very interesting take. The original writer of the movie is actually involved in a web comic book that takes place after the movie. http://smbthecomic.com/ It's not bad, but I'm not up-to-date on it, either.

I liked Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. Mortal Kombat was actually decent, and Street Fighter had enough campiness to it that it was enjoyable.

The Final Fantasy movie was way too out there for me. I would have liked to see something actually based on a Final Fantasy story rather than inspired by it. I saw it in the theaters and haven't seen it since.

I like the Resident Evil movies, despite what I said about horror movies before. I like how they originally were trying to weave a story into the events of the video games. The movies aren't top notch, by any means, but they aren't terrible either.

That is honestly the full list of video game movies I've watched. I'm eagerly anticipating the Warcraft and Metal Gear movies, if they ever get made. I hear Assassin's Creed is getting made into a movie as well, and if that's the case, I'll probably see it.

*edit* I forgot to add Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great, either. I still watch it after I finish playing through Final Fantasy 7, though.

[rock_nog]

Was Wing Commander originally a video game? I remember there was an animated series, but I was under the impression the game was based on that. I've never actually played the game, though, so I could be wrong.
There was an animated series? I don't even remember that. But yeah, there was an entire series, a saga even, of Wing Commander games, most of them primarily released for DOS, which could be a reason you've never heard of them - there really aren't all that many DOS games that really broke through into pop culture consciousness, outside of a few anomalies like Doom and Duke 3D (and even then, people tend to forget that there was a Duke Nukem series before 3D). I grew up on an old 486 alongside my NES and SNES, so I have a long history of playing DOS games, but I freely admit that if not for that, I wouldn't even have known most of those games even existed.

[TheDarkOne]

I'd certainly heard of the Wing Commander games, even seen them, I just never actually played them. My DOS gaming consisted of the AD&D games and Infocom text adventures.

I seem to recall a direct-to-video anime adaptation of one of the Final Fantasy games, which I have never seen. Does anyone know if it belongs on this list?

[rock_nog]

The only Final Fantasy movie I know of is The Spirit Within, with the creepy Uncanny Valley CGI - I honestly don't know if it belongs on the list or not, because I couldn't follow the darn thing to save my life.

[Brasel]

I seem to recall a direct-to-video anime adaptation of one of the Final Fantasy games, which I have never seen. Does anyone know if it belongs on this list?

It was supposed to follow events that happened hundreds of years after Final Fantasy V. I remember really wanting to watch it, and realizing I didn't know anything about Final Fantasy V because it hadn't come out in the states at that time. Also, it was pretty terrible. I distinctly remember a girl creating a magic orb from her butt.

[TheDarkOne]

I never saw the anime, but I played FFV on the PlayStation re-release (Final Fantasy Anthology) and it wasn't terrible, but not as good as FFIV. Why it was never released in the States is unknown to me.

Has anyone seen the Silent Hill movie?

[mrz84]

It was in the states around the late 90s on vhs. I remember renting it from a local brand video store in st. joesph (where I lived at the time) and thought it was interesting, but the thing that made me wtf the most was the featherless chocobos.

[rock_nog]

Personally, I like to consider Jacob's Ladder a Silent Hill movie since technically, Jacob's Ladder did inspire Silent Hill - and in that case, the first Silent Hill movie was damn good. I've actually seen the Silent Hill movie, and from what I remember, it wasn't bad, though I'm not terribly familiar with the games themselves, and I've heard that people who've played the games hate it.

[TheDarkOne]

I've never actually played the Silent Hill game, but the movie was one of the creepiest things I've ever seen. I don't know if the game is as creepy, but the movie certainly is not for the squeamish.

Another bad one: Parasite Eve. The movie had almost NOTHING to do with the game at all!

[Xyvol]

Yeah, Wing Commander was a game series first. Made by Origin Systems, makers of Ultima. It's a space combat game similar to Tie Fighter vs X Wing. (but made way earlier) I only played the first two. I didn't know there was an animated series, I will have to look for it.

The Final Fantasy anime was very strange, and didn't seem to have much of a connection to the games. I rented the first disc from a comic shop. My reaction was "WTF is this?!" Didn't bother to watch any more.

I would like to watch Parasite Eve, but it's currently in Netflix Limbo.

I enjoyed the Silent Hill movie. I don't know much about the game series to compare tho.

I really want to see what they do with the Metal Gear movie, I think I could be really good. Hell, MGS2 is mostly a movie anyway. However, I'm afraid that anyone besides David Hayter for Snake's voice just won't do! :P

[TheDarkOne]

Just wanted to mention here that I just watched the second Silent Hill Movie (Silent Hill: Revelations) and, while not quite as good as the first, was still very creepy. They have me wanting to try the game, now.

I've noticed that not much has been said about the Resident Evil movies....