Opinion: Worst movie based on a video game?

[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.