If there’s one thing that’s remained constant in Hollywood’s approach to video game adaptations, it’s that the industry has a terrible reputation for doing so. From the thundering industrial hell of Super Mario Bros. in 1993 to the general madness of Assassin’s Creed in 2016, the prevailing feeling is that video games have never been treated well on the big screen. So whenever a buzzing new adaptation comes along, like with Mortal Kombat’s Friday release, the same question inevitably arises: is this the project that will finally break the curse of the video game movie?
That the speech raises its head once again seems fitting, as the director of the original Mortal Kombat adaptation released 26 years ago has spent most of his career dispelling the idea that all video game movies were disappointing. Paul W.S. Anderson has an odd reputation in Hollywood: He’s a genre writer whose films, while consistently financially successful, are widely panned by critics. (Every one of his movies has a “rotten” score on Rotten Tomatoes; even Michael Bay doesn’t have that much flack.)
But Anderson’s many naysayers fail to see the enduring appeal of his films: He’s a knowingly schlocky director whose greatest strength is creating atmosphere with sharp visual storytelling and action sequences to direct elimination. In other words, his sensibilities are well suited for adapting video games – many of which are defined by stunning immersive environments just as much as character-driven narratives. For more than two decades, Anderson not only transcended the curse of video game movies, but cemented his somewhat unprecedented status as the master of such big-screen adaptations. It’s time for this schlock god to get the respect he deserves.
After his directorial debut in 1994’s Shopping, the British indie crime drama that introduced the world to rising star (and future sexy pontiff) Jude Law, Anderson was given the reigns of Mortal Kombat. Loosely drawn from the arcade fighting games of the same name, the film sees a handful of humans compete in a tournament against the wizard Shang Tsung and his otherworldly minions from another realm called Outworld. If the fighters of Outworld are victorious in the Mortal Kombat tournament, the kingdom and its evil emperor will conquer the planet, as usually happens.
What separated Mortal Kombat from other fighting games of its ilk was its ludicrous ultraviolence, highlighted by character-specific deaths that are undeniably fun to pull off in a 12-year-old Red Bull. kind of path. Anderson’s Mortal Kombat had to adhere to a PG-13 rating – all the better for reaching its core audience of teenage boys playing the games in arcades – which allowed the film to largely maintain the silly spirit of its material. source. It would be generous to say that Anderson’s film has a plot; most of the time, it jumps from set piece to set piece of different characters battling each other, which is like choosing a battle arena at the start of the game. But watching something called Mortal Kombat and expecting a complex plot is a losing battle: the film’s selling point begins and ends with its fight scenes. On that front, Anderson absolutely delivered.
While 1999’s The Matrix was praised for using wire (a staple of Hong Kong cinema considered new to mainstream Western audiences at the time) in its action sequences, Mortal Kombat has them. beaten to the fist (literal) using the same techniques. That’s not to say Mortal Kombat is in the same league as an all-timer like The Matrix – I’m not trying to get yelled at on the internet – but Anderson’s film is more influential than he thinks. . That appreciation should extend to the rest of the film, which balanced more clunky aspects of its source material without alienating a wider audience. (The same can’t be said for its legendaryly bad sequel, Annihilation.)
The commercial success of Mortal Kombat, which grossed over $100 million and was the no. A film at the North American box office for three weeks allowed Anderson to work with higher budgets on Event Horizon (1997) and Soldier (1998), both of which would have cost $60 million to make. But with movies bombing hard at the box office – Event Horizon is still a batshit masterpiece, though! – the director worked with about half that budget when he returned to the fruitful well of video game adaptations in 2002. This time, Anderson swung into horror and tackled Resident Evil.
Rather than sticking closely to the source material – as an abandoned adaptation by iconic horror filmmaker George Romero would have done, what’s a hell of a what if? – Anderson introduced a new protagonist named Alice, played by his future wife, Milla Jovovich. We first meet Alice as she suffers from amnesia, as she joins a group of commandos investigating why the artificial intelligence of a secret underground research facility has gone into lockdown and killed its inhabitants. Descending down the figurative rabbit hole of the unmistakably nefarious Umbrella Corporation – Alice in Wonderland’s allusions are hard to miss – it soon becomes clear that the people there are still alive, in a way. They are just mindless cockles with a sudden craving for human flesh.
The Resident Evil film franchise would spawn five sequels, all written by Anderson, who also directed the first, fourth, fifth, and sixth installments. The films gradually gained momentum as the virus responsible for turning humans into zombies spread around the world: the second film explained how the epidemic had affected a large city, the third saw the humanity reduced to surviving in an apocalyptic Mad Max wasteland, and soon. The one constant in all six films is Alice, which Anderson puts through a gauntlet with action sequences that feed into each other, creating the feeling of game-level progression. usually start with regular zombies and culminate in some sort of final boss that’s much harder to defeat, like the giant Licker in Resident Evil: Retribution.
The movies have collectively grossed over $1 billion at the box office, but Anderson’s six-part series still seems to have fallen under the radar in the superhero era. But the Resident Evil franchise brought a different flavor to blockbuster moviemaking – rather than the connected dots of a neatly mapped cinematic universe, Anderson’s franchise had a pulpy, simplistic quality that always felt like things were getting ready as they went. (It’s hard to imagine that reviving, like, half of its cast as clones was always part of the plan.) The fact that Resident Evil never fully fell off the rails, despite what its critical reception would leave believe, is a testament to the films walking a fine line between trashy fun and carefree.
In 2020, Anderson adapted her third video game series for the big screen with Capcom’s Monster Hunter, and with Jovovich once again for the ride, the director solidified herself as one of the most prominent women in cinema. Hollywood. (Jokes aside, he’s a bona fide action star, so why wouldn’t he?) Monster Hunter is set in another dimension, a rather impractical one populated by a host of massive, terrifying creatures . Jovovich plays Artemis, a ranger whose team is sucked into the alternate universe by a sandstorm of cosmic proportions. Filming took place in remote locations in South Africa and Namibia, and Anderson let the surreal desert landscapes do the work of creating the otherworldly feeling, while the game’s impeccably crafted monsters took care of the stay.
Monster Hunter feels like what you would get if Warner Bros. MonsterVerse removed the human conflict that has long been considered the franchise’s Achilles’ heel and just let the creatures bake. The human interactions in the film are admirably rare; after Team Artemis is wiped out, she’s mostly in the company of a character known as Hunter (Tony Jaa), an inhabitant of that parallel dimension who obviously doesn’t speak English. They communicate primarily through gestures – and exclusively in the service of trying to shred giant monsters with cool-looking axes, crossbows and swords – a director’s choice that further defines Monster Hunter’s abrupt and fun priorities. (There’s also a human-sized anthropomorphic cat dressed as a pirate, if you’re into that sort of thing.) It’s a great big monster movie best enjoyed on the biggest screen possible.
It’s a shame, then, that so many viewers were deprived of the opportunity to watch Monster Hunter as Anderson surely intended. The film was released in December 2020, when major North American markets like Los Angeles and New York had not reopened theaters; the international rollout didn’t go any better, with Chinese cinemas pulling Monster Hunter over a controversial line of improvised dialogue with historically racist overtones. Although the film ends with the intention of creating a sequel, Monster Hunter appears to be a unique blockbuster – and in terms of commercial and critical performance, another potential franchise based on a series of video games that could not be launched.
But while Monster Hunter may not have the same cinematic imprint of the stealthily lucrative Resident Evil franchise or the 90s version of Mortal Kombat, which has since been re-evaluated as a campy cult classic, Anderson remains the director of Hollywood reference for the adaptation of video games. Anderson has rarely found himself appreciated in critical circles unless his films are reappraised years after the fact – again: Event Horizon is amazing and it’s time for more people to realize it – and maybe that makes him the perfect filmmaker for the task. After all, when the artistic merit of video games is regularly questioned, there’s no better choice to lend some legitimacy to their big-screen adaptations than an author whose schlocky greatness is constantly underestimated and misunderstood. .
What radio stations are in Grand Theft Auto V?
Ready for a sonic journey through the steamy streets of Los Santos? Hold on tight, the GTA V adventure wouldn’t be complete without explosive background music! In this article, we reveal all the radio stations that set the pace for…
Where to find submarine parts in Grand Theft Auto 5?
GTA 5 enthusiasts, you’ve come to the right place! Do you dream of taming the mysteries of the ocean by controlling your own submarine, but you’re missing those pesky submarine parts? Journey with me into the whirlwind universe of GTA…
What gangs are present in Grand Theft Auto 5?
“Prepare to dive into the fast-paced and tumultuous world of Grand Theft Auto 5! Far from the beautiful cars and sophisticated weapons, we’re going to introduce you to the gangs, these true pillars of the insurgent life of Los Santos.…
Where to find all map items in Grand Theft Auto V?
Ready for another adrenaline-filled journey through Los Santos? Put on your virtual jacket, charge your controller and step on the accelerator to go hunting for the hidden treasures of Grand Theft Auto V. Let me guide you through this urban…
How to become a Grand Theft Auto 5 pro with these tips?
Ready to turn Los Santos into your playground? Embark on a high-speed ride through the urban jungle of GTA 5! Through this article, unlock the full potential of your avatar and become the undisputed king of virtualized banditry. Unspeakable tricks,…
How to change skin on minecraft
How to change skin in Minecraft on PC?Method 2 of 4: No download Go to Planet Minecraft and choose a skin there. … Click “Upload to Minecraft” or “Change Skin”. You should be redirected to the official Minecraft page. ……
How to unsubscribe from PlayStation Plus
How to cancel PlayStation Plus auto-renewal? Go to Settings > Account Management > Account Info > PlayStation Subscriptions. Select the subscription you want to cancel. Select Turn off auto-renewal. How to remove a PlayStation Network credit card?Sign in to PlayStation…
How to download full free xbox 360 games
How to buy a gym on Xbox 360?Purchasing Xbox 360 Content Once you’ve selected your content, simply click the Download to Xbox 360 button to begin the purchasing process.How to buy an Xbox 360 game on an Xbox One?Players with…