Hitman.

[BURNhollywoodBURN]

I know it's not good to put two threads in a row, but there are two things I would like to bring up.

One of which is the Hitman movie.

I, personally, don't care. I have never played the game, but I know some of you have. So, discuss!

[Jibar]

Leaving us with just "Discuss it" isn't usually very useful.
However, I've got a friend who got a pirate copy of the movie, and according to him it's very good.
This is the same man who cannot appreciate the wonder of Kingdom Hearts though, and he has all these strange delusions that there was an Incredible Hulk movie, which is absurd.
Because there wasn't.

[boomwolf]

Dumb idea.

Games based on movies, even great movies, turn out bad.
Logic says movies based on games, even great games, will also be bad.

[PlatinumJester]

Dumb idea.

Games based on movies, even great movies, turn out bad.
Logic says movies based on games, even great games, will also be bad.

You obviously haven't seen the super mario bros. movie :smallamused:.

[comicshorse]

Silent Hill ?

[Seraph]

Silent Hill ?

not enough fog.

[factotum]

Dumb idea.

Games based on movies, even great movies, turn out bad.
Logic says movies based on games, even great games, will also be bad.

I don't think it's a commutative relationship, and let's face it, 99% of the reason that movies based on games turn out bad comes from two words--Uwe and Boll. When he isn't involved the movies at least generally manage to be entertaining, even if they're not exactly intellectual...

[Cubey]

I played the first two Hitman games, and I have a very bad feeling about the movie...
I probably won't watch it, and if I will, I'll have very low expectations. What makes the games so fun is the multitude of approaches you can take to the missions, and not the plot, presented world or the characters.

[CrazedGoblin]

two words, "Tomb Raider"

no, just no, the movie, no, noooooooooooooooooooooooo

[JadedDM]

Games based on movies, even great movies, turn out bad.
Logic says movies based on games, even great games, will also be bad.

Forget logic. History dictates this!

Super Mario Brothers
Mortal Kombat
Street Fighter
Double Dragon
Final Fantasy: Spirits Within
Tomb Raider
Resident Evil

And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

[laszarus]

Have you guys read any of the spiel for it?

It turned me off the idea with the first sentance mentioning 47 having a "heart".

I understand a little artistic license, but that's just ridiculous. If you're gonna make a movie about a videogame about a cloned sociopathic assassin, at least make the character ... well, a sociopath.

Oh, and Jason Stratham would have made an awesome 47.

[SurlySeraph]

Have you guys read any of the spiel for it?

It turned me off the idea with the first sentance mentioning 47 having a "heart".

I understand a little artistic license, but that's just ridiculous. If you're gonna make a movie about a videogame about a cloned sociopathic assassin, at least make the character ... well, a sociopath.

Oh, and Jason Stratham would have made an awesome 47.

Well, 47 did try to become a monk as penance for all the murders he committed. 'Course, that didn't last long, but still. He's not purely amoral, just mostly amoral.

[....]

Do the games have such a religious bent? I never played the Hitman series.

[Tyrant]

Forget logic. History dictates this!

Super Mario Brothers
Mortal Kombat
Street Fighter
Double Dragon
Final Fantasy: Spirits Within
Tomb Raider
Resident Evil

And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

I don't see what was wrong with Mortal Kombat or Resident Evil. Mortal Kombat, to me at least, is still the most faithful video game adaptation to date. It took what was essentially no storyline and shoved into some kind of Enter the Dragon style storyline and ended up being at least somewhat entertaining. I wish it had been R rated and more violent, but that is my only regret with that movie. The second one was all kinds of awful.

Resident Evil (and to some extent it's following chapters) was entertaining. It can't exist within the game's universe and does change things. It isn't a great adaptation. But, it wasn't a horrible movie. Silent Hill was also a decent movie. It was litterally dripping with visuals.

Most of the rest of live action video game movies released to date, total crap. Some you missed
DOA
Bloodrayne 1 and 2
Alone in the Dark
House of the Dead 1 and 2
Doom (though as purely an action movie it wasn't awful)

Looking at the movies in the lists, some things spring to mind as to why they suck. A lot of them deviate from the plot or attempt to be prequels. Most of them have no real acting talent to speak of within them. A whole sub set is made by a man who is arguably the worst filmmaker alive. They have awful scripts and typically bad effects. Now, I don't know about anyone else, but these things generally bring down any kind of movie I see that has these qualities even if they aren't based on video games. Less than stellar source material is only part of the problem. Video game movies still need their XMen or Superman to get people to at least consider taking them seriously. Comic book movies were in their spot once (and somewhat still are) and it took several well made movies to get people to actually take them seriously. I don't believe Hitman will be that movie. As long as Uwe Boll is allowed near a camera that day may never come.

On a side note, the Anime movies based on numerous video games seem to be considerably better than live action versions. I really wish that someone would make a decent Mortal Kombat anime movie (or movies). The Street Fighter animated movie puts the live action version to shame. A Mega Man X movie (or series) would be nice as well. Maybe even Resident Evil.

[JadedDM]

I didn't like Mortal Kombat, although I'll agree it's probably the 'best' movie from a video game ever made. But that's not saying much. (The sequels, on the other hand...)

I think the Resident Evil movies are atrocious. And not just because they have nothing to do with the games.


On a side note, the Anime movies based on numerous video games seem to be considerably better than live action versions.

Probably because anime is Japanese, and so are most video games. Less executive meddling over there, I suspect.

[Tengu]

I didn't like Mortal Kombat, although I'll agree it's probably the 'best' movie from a video game ever made. But that's not saying much. (The sequels, on the other hand...)


I think Final Fantasy: Advent Children beats that. If it counts. Because it might fit the "anime" criteria more.

Advent Children. Not Spirits Within. This one was a bad, bad Aliens ripoff with Final Fantasy sticker on the top for no reason other than extra advertising.

[Setra]

I think Final Fantasy: Advent Children beats that. If it counts. Because it might fit the "anime" criteria more.
Agreed here.

The commercial for Hitman made it seem like it could be a pretty good movie, but I highly doubt it will fit the games whatsoever.

On another note, the Resident Evil movies would be so much better if they had been called something other than Resident Evil. Most people seem to be pissy because they didn't follow the games well enough (which they didn't, but I still think they were entertaining movies).

[SurlySeraph]

Do the games have such a religious bent? I never played the Hitman series.

Not really. They aren't particularly religious, though they're often pretty moralizing. In fact, it's rather astonishing how moralizing they are given that the "hero" is a nearly emotionless man genetically designed and reared for no purpose except klling.

However, the main moral lesson seems to be "Killing politicians is bad. Killing greedy businessmen is good, especially if they are perverts."

As for video game movies tending to be bad... I'm waiting for the Halo movie. If that sucks, I will never again watch a video game movie. I see that as the best chance for a good game-based movie to come out, as long as they don't cast Clay Aiken as Master Chief or have Cortana pole-dance or anything like that.

[Muz]

"The place I was raised, they didn't give us names, they gave us numbers."
"What was your number?"
"Bill." :smallbiggrin:

[Halna LeGavilk]

I think that if they called it something other than 'Hitman', and changed the protagonist, it would be freakin' awesome.

[de-trick]

I liked the trailer for it

[....]

Notice how many of those bad game movies were directed by Uwe Boll?

And I still hold out hope for a videogame movie. I don't think its impossible to make a good videogame movie, especially after seeing Spiderman redeem comic movies.

I think they had a golden opportunity with Resident Evil. But they turned it into a boom/titfest.

I guess maybe movie-makers think that all there is to videogames is scantily clad women and explosions and ninjas and zombies. The only game movie I've seen try to avoid this was Silent Hill, which is actually not a bad movie at all, especially if you cut off the last 30 minutes or so.

[TheThan]

Hey, DOA wasn’t that bad. In fact I think it’s a little better than Mortal Combat.

Now for total suckitude you have Mario Brothers, Street fighter, Double dragon and Doom were the worst of the worse.

[reorith]

"The place I was raised, they didn't give us names, they gave us numbers."
"What was your number?"
"Bill." :smallbiggrin:

that made my day

[Joran]

As for video game movies tending to be bad... I'm waiting for the Halo movie. If that sucks, I will never again watch a video game movie. I see that as the best chance for a good game-based movie to come out, as long as they don't cast Clay Aiken as Master Chief or have Cortana pole-dance or anything like that.

I have high hopes for the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time movie... Loved that game and its story.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I still want a Metal Gear movie...they'd have to abridge the hell out of the story no matter which game they did, but I'm willing to drop some of the entertaining but unnecessary sideplots for the sake of film.

Oh, and not MGS2. That one can stay on the small screen, please.

[Archonic Energy]

You obviously haven't seen the super mario bros. movie :smallamused:.

there is no Mario Movie...

NO.

[Pronounceable]

MGSs are already movies. Don't let the interactive bits confuse you.

You know what series would make perfect movies? Thief. If they stay faithful to main story, even UB can't mess it too bad.

And Dawn of War would be excellent, if a bit on the expensive side.

[Setra]

Doom
I liked the doom movie :smallfrown:

You know what series would make perfect movies? Thief. If they stay faithful to main story, even UB can't mess it too bad.
The main character was raised to be a ninja by a clan of long lost catpeople, he never actually steals anything in the movie and has nothing to do with anything thieflike.

All battles take place in broad daylight.

[SurlySeraph]

The main character was raised to be a ninja by a clan of long lost catpeople, he never actually steals anything in the movie and has nothing to do with anything thieflike.

All battles take place in broad daylight.

*weeps quietly*

[Cyclone231]

Dumb idea.

Games based on movies, even great movies, turn out bad.Wrong!

Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.

Logic says movies based on games, even great games, will also be bad.
That's not logic.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Final Fantasy: Spirits Within

I resent this! I like that movie a lot. Never played a Final Fantasy game before watching it and enjoyed it heavily (And since when were any two Final Fantasy games similiar? Discounting X and X-2, why would you expect Spirits Within to be based off one of the games?)


On topic though...I dunno. Never played Hitman so I can't judge of accurate it is, but the movie (by itself) looks...enjoyable. Perhaps not great but enjoyable.

[zeratul]

I have one serious problem with this. Henry Rollins isn't playing 47. He is so perfect for that role, and voiced him in the games!

Okay scratch that last bit, but still he'd make a great 47.

[Kjata]

I have one serious problem with this. Henry Rollins isn't playing 47. He is so perfect for that role, and voiced him in the games!

Okay scratch that last bit, but still he'd make a great 47.

Does he look like 47 tho?

[zeratul]

Does he look like 47 tho?

If he shaved his head, then yes. I mean he looks less like a punk musician and more like a runner of a boot camp, or a marine.

This could however just be my love of Rollins speaking.:smallbiggrin:

[JadedDM]

I resent this! I like that movie a lot. Never played a Final Fantasy game before watching it and enjoyed it heavily (And since when were any two Final Fantasy games similiar? Discounting X and X-2, why would you expect Spirits Within to be based off one of the games?)

No, I liked the movie, too, considering. But it really didn't have much to do with Final Fantasy at all (no magic, no moogles, no summoning, no chocobos, etc.) other than a couple of borrowed bits of FF7 (lifestream) and a guy named Sid (not even spelled right--it should be Cid).

I didn't expect it to be based on any one game specifically like Advent Children. But I thought it would at least contain all of the elements that make up the FF series.

But as a movie by itself, it was a decent story and the animation was gorgeous. But it BOMBED. Squaresoft lost millions of dollars on it, and they had to merge with Enix as a result.

And while you and I may like it, many people did not. So those two factors (the loss of money and popular opinion) are why I included it in the list.

[Paragon Badger]

Hey, DOA wasn’t that bad. In fact I think it’s a little better than Mortal Combat.

Yeah, the final fight scene with the dual sword-wielding zombie really elevated it beyond the competition.