Assassin's Creed finally released as a film – a full nine years after the video game broke ground in Nov. 2007 – and, while market flooding of Assassin's Creed content and a release date that competes with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story might be what's ultimately does it in at the box office, the movie is also, by all accounts, really bad.
It has a 37 on Metacritic and a 19 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and it also appears that fans don't like it too much either. Alas, it seems the hopes of a truly great, or even good, video game movie are dwindling, and Assassin's Creed was not the answer to the decades-old question – "Can a movie based on a video game work?"
I think it can, but, for whatever reason, it just hasn't yet. Here is a list of five video games that could work adapted to the screen.
Top 5 Video Games That Could Work As Movies
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2. Heavy Rain
While a case could be made for virtually any, or even every Quantic Dream game, Heavy Rain takes the cake. With a pulpy, mind-warping plot driven by strong characters and twisted, Saw-esque violence, I can see this fitting very well in the filmography of someone like David Fincher or Darren Aronofsky.
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rnThey could then really hammer down one specific ending that ties it all together well, and not make the story a desperate cry for the best on a scale of good-to-bad conclusions accomplished by entering in the right combination of buttons when prompted.
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rnMy only reservation that keeps it out of the top spot is that a case could be made that this movie has been done before - in the form of Heavy Rain, the game. Fair enough. -
1. Inside
I see Inside as a potentially Oscar-nominated, German expressionist animated movie. The plot is similar to The Boy and the World, an animated feature from last year that was nominated, following a young boy's journey through a dangerous land.
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rnInstead of the globalization themes in The Boy and the World, the Inside movie could be the daring, anti-fascist piece animated cinema needs. -
3. Outlast
I mean, how is Outlast not already a movie? It's not hard to imagine Outlast as a found-footage horror film where a journalist goes in solo to investigate shady goings on at an insane asylum. rn rnIt sounds generic, sure, but, with the right direction - someone with an atmospheric touch that can replicate what made Outlast so petrifying - it could succeed very well. I'm thinking maybe Adam Wingard might want to give found-footage another shot after the ill-fated Blair Witch sequel. rn rnJust an idea. -
4. Red Dead Redemption
Red Dead Redemption goes hand-in-hand with The Last of Us, except the movie version isn't currently skulking around development hell; it's not even in utero.
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rnWhat could be gained from a movie version? A different interpretation could be done, but I'd like to see this very close to the events of the game, but shot in glorious 70mm, a'la The Hateful Eight. This would be a way to show the beautiful Old West expanse in a way gamers have never seen before, in detail not possible on the biggest TVs or highest-resolution monitors. -
5. The Last of Us
The Last Of Us actually is in the works as a movie, but it's in the works in the same way The Last Guardian was in the works, which is to say, it might happen, someday, ten years after it was announced.
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rnWhile you shouldn't be holding your breath, it would be amazing to see this story play out on screen, without some of the filler that made the game feel bloated at time, but with all the character and the amazing set pieces (tilted skyscraper anyone?) brought to life on screen.
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rnSomeday, maybe. -
Top 5 Video Games That Could Work As Movies #6
