The 'best' movies based on video games
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
This is purely a matter of taste, but as far as I'm concerned, there aren't any good (theatrically released) movies based on video games. For one reason or another, every one of them falls apart somehow.
That being said, there are a handful of tolerable video game movies. You could even call some of them entertaining! Not good, but entertaining, at least.
Since I recently wrote about the worst of the worst video game movies, I thought I'd give credit to the ones that don't make you want to gouge your eyes out. Here are my picks for the "best" video game movies ever made:
The "Resident Evil" movies (2002-2016)
Screen Gems
I gotta be honest: I've never managed to sit all the way through one of these movies. I've seen bits and pieces of each, and they just don't do it for me. I should note that I don't really like the "Resident Evil" games, either.
Even so, I recognize that they're goofy, gory and trashy in generally the right ways. If you want to see people kill zombies and other genetic monstrosities in fun ways, there are five (!!) "Resident Evil" movies with a sixth coming soon.
I also think it's cool that they tell an original story with an original protagonist who isn't in any of the games. It's good to do your own thing.
Since I can't be too nice to any of these movies, I'd like to share the climactic fight scene from the end of "Resident Evil: Afterlife," which is embarrassingly cheesy.
"Pokémon: The First Movie" (1998)
The Pokémon Company
"Pokémon: The First Movie" is based on an anime series that was loosely based on a video game, so maybe it only gets on this list on a technicality.
I also haven't seen it in full since I joined droves of other children of the late 1990s in storming the local theater to see Pokémon on the big screen. At the time, it was rad.
It probably doesn't hold up particularly well, but it's oddly dark, as the climactic end sequence has several fan-favorite Pokémon fighting evil clones of themselves, or something. It all has to do with Mewtwo's plot to destroy humanity, I think.
Oh, right, this is the movie that gave us Mewtwo. Mewtwo's pretty cool.
"Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" (2001)
Sony/Columbia / Final Fantasy trailer
Gosh, this is a strange one. "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" was directed by game series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and produced by Square Pictures, an all-new film division of the company that made the games.
Its deep creative connections to the games makes it all the more baffling that it is basically unrecognizable as a "Final Fantasy" product. Instead of telling a highly dramatic story in any of the games' iconic fantasy worlds, it's a somewhat dull science fiction tale set in post-alien-invasion Earth.
Its characters are all fully computer-animated, but made to look realistic instead of cartoony. It was ambitious, but the technology just wasn't there at the time, so everyone has creepy, dead eyes.
Having said all of that, I don't hate "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within." There are glimpses here and there of the "Final Fantasy" soul, with some great visuals near the end of the movie.
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