By
Luke Owen. Forward by Paul W.S. Anderson. (2017, 317pp).
"Basically
I felt that there was a fundamental rift between these two art
forms."
The
quote is taken from a comment made by filmmaker Gil Kenan in one of
this book's later chapters. While he may be partially correct, does it encompass everything wrong with video game movies?
Of
course, nobody sets out to make a terrible film. Every movie maker -
from the Steven Spielbergs to the crowdfunded novice - has high
aspirations of creating a Hollywood blockbuster. And just
about all of them end up with at least one film that didn't turn out at-all like they hoped...scripts revised to death, epics sabotaged by
reduced budgets, adult-oriented films neutered to appeal to kids.
Nowhere is this more true than with films adapted
from video games. Nearly every one of them has been a critical
failure, if not a box office bust. What is it about video games that,
so far, hasn't really translated effectively to the big screen? And why does Hollywood keep plugging away at it?
Luke
Owens' Lights, Camera, Game Over! is a detailed look at the
young and sometimes dubious history of this subgenre. Beginning with the 1993
debacle, Super Mario Bros, the
book discusses the film industry's love/hate relationship with video
games and their efforts to adapt several of them, often with
unfortunate results.
It
isn't too long before the reader notices a pattern. All of the movies
covered begin life with an
enthusiastic producer, a writer bursting
with creative ideas and a studio eyeing the brass ring. But
nearly every production gets compromised by massive script revisions,
budget problems and way too many producers, writers & directors playing tug-of-war with the creative direction. The end result is usually a homogenized product that feels almost
contemptuous of its target audience.
Whether
your a fan or not, these troubled productions make
fascinating reading, and even though the author makes it clear he's a
huge fan of both mediums, he wisely writes objectively and lets
history speak for itself. Each film (though not all of them) is
extensively covered, with interviews & commentary from game creators, writers,
producers and actors taken from various sources. Even a few
abandoned ideas are given their own chapters (such as an aborted
Pac-Man movie). The
films which ended up being the most
successful (like the Resident Evil franchise) have the least tumultuous backstories, and aren't quite as
interesting to read about as the total trainwrecks in the book (though one has to admire Paul W.S. Anderson's enthusiasm).
Lights,
Camera, Lights Out! tells a
familiar Hollywood tale over and over, mostly with the same "tragic"
results. But what makes it so fascinating is how often each of these
films are beset by the exact same production problems.
The book concludes with a brief look at future video game adaptations
in various stages of production or proposal. After reading this, it
might even be possible to predict which ones fail, fly or fall by the
wayside, since it appears that Hollywood has yet to learn from the past.
KITTY CONSENSUS:
PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS
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