Top 10 Best Movies Based on Famous Games

From Need for Speed to Resident Evil and Pokémon!

Well, we love movies and we love games. Which is why we’ve rounded up the 10 best movies based on famous games. They include everything from the zombie action of Resident Evil to the fluffiest Pokémon detective.

It seems that games and feature films are often two worlds that don’t want to get along. To say the least, our gamer hearts have been consistently filled with disappointment in the past when Hollywood has tried to ride the wave of success of popular gaming brands. Still, here and there they appear: those cinematic bright spots that can inspire us just as much as their gaming originals.

The adaptation of one of the most popular game franchises, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, is in the starting blocks and will once again fuel the eternal discussion about good and bad video game adaptations. Therefore, in the Gazettely editorial team, we decided to sit down together and ask ourselves the question: Which movies based on video game are actually the best? Or rather, which ones got us the least excited?

We came up with a list of 10 films that are based on games, all of which were fascinating, captivating, scary, or simply excellently entertaining in their own way. We have restricted ourselves to live-action films and ignored animated movies and series (even if there are excellent adaptations such as Castlevania and Arcane) for this ranking. Have fun browsing through our ranking. What do your top lists look like?

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Mortal Kombat (2021)

Mortal Kombat (2021)

After Paul W. S. Anderson’s Mortal Kombat (1995), Mortal Kombat from 2021 is now the second adaptation. Even this attempt to film the fighting classic is not perfect. However, it brings with it everything a Mortal Kombat movie needs – and more. Of course, the story that director Simon McQuoid and a 5-person team of writers come up with in a very short period of time is quite something to behold.

The artificial world seems properly enraptured and is elaborated better than many a pure fantasy story. The major weakness of this Mortal Kombat is that it works more as the first or second act of a longer story. There is no real climax. Instead, epic, brutal, surreal fights that are indeed always about something make up for it.

Monster Hunter

Following the Resident Evil series, Paul W.S. Anderson continues to be a filmmaker who thinks primarily in terms of massive images for his Monster Hunter game adaptation. In this case, he utilizes the huge landscape panoramas and frequently even more enormous creatures to help unleash one fascinating set-piece after another thanks to the once again video game-like structure.

In addition, Monster Hunter also impresses with its loving, sometimes bizarre details. In particular, Milla Jovovich and Tony Jaa, whose characters have trouble communicating due to the language barrier, give the film sincere comedy and almost turn it into a silent movie at times. However, the highlight is the finale, when Anderson switches to 1.5 times the normal speed to end Monster Hunter with incomparable excess.

Need for Speed

Need for Speed has been one of the most successful video game series. The movie version of the adrenaline-fueled road adventures, however, never made it further than the first part. Still, Need for Speed, which was released in 2014, should not be underestimated. While the action thriller might look like a tired knock-off of the Fast & Furious movies at first glance, actually it has quite a few things going for it over the most recent installments of the Fast saga.

You can feel the squealing of the tires as they skid across the asphalt in Need for Speed. When Aaron Paul reaches for the gearshift, the movie gives him feedback. The motions are thrilling and the practical stunts incredible – yet not so over-the-top that an indifference settles in in the face of the spectacle. Need for Speed actually makes us feel like we’re racing down the streets ourselves, so massive and real does the action feel.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Action master Simon West’s (Con Air, The Expendables 2) first Tomb Raider adaptation is a pure child of the early 2000s: Chunky action scenes with drum & bass sounds and Matrix contortions, Angelina Jolie in her breakthrough role, as well as a story that couldn’t be more cookie-cutter. However, that doesn’t matter: Jolie appears to have the role of the determined adventuress cut out for her. Moreover, the action sets, from the Croft compound to the Cambodian temple, are opulent and lovingly realized.

Experts from the video games will even enjoy the jump-and-run sequences, as Jolie uses a whole range of breakneck acrobatics to dismantle her opponents or conquer the most formidable obstacles. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is an unbelievably entertaining mix of adventure film, Eurotrance music video and fitness lesson.

Warcraft

Warcraft: The Beginning was not well received by critics and became a financial flop in 2016. Nevertheless, as the prelude to a cinematic franchise that was never able to get beyond the “beginning” in its title, this video game adaptation has a lot to offer.

Here, through a magical portal, viewers stepped into a rich fantasy world where the story arc of the orcs doesn’t have to hide from those of humans or wizards. Everything is illuminated here. Many fans liked the fact that the film adaptation included numerous recognizable elements and, most importantly, the look of the Blizzard games, which combined with the eye-catching costume design and convincing action made for an exciting adventure.

Ace Attorney

Objection! The cult director Takashi Miike’s Ace Attorney is an outstanding video game adaptation that is unfairly seldom mentioned among the numerous Hollywood adaptations. The film is based on the first game in Capcom’s gaming series of the same name and is about a radically changed legal system in which the young lawyer Phoenix Wright stands up for his clients with passion.

To relieve the system, a new form of court proceedings has been introduced. The defense and prosecution face each other in the courtroom and have just three days to provide convincing evidence before the verdict is reached. Accordingly, the proceedings are chaotic, intense, funny and often surprising. Sometimes a parrot is called to the stand or ghosts are questioned. Yes, Ace Attorney is wild and really fun.

Tomb Raider

Writer-director Roar Uthaug references the modern, more grounded and athletic game version of Lara Croft from the reboot series. This is particularly reflected in the rousing action scenes. For this film, actress Alicia Vikander took on the well-trained body of a heptathlete (the posters exaggerated the transformation a bit) – and actually puts it to good use. She rushes, jumps and climbs for her life.

What this Tomb Raider does is relate to Angelina Jolie’s Tom Raider like Daniel Craig’s Bond-era Tom Raider relates to Pierce Brosnan’s. Indeed, it is a more serious, grim, and thoughtful counterpart. This mixture of depth and sophisticated action makes Tomb Raider into one of the most complete video game adaptations ever made.

Pokémon Master Detective Pikachu

The Pokémon Master Detective Pikachu is the cinematic adaptation of one of the world’s best-selling franchises. The movie strikes the right balance, however, to draw in veteran fans and non-connoisseurs alike. Sophisticated worldbuilding enables us to immerse ourselves in a captivating world that recreates the feeling that the original has been conveying for 25 years.

We ourselves become collectors who want to find the 60 different and photo-realistically animated Pokémon types – some of which are very well hidden in the busy world of Ryme City. Master detective Pikachu makes us experience what it would be like if Pokémon were actually real.

However, the heart of the film is the relationship between human boy Tim and the coffee-addicted and talking Pikachu, as their friendship guides us through what is, for the series, both an unusual and unexpectedly compact and fast-paced mystery-conspiracy story taking place in the Pokémon universe. Yes, Pokémon: Master Detective Pikachu is among the best video game adaptations of all time, surpassed only by two.

Silent Hill

On many lists of the best video game adaptations, Silent Hill is one of the front runners. In this regard, Christophe Gans’ (Pact of the Wolves) adaptation of the 1999 survival horror game probably surprised many. During a time when video game adaptations were laughed at from an artistic standpoint, Silent Hill looked simply scrumptious.

The everlasting rain of ash, the sickeningly fleshy horror visions and the nightmare creatures (such as the iconic “Pyramid Head”), which were implemented very authentically, particularly for fans, all create an incredibly dense atmosphere. With all the references to the video game template, Silent Hill also functions brilliantly as a shocker: Radha Mitchell and Sean Bean portray their roles with believable horror and the story, which at times is strongly detached from the template, can completely convince even Playstation detractors.

Resident Evil

For us, the Resident Evil series with Milla Jovovich is the greatest video game adaptation of all time. Obviously, not every single one of the six films is on the same level (looking at you, Resident Evil: Apocalypse). But especially the films directed by Paul W.S. Anderson are considered some of the most visual works ever to be found in this field. Anderson, like few other directors, is committed to finding a cinematic language for what makes video games special.

Everything from the sophisticated aesthetics to the play with time to the portrayal of complex motion sequences: The most impressive are the long corridors through which Jovovich has to make her way as Alice in the Umbrella Corporation’s rabbit hole. Here, Anderson manages to create a underground maze full of levels that load and play through before our very eyes. What his Resident Evil films breathe is the spirit of a video game – and the most impressive of them all: Resident Evil: Retribution.

Tell us, what’s your top list of the best video game adaptations? Are there any for you at all? Let us know in the comments section below.

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