The Big Picture · Discussion · Roundtable
April 27, 2021/ 58 min/ Sean Fennessey · Justin Charity · Ben Lindbergh
Sean Fennessey brings in Ringer writers and gamers Justin Charity and Ben Lindbergh to dig into the new Mortal Kombat, then work through why video game movies are so reliably bad. Each one names a title they'd actually defend.
25 films across 3 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
The new Mortal KombatSimon McQuoid · HBO Max
Simon McQuoid's reboot. It cuts Johnny Cage and the tournament, adds an original POV lead (Cole Young), and hangs everything on Arcana lore. Better production than the '95 film but, they agree, not campy enough to be a cult object. Kano is the runaway MVP.
Paul W.S. Anderson's original. All three revisited it; nostalgia aside, none thought it held up. Sean didn't find it campy in the good way.
The sequel Ben cites as proof that stringing fights together with no story doesn't work either.
The video game movie cursewhy the track record is so bad
Where Ben says the curse starts: a movie bearing almost no resemblance to the game, despite Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper. Justin recaps its plot in bewildered second person.
The Angelina Jolie run, cited among the early platformer-and-fighting-game adaptations.
Ben's "canon of competence" alongside Sonic and Detective Pikachu.
Justin Kurzel off an acclaimed Macbeth, Fassbender starring, and still, Ben says, "hot nonsense." A studio-scale flop.
Mike Newell directing; Sean marks it as the film that reset Jake Gyllenhaal's career for a decade.
Not a video game adaptation but of this world: Spielberg's fan-service machine that, Sean notes, has basically vanished from the conversation.
Ben's example of a movie that copies video game logic (a time loop with Frank Grillo) better than most actual adaptations do.
Cited among films that borrow gaming's look and conceit rather than adapt a specific title.
The action-movie respawn loop: video game DNA without a game license.
One of the "credible, likable kids movie" adaptations Justin argues fans don't count when tallying the curse.
Justin's case that anime adaptations translate the fighting-game experience better than live action does.
Paul W.S. Anderson's most recent adaptation; Sean saw it, the guests hadn't, so it's tabled for next time.
Ben's "a video game movie won an Oscar" aside: the documentary short bundled with the Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond VR game, which took Best Documentary Short the night before.
The one they'd recommend one pick each
Actually laugh-out-loud funny, uses the source loosely, and there's a real thrill in seeing the world rendered at blockbuster budget. Ryan Reynolds in Pikachu's body carries it.
Paul W.S. Anderson, 2010. Not faithful to the games' claustrophobic horror, but in touch with their VHS-schlock spirit; Justin's fascinated by the Ouroboros of games and movies feeding each other.
Sean's near-lone recommendation: genuinely scary, stands on its own, oddly left out of these conversations. Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Held up as the bar Enter the DragonIron ManBatman BeginsCitizen Kane
Filmmakers' other work MacbethDonnie BrascoFour Weddings and a FuneralBombshell
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV The Falcon and the Winter SoldierThe Last of UsShogun
Video games Mortal KombatStreet FighterTekkenDead or AliveSonic the HedgehogResident EvilAssassin's CreedPokémonSilent HillMetal Gear SolidUncharted
Ads TropicanaThe Ringer Music Show