As a long-time fan of both video games and cinematography, I must say that these two films, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li (2009) and Super Mario Bros. (1993), are quite the spectacle – but not in a good way!
The debut of “Borderlands” has received largely unfavorable critiques, with a low rating of 9% on Rotten Tomatoes, signaling that the film industry hasn’t quite mastered the art of creating successful video game adaptations consistently. Even if 2023’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” turns out to be fantastic, it won’t wipe away the lingering smell of the cinematic failure that was the 1993 “Super Mario Bros.”, often regarded as the worst video game movie adaptation ever made. Despite its notoriety, there are other video game movies that are even more poorly received.
Despite Cate Blanchett and Jack Black’s best efforts for ‘Borderlands’ to be forgotten, it’s crucial to acknowledge that video game movies can sometimes fall short. Here are ten examples of movie adaptations that failed to capture the essence of their popular video game counterparts:
Beware: The list is dominated by the films of Uwe Boll, a well-known director of low-budget movie adaptations based on video games. We didn’t plan to include so many of his works, but given that anyone who has watched one can confirm, his movies deserve their place on this list due to their notoriety.
Alone in the Dark (2005)
The movie titled “Alone in the Dark” is essentially a poor imitation of the 1997 film The Relic, a movie that isn’t even worth copying initially. It also resembles elements from Alien, along with various zombie films. Regrettably, it fails to execute any of these sources effectively, as evidenced by its abysmal 1% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. To put it plainly, it’s only deserving of one percent. The dismay in star Christian Slater’s expression is evident in every frame, and it’s important to note that this film is the work of Uwe Boll.
The film initiates with an extended introduction longer than any “Star Wars” movie, yet it doesn’t manage to clarify the plot in this disappointing remake. As Keith Phipps from The AV Club cautions in his review, “be wary of a movie that confuses you before it even starts.” Similarly, Brian Gallagher warns in his MovieWeb review: “The dialogue is terrible, the characters are as shallow as they come, the storyline is extremely confusing…” Fans of the 1992 original game might ponder how a renowned survival game centered around a haunted mansion could turn into such chaos.
Alone in the Dark
is currently streaming on Freevee, Plex, Tubi, and the Roku Channel.
BloodRayne (2006)
2002’s game “BloodRayne” offers an exceptional blend of vampire action and adventure, set against the backdrop of World War II. In contrast, the 2006 movie “BloodRayne” shifts the setting to Europe in the 1800s and showcases Kristanna Loken as a half-vampire character on a mission to eliminate full-blooded vampires. Regrettably, the film’s sets appear more like homemade constructions, and director Uwe Boll struggles to create a unified narrative. The movie garnered six Razzie nominations in 2006 for categories such as Worst Picture and Worst Director.
The star-studded cast of BloodRayne, featuring Ben Kingsley, Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Madsen, Geraldine Chaplin, Udo Kier, Billy Zane, and Meat Loaf, should have made the movie engaging. However, despite this promising lineup, the film turned out to be almost unbearable to watch due to Boll’s direction. Loken delivers a satisfactory performance as the lead actress, but the film fails to live up to her impressive debut in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. The dialogue is awkward, the plot is predictable, and the overall production seems disrespectful towards the talented actors on screen.
BloodRayne
is currently streaming on Fawesome, Plex, and the Roku Channel.
Doom (2005)
Doom, a timeless video game that’s often hailed as the progenitor of first-person shooter games, was unfortunately brought to life in a rather uninspiring action film with debatable monster effects. Despite borrowing concepts from various films, particularly Aliens, where space marines explore a lab infested with lethal creatures and use rifles that bear a striking resemblance, the movie falls short of capturing the intensity and excitement of James Cameron’s masterpiece. This film is one of several early missteps for Dwayne Johnson, but The Rock eventually found his footing again.
The film gets one thing right: a battle sequence filmed in the first-person point-of-view format, like the game. It’s the lone highlight. That aside, the film as a whole scores a dismal 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, and any hopes of a movie franchise died with the negative fan reception. Nearly two decades later, Johnson still has not learned his lesson, as he made another terrible video game movie adaptation: the live-action flop Rampage, which also failed to grasp the source material.
Doom
is currently streaming on Peacock.
Double Dragon (1994)
Double Dragon makes a grievous error in cinematic terms: it’s a dim-witted movie that mistakenly believes it’s intelligent. It’s riddled with poor humor, inconsistencies, and an unsuccessful attempt at mocking culture. Loosely inspired by the famous fighting game from the late 1980s, the film hides its subpar action beneath a layer of a goofy storyline featuring magic pendants, end-of-the-world street gangs, and jargon delivered with dismal special effects.
The cast is a mixed bag, with Scott Wolf as one of the Dragons and Alyssa Milano as the leader of a street gang (Seriously!). On the plus side, there’s Mark Dascascos (John Wick Ch. 3), Jeff Imada (Big Trouble in Little China), Al Leong (Die Hard), and Julia Nickson (Rambo: First Blood Part II) to give the film some action bona-fides. Unfortunately, these respected martial arts actors spend most of the film being beaten by Scott Wolf. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so frustrating and dumb. The film has a 12% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, and the audience score isn’t much better, at 26%.
Right now, you can watch Double Dragon on Amazon Prime Video, Pluto TV, Tubi, NBC’s Peacock, Plex, and The Roku Channel.
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)
1995’s “Mortal Kombat” is one of the finest examples of video game movies, boasting an unapologetic cheesiness that’s hard to resist. It nails the characters and delivers a heap of fun. The 1997 follow-up, unfortunately, feels more like a money-grab than a worthy successor, with some of the worst special effects the ’90s had to offer. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, despite returning Robin Shou as Liu Kang and Talisa Soto as Kitana, failed to entice even Christopher Lambert into its ranks, a clear indication that it might not have been the best cinematic journey.
In stark contrast to the original, this film significantly falters in terms of quality. The practical effects and makeup are subpar, special effects are disappointing, the editing lacks coherence, and the narrative seems improvised as the movie progresses. Critics gave it a scathing 4% on Rotten Tomatoes, effectively ending its run on the big screen for a while. However, Warner Bros. rebooted the franchise in 2021 with an R-rated adaptation that was more faithful to the game’s graphic nature and received generally positive reviews.
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
is not currently available to stream.
Postal (2007)
The opening scene of Uwe Boll’s movie Postal portrays the 9/11 hijackers crashing a plane into the World Trade Center as a joke, which is the kind of humor found in this deeply unfunny and heartless film. The movie is based on the 1997 computer game with the same name, but it only retains the title and the vaguest hint of a plot, involving a “rage virus” that sparks a killing frenzy. In this case, the “rage virus” is just an excuse for Boll to include offensive violence, such as mass shootings and depictions of deceased children.
Boll attempts to use satire similar to Robocop, but his lack of skill as a director prevents this from being effective. MaryAnn Johanson, from Flick Filosopher, criticized the movie by stating that Boll confuses shock value with satire and thinks crudeness equals cleverness. The film is neither funny nor intelligent, showcasing America’s problems in a clueless manner and even celebrating what it claims to be making fun of. This movie earned Boll a Razzie Award for Worst Director, and an additional award for Worst Career Achievement.
Postal
is currently streaming on Plex and Tubi.
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
The Resident Evil films aren’t exactly classics, but they are an entertaining watch, thanks in large part to Milla Jovovich’s iconic portrayal of Alice. However, the second film in the series, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, managed to get so many things wrong that it angered most fans of the classic zombie game. As a film, it isn’t nearly as bad as the other movies on this list, but it is the weakest of the Jovovich films. The film turns the main villain, Nemesis, into a lumbering, disappointing adversary, and fails to grasp the potential of the character in the game, which has a legendary reputation among fans.
In his first directorial attempt, Alexander Witt’s film presents a chaotic and disjointed narrative. The camerawork appears unprofessional, the editing is rapid and hard to keep up with, and the characters are portrayed as exaggerated, humorous stereotypes. Even the introduction of beloved character Jill Valentine, played by Sienna Guillory, who fits the role visually, is diminished by a ludicrous script. However, later installments in the series demonstrated improvement following this less-than-satisfactory start.
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
is currently streaming on-demand from Sy-Fy.
Silent Hill: Revelation (2012)
3D technology couldn’t salvage the poor performance of Silent Hill: Revelation at the U.S. box office. Directed by M.J. Bassett, this sequel failed despite a talented cast including Sean Bean, Carrie-Anne Moss, Malcolm McDowell, and Kit Harington, who was rising to fame with Game of Thrones. Regrettably, their talents were squandered on a script that offered no original ideas.
The movie Silent Hill: Revelation misses out on what made the original game memorable – a chilling sense of foreboding and genuine fear. Instead, it leans heavily on special effects and tired horror tropes, and despite its impressive visuals, fails to create an unsettling atmosphere. The plot also deviates from the first film in some places, leading to inconsistencies that might frustrate fans who are paying close attention. As expected, the film garnered a low rating of 8% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Silent Hill: Revelation
is currently streaming on Tubi.
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009)
Following the 1994 live-action adaptation of Street Fighter that had some box office success, efforts were made to bring back Jean-Claude Van Damme for a follow-up film. However, these projects never materialized, leading to a reboot of the franchise. In 2009, we saw the release of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li. Several well-known actors joined Kristin Kreuk in the main cast, including Michael Clarke Duncan as Balrog and Neal McDonough as Bison. Despite their appearances, the script’s predictable nature failed to add any real excitement or depth to the film.
As a longtime fan of the Street Fighter games and having watched the DC live-action series Smallville religiously, I was genuinely excited to see how Chun-Li would be portrayed in The Legend of Chun-Li. Sadly, my expectations were not met. This film seemed like a missed opportunity to bring one of the more captivating characters from the games to life on the big screen.
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li
is not currently available to stream.
Super Mario Bros. (1993)
Without a doubt, the 1993 live-action “Super Mario Bros.” movie is infamous for being one of the worst video game adaptations ever made. Yet, it has experienced something of a reevaluation in modern times, with some enthusiasts arguing that the film is merely misunderstood and deserves another chance. Unfortunately, despite this renewed interest, the truth remains that the movie is genuinely terrible. Not even the 30th anniversary release in stunning 4K resolution can mask its poor narrative structure and absurd tone, making these flaws more glaringly apparent in high definition.
1. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the movie received a 29% rating from critics, which is quite lenient. Despite Disney’s Hollywood Pictures aiming to produce a family-friendly film, they gave Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, the husband-wife directing duo, creative freedom to use a grittier, more mature script. This choice deviated significantly from the lighthearted tone that fans of the games had come to cherish. Reports of the pair’s authoritarian behavior on set are still widely discussed, with tales of hiring strippers for the film being particularly notorious. Over time, the actors who worked on the project have consistently labeled it as their most challenging and unpleasant experience in filmmaking.
Super Mario Bros.
is not currently streaming.
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2024-08-15 01:32