Assassin's Creed, Warcraft etc: The problem with video game movies ISN'T video games

[Linri]

Mortal Kombat
this movie is pretty cool, you can't deny that the song didnt pump ur child self up to the max!

[Drekker17]

I think the problem is they rarely actually do the plot of the video game. Warcraft doesn't even count because WC1 didn't really have much of a storyline, hell you could say it was a book movie more than video game movie since most of the story/lore we read not played. I honestly cannot think of a single video game movie that is the actual plot of a video game.

When it comes to making a Warcraft Game movie I think just doing one campaign is good. I think the human WC3 campaign would make a good movie, it would be great for hardcore Warcraft fans, moderate Warcraft fans would like it because it had much more recognizable characters, and it story is concrete enough that others would enjoy. Though I think they want to focus on orc vs human stuff, which WC2 has much better stories to follow.

[Rojaha]

Even if you got great people converting a game to a movie, it still won't always work. Most good game stories, even if you remove the gameplay, are longer than two hours. Its an issue you see with a lot of books turned into movies as well. They're just shitty abridged versions. People are stupid to always seem to think movies are the best and most prestigious format of story telling. And that's not even taking into account some great game stories where the fact games are an interactive media are what make the story great.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

That can be said for all Warcraft games - they have a lot of lore and simplistic storylines. John Carmack was right.

Warcraft 3 has a fair amount of actual storytelling involved...more than just the basic requirements anyway.

[Kourvith]

The eternal problem of videogame movies is that they try to pick a narrative out of a game, without enriching it.

Games can have a poor (or very braindead) story, if the gameplay is good, traction will be made. Most vg movies just take the story, expecting similar results. Basically, it's like a restaurant serving you just a plate of sauce, and call it a dish.

[Triks]

Warcraft 3 has a fair amount of actual storytelling involved...more than just the basic requirements anyway.

It has a simplistic storyline with Arthas being Kerrigan and/or an edgy anime character. If a Warcraft 3 movie is released it will get blasted for that.

[Al Gorefiend]

The eternal problem of videogame movies is that they try to pick a narrative out of a game, without enriching it.

Games can have a poor (or very braindead) story, if the gameplay is good, traction will be made. Most vg movies just take the story, expecting similar results. Basically, it's like a restaurant serving you just a plate of sauce, and call it a dish.

Skyrim, for example. Despite TES having rich lore, Skyrim itself had an atrocious plot if you wrote it down to a movie script. It works in a videogame because you're free to unleash your brain and unwind.

No really, turn Skyrim into a movie plot. A giant dragon is going to eat the world and he resurrects a dragon army. But along comes a man who has a mortal body but has a.. get this.. a dragon soul. Which lets him talk like dragons to unleash magical abilities. Then he has to capture a dragon, fly on its back into the realm of the afterlife to kill the big dragon.

That's Uwe fucking Boll right there.

Videogame plots make awful movies because videogames are infinitely better forms of displaying information and entertainment to the degree that a plot is only 1/4 of a game's entertainment value. You're basically giving someone a Thanksgiving dinner, then deciding you're gonna take away the stuffing, gravy, veggies and pie and just try to make them eat the Turkey hoping they enjoy it because it's based on a Thanksgiving dinner!

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

It has a simplistic storyline with Arthas being Kerrigan and/or an edgy anime character. If a Warcraft 3 movie is released it will get blasted for that.

i didn't say complicated. I said more than what is required.

[karumayu]

I enjoyed Warcraft movie, but as many others felt it was rushed in the end. In my opinion what Warcraft lacked was a character, that have the same information as someone new to Warcraft would have, in order to be a conduit for lore of the setting to the viewer. Frodo served as one in the first LoTR movie, where other characters such as Gandalf, Aragorn told Frodo of the different things he encounters out of the Shire, thereby introducing the audience to the lore as well in a well paced manner.