The Pitch: Video Game Movies We'd Like To See

Despite over 40 years of video-games, we are still awaiting our first truly great movie based on a game IP. Some have come close (like this year’s Sonic the Hedgehog), but others have wasted fantastic characters (like the Tomb Raider movies). To give you an insight into the best and worst we have trawled the MovieViews database to find all the videogame movie reviews that have been entered and you can find the list at the bottom of the page.

But before you get to that we thought we would share with you a few of the classic games that we feel could have provided that elusive mega hit. If there are any games you would love to see as a film then why not et us know in the comments below, or on our social media channels.

Time Pilot

The Game: A multidirectional shooter designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and released in arcades by Konami in 1982. While engaging in aerial combat, the player-controlled jet flies across open airspace that scrolls indefinitely in all directions.Each level is themed to a different time period.

Movie Tagline: A race against time after time!

Movie Plot: A weather-worn fighter pilot (Mark Wahlberg) and his maverick sidekick (Timothy Chalamet) use time machine technology to defeat enemies and rescue airmen across five world wars!

Movie Style: With Michael Bay style explosions aplenty and a love interest (Scarlett Johannson) torn between both of our heroes, anything could happen as we race against time and time again!

Bomb Jack

The Game: A platform game released in arcades in 1984 by Tehkan. Bomb Jack is a hero who can perform high jumps and float in the air. His goal is to collect all of the bombs on the screen. There are five different screens in the game, each featuring a distinctive landmark from around the world.

Movie Tagline: Countdown to Kaboom!

Movie Plot: A wise-cracking bomb disposal expert faces a race against time to defuse bombs set at landmarks and beauty spots around the world.

Movie Style: Pixar’s latest animated smash, featuring ground breaking computer animation and an all star voice cast led by Ryan Reynolds as the titular hero.

The Renegade Trilogy

I – Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-Kun (“Hot-Blooded Tough Guy Kunio”)

The Game: The player takes control of Kunio as he fights against the various street gangs who continualy bullying his friend Hiroshi.

Movie Tagline: Once Upon a Fight in Japan

Movie Plot: Hot-blooded tough guy Kunio fights against the various street punks who have been bullying his friend Hiroshi.

Movie Style: Featuring ground breaking martial arts choreography and fight scenes the film would be written and directed by Japanese comedian and film director ‘Beat’ Takeshi Katano. With strong parallels to his 1989 classic Violent Cop, the film would showcase his trademark bleak worldview that focuses on the criminal fraternity and suspect police officers, but would also be filled with humour and affection for the characters.

II – Renegade

The Game: In this Western version of Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun, the player controls a street brawler who must face four different gangs in order to rescue his girlfriend being held captive by a mob boss. In order to make the game more appealing for the west, the game was graphically-altered with a visual style inspired by the 1979 film The Warriors.

Movie Tagline: Once Upon a Fight in America

Movie Plot: Set in downtown New York, an unassuming but tough loner faces off against gangs from each of the 5 boroughs in order to rescue his girlfriend who is being who held captive by a ruthless mob boss.

Movie Style: A love letter to both Michael Winner’s classic Death Wish and Walter Hill’s The Warriors, the film would be set in the 70s and play heavy on the violence, gang culture and corrupt police.

III – Target Renegade

The Game: A scrolling beat’em up that follows the adventures of a street-fighter known only as ‘Renegade’, who seeks revenge against a local crime kingpin named ‘Mr. Big’ for murdering his brother Matt.

Movie Tagline: Once Upon a Fight in Britain

Movie Plot: When our hero’s brother can’t pay a large debt, he is taken hostage by a criminal gang. Can the renegade beat the odds and fight his way through the London underworld in time for a showdown with Mr. Big at his flashy west end night club?

Movie Style: Similar to Kunio-Kun and Renegade, but even grittier and set in urban UK. Tom Hardy comes face to face with Cillian Murphy in a neon soaked London, with a killer electronic score. Think more Harry Brown than Lock Stock.

Video Game MovieViews:

Movie	Year	Comments	Rating	Reviewer
Assassin's Creed	2016	The effects, acting and set pieces are all fine, but are let down horribly by a truly dreadful story that loses everything that made the games good.	5	Gordon
DOA: Dead or Alive	2006	Excellently realises the game world and uses amazing scenery and fight sequences to keep you there. One of the few video game movies worth your time.	7	Gordon
Doom	2005	A poor mans Aliens that brings nothing new and none of the spirit from the game.	5	Gordon
Double Dragon	1994	Awful story bearing little resemblance to the games (which is a pity as the story to the first game is pretty good). The fight choreography is pretty laughable for the most part, which is a killer for a martial arts movie.	4	Gordon
Hitman: Agent 47	2015	Click to see our detailed review.	5	Gordon
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider	2001	A ludicrous script makes Lara into an 80s movie action hero, rather than making an action movie out of Lara. Female Indiana Jones this certainly isn't.	3	Gordon
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider	2001	Angelina Jolie is perfectly acceptable as the herione, but the story is convoluted, the action scenes boring and the biggest issue is that it barely resembles the video game it is based on.	5	Mat
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider	2001	I like the video games so I quite like the movie. It has reasonable action, Jolie plays Lara well enough and looks the part. I find it inoffensive and it portrays the games well enough.	6	Simon
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life	2003	The story is marginally better, but this sequel repeats most of the failings the original had, with scant references to the video game and a number of badly-acted characters doing incomprehensible things for no good reason.	5	Mat
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life	2003	More of the same, even if it doesn't seem to flow quite as well as the first film. Again I find it OK, again it pans out like the games, which doesn't necessarily make it a successful movie. Not a travesty, but not great either.	5	Simon
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life	2003	Fails to get over the low bar set in the first film as it simply piles more ludicrous action on an even dafter script.	3	Gordon
Mortal Kombat	1995	Fun and faithful, but let down by a shocking script and some terrible acting.	5	Gordon
Need For Speed	2015	Successfully adapts the videogame series in that all it consists of is a series of car races, which aren't enough to stop it becoming tiresome despite decent acting for a movie of this type.	5	Mat
Pokemon Detective Pikachu	2019	A surprisingly entertaining movie even for non-Pokefans. Ryan Reynolds is just Ryan Reynolds and the CGI creatures are odd to say the least, but it works.	7	Gordon
Rampage	2018	If you can forgive the unforgivable (changing the back story of the creatures from the game) then there is a lot of fun to be had.	7	Gordon
Rampage	2018	Far from the worst movie based on a video game, but it takes itself way too seriously for the first half, the effects are sometimes poor and even when the monsters and destruction take over it lacks the wow factor you'd expect from a disaster movie.	5	Mat
Ratchet & Clank	2016	The visuals are no better than the ingame cutscenes and script has little to offer either. You are better off just playing the first Ratchet game (or the PS4 remake).	5	Gordon
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter	2016	Pretty standard Resi fare for the most part, but a mildly satisfying ending leaves you lamenting the end of Alice's story.	5	Gordon
Sonic the Hedgehog	2020	Whilst not quite killing the video game movie curse, Sonic is a perfectly serviceable family adventure. Apart from every scene with Jim Carey's Robotnik. They 90s Carey to the max and are pretty awful.	6	Gordon
Tomb Raider	2018	Despite Vikander's best efforts, the film takes far too many liberties with the script that ask too much belief from the viewer without giving enough excitement in return. One can only hope (for Vikander's sake) that a sequel can put this right	5	Gordon