Top Ten Worst Movies Based On Video Games

The curse bestowed upon any video-game movie tie-in is one which has been around since the very dawn of their existence. There are a few exceptions to the rule, but generally, a movie based on a video-game is a sure fire way to produce a generally sub-par piece of media. Today I will be running through, what are in my opinion, the top ten worst movies based on video games.

Number 10 – Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

I couldn’t find many issues with this film and it also received fairly average reviews from critics in general, this being said, it did have it’s flaws like the seemingly sub-par performance from Jake Gyllenhaal – it did well at cinemas though, hitting #1 on it’s opening weekend in 19 European countries, #2 in the UK and #3 in the US. The film itself is fairly entertaining and when juxtaposed with the rest of the films I will be covering in this ‘Top Ten’, looks like an Academy Award winning film. All in all, unfortunately to scrape number 10 in this article.

Number 9 – Mortal Kombat

For one of the most popular, ultra-violent games of all time, this film goes some to avoid those credentials and instead produced what was very much the opposite of what made people so interested in the original game. The film, however much it pains me to say, did spawn two sequels and was a commercial success. It had a decent soundtrack and the acting was very average and nothing special. To sum it up, sub par, but still one of the best on this list.

Number 8 – Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

This computer-animated science-fiction flick directed by the creator of the games franchise, Hironobu Sakaguchi was the film which ultimately led to the demise of Square Pictures. The film demonstrates some sophisticated CGI for 2001 but ultimately was a huge box-office bomb and was pretty poor. This film certainly failed to ride off the success of the long-lasting game franchise and therefore did not have a long legacy or big fanbase. It wasn’t awful but certainly did not meet the expectations of some fans.

Number 7 – Silent Hill (Both of them)

Despite my full understanding of how poor both of the Silent Hill films are, I personally enjoyed them both – maybe because I’m a big fan of the games and anything related to them is a huge win. The stories are fairly confusing and there’s an awful lot of pointless time spent running about but visually they look quite nice and there are a few jumpy-moments throughout the film which are actually pretty enjoyable. The reason it is on this list though is due to the fact is pretty poor and despite the fact I like it, I do not want to be too biased.

Number 6 – Max Payne

The first thing you notice about the film is the seemingly A-List cast: the unpredictable Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis and Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges all feature in this 2008 action film which is loosely based on the video game of the same name. The action game which has spawned multiple sequels and generally has not very much to do with this film. It led to Mark Wahlberg being nominated for a Worst Actor Razzy. For all those wondering, this is very much more supernatural than the game – mainly due to the Valkyrie-like creatures which are frequent throughout the film.

Number 5 – Hitman

This surprising financial success made a fair bit of cash in box-offices worldwide upon its release in 2007 but critically, was a failure. With a weak plot, poor acting and over-the-top violence, this film is the perfect start of the worst 5 video-game movies but is not as bad as the horrifying top 4. It’s fairly good at parts but in the whole is disappointing and therefore rightly deserves a place on this top ten.

Number 4 – Doom

Boy, whoever’s idea it was to transform the video-game that inspired a generation of gamers into a 100-minute programme packed full of dodgy CGI, poor acting and Dwayne Johnson, clearly had no idea what they were doing. Very cliché and was almost like a poor clone of the Alien franchise: just without the decent story, brilliant acting and phenomenal cinematography. As a big film fan, this was the film on the list I probably disliked watching the most and it only made number 4 on this list, be prepared.

Number 3 – Street Fighter

This another one of those films, similar to Hitman, which made a huge amount of money (roughly three times it costs for production) but was a pathetic excuse for a film. The big problem I have with this film, which is titled “Street Fighter”, is that apart from having a few characters from the games, it has pretty much nothing to do with the games and is very one-dimensional with average acting, an average score and a god-awful story. In a moment of disbelief, I discovered this this film actually has a cult-following who deem it’s bad points as comically surreal.

Number 2 – Postal

This film is the potentially most ‘Marmite’ of all these films: movie-goers and critics seemed to either love it or hate it – however, the general consensus is very negative. Personally, I can confirm this and additionally stating that for a film that was nominated for three Razzies, and won one (Uwe Boll won Worst Director), it should have won a lot more. The interesting fact about this film is that it seems to be based more on Postal 2 than the original game which it is supposedly based on, with a lot more aspects taken from the sequel. The film had a few comical moments, but generally, it was atrocious – just wait until you see the spectacle which I’ve saved for number one.

Number 1 – Alone in the Dark

I cannot possibly fathom the outrageously awful film that this is, also directed by Uwe Boll, this film really is the worst of the worst. What makes this film exceptionally bad is the fact that, apart from the film’s protagonist who has the same name as the video-game character, the creatures which love to live in the darkness and the general idea of the ending, this has barely anything to do with the games. The storyline is pretty different to all of the elements in all the many games in the Alone in the Dark video-game franchise. With atrocious acting, a farfetched storyline and poor atmosphere, this was a pathetically, unintentionally funny action flick which managed to lose $10million at the box-office – therefore is the worst Video-Game movie of all time.