Let’s not lie, there really aren’t many video games of 2020 that then get made into genuinely decent films. The problem is that video games are built to be made fun to play with lots of action, rarely does a video games’ story come anywhere close to that of a true film epic. On top of this, due to really poor history with the business, not many big names want to jump on the bandwagon. However, we’ve gone out and found the 10 best movies based on video games that we can and we think we’ve done a good job. What do you think and which movies do you think we’ve missed?
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
One of the best games of the nineties that made people fall in love with action-based puzzles was the Tomb Raider series that brought Lara Croft to fame. To then cast a movie with Angelina Jolie as the main protagonist Lara Croft herself was a wise choice and resulted in good box office numbers. The film’s not stunning but great for those who are a fan of action or the games.
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (2010)
Prince of Persia is a long-running game that offers up a brilliant concept of time travel in an intriguing setting of the desert. Therefore when Jake Gyllenhall was cast as the main character, arguably one of the better actors of our generation, a lot of people were intrigued to see the results. The film wasn’t fantastic but still remains to be one of the most solid video game adaptations to date.
Need for Speed (2014)
Need for Speed is one of those games series that needs no introduction and offers up some of the best racing games ever made. When the movie came out starring Aaron Paul, a lot of people questioned if his career was destined to go downhill with a video game spin-off. However, Need for Speed actually turned out to be a film with some true story elements, beautiful cars and plenty of races. One of the highest rated movies on our list.
Resident Evil (2002)
Resident Evil is one of those games that redefined a gaming genre with the horror/zombie/creepy monster area. The movie took the franchise in a slightly different direction with a female protagonist and an underlying political story. It’s a great film and has spawned quite a few sequels as a result that were arguably better than the original, but you’ve got to start from somewhere.
Mortal Kombat (1995)
Mortal Kombat is right up there with Street Fighter in terms of the best fighting games you can buy today. With Mortal Kombat X probably being the best fighting game available right now and Street Fighter 5 likely to outdo it, there’ll always be competition there. However, on the film front, Mortal Kombat is the only real film adaptation of a fighting game worth watching.
Hitman (2007)
Hitman is one of those franchises that is one of the best in its genre. Hitman’s genre is obviously action-based stealth combat. Hitman is famous for letting you choose which way you want to accomplish each mission. The film however, doesn’t give off quite the same appeal. But the dual-wielding guns and the story being Agent 47 is a little more prevalent in the film.
Final Fantasy: Spirits Within (2001)
Final Fantasy has a huge fan base that are probably more loyal than most other fans. The film that was released under the title had quite a large budget and feature photo-realistic graphics, as is the nature of the Final Fantasy series. Considering Final Fantasy have always been famous for creating stunning stories in games, the film lacked a little but still definitely had the feel of a Final Fantasy game translated to motion picture.
Silent Hill (2006)
Redefining the horror series with a heck of a lot of psychological abusing throughout the 90’s, Silent Hill offered up a great premise for a film and therefore, was made into one. The film was definitely quite scary and featured some truly creepy moments but it couldn’t quite capture the same feel of putting the players into the character like the games did.
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
We’ve already named the original Tomb Raider film on this list, but why not name the BETTER Tomb Raider film? The sequel to the original film starring Angelina Jolie once again was more of a success and received better reviews than the original. The critics praised Angelina Jolie’s performance as Lara once again and the fact the film supported better Action sequences than the first.
Doom (2005)
The Rock was trying desperately to be a movie star through the mid-noughties and therefore, took on the role of one of the main protagonist/antagonists in the film Doom. Obviously based on the genre-defining game from a long time ago, Doom received negative critics but still attempted to keep the feel of the original Doom game and therefore made fans of the original game rather happy.
