Hmm. That is an interesting list, even if it breaks it's own rules on page 2.
PAGE 1 - Introduction: "Here are the ten video game movies that we consider to be the best, out of the somewhat-limited selection of ones that have hit theaters (sorry, direct-to-DVD stuff)."
PAGE 2 - Dead or Alive: "It was released straight-to-DVD in the United States, though it deserved a full theatrical release over some other video game adaptions (we’re looking at you, In the Name of the King)."
Being something of a historian of video games, and recently branching out into movie adaptions, I have seen each and every one of those movies. In truth there are far better, and far worse, choices that could have made the list, but I am equally thrilled to see SMB being mentioned in at least
some positive light in a larger media scale.
10: DEAD OR ALIVE - While absolutely and catagorically terrible, there is something irritatingly appealing about this movie. It is a superb watch, if you and your (male) mates are drunk then it will seem sublime in it's cheese. But it is certainly far from a decent or quality movie. Not a worthy choice compared to other, more quality works, but not offensive in it's appearance. Tekken (The Live Action film) would be the better choice, as it was really well made even if unfaithful (Tekken Blood Vengeance was 100% faithful and was terrible. Ironically.)
9: HITMAN - Fantastic movie, well earned and should have been higher up the list! It certainly fares better (In it's game adapting and in it's own right) than many of the films above it. Glad to see this made the list.
8: MAX PAYNE - This was an odd one. Fantastically shot, beautiful film noir look that really fits the game style and some great acting. As a matter of fact, all the elements to make this film are spot on. Yet somehow... somehow this film wasn't all that fun to watch. It missed the mark by not being cheesy, and missed the mark by not being dirty and gritty enough despite it's noir visuals. Like Ecks Vs Sever, it starts off with all the right ingredients but fails to mix them into a satisfying meal.
7: RESIDENT EVIL - Not as thrilling in action as the second film, not as horror-fueled as it should have been and the cheese factor wasn't enough to carry it. A poor inclusion, but not an abysmal movie - just not particularly interesting.
6: DOOM - Intriguing choice and I am glad to see it here, if only because both Karl Urban and The Rock are compelling to watch. This is probably the most similar to SMB in it's adaptions of the game. No longer circling tales of Hell (Unfortunately, though it is mentioned in passing by one soldier), DOOM takes the game into science-horror with genetic mutation causing generic monsters to appear. A shame, as more of the game-like enemies would have been awesome - though you do get to see one (On wheels) if you have the Unrated Extended Cut during the First Person Sequence. Not the best choice, but certainly a good one.
5: SUPER MARIO BROS - Well, what can I say? It is not the best video game adaption ever, but it is certainly the most interesting and well deserves it's spot in this top ten.
4: PRINCE OF PERSIA - Very odd choice, but sort of makes sense for this list as it is a mainstream Disney production. Having said that, while enjoyable, the CG stunts aren't as well pulled off as the list states and the film is overly long for it's content, but overall it's a good average choice and worth a check. Though if you're going for mainstream production then I'd go for Scott Pilgrim vs The World, while more a VG Reference movie it is better made.
3: TOMB RAIDER - I have seen this film, and from what I remember it was well done. However it has been a good decade since I saw it, so I will wait to get it on Blu-Ray before commenting further.
2: MORTAL KOMBAT - Another good choice. No matter what happens, nobody can out Tsung the actor in this film. Kano, Liu Kang, Johnny Cage and Shang Tsung were all PERFECT casting (Kano was off originally, but the official games redesigned him based on this look). A great movie (Though not as good as the live action Tekken), but surely the better choice would be Mortal Kombat: Legacy which is available online and on Blu-Ray. It is a more accurate version of events, with a darker edge and some great martial arts (Which hopefully a full-length movie would improve upon even more).
1: SILENT HILL - Excellent choice. This movie is the best horror adaption available, hopefully the sequel will prove as entertaining and well made. While the ending was a little luke-warm compared to at least two brown-pants moments earlier in the film, this beats out any Resident Evil movie (Especially the boring Degeneration movie) or Doom for pure horror.
Other films which would have been worthy of inclusion;
TOM CLANCY- GHOST RECON ALPHA: Although less than 30 minutes long, this production (By Ridley Scott's production team) is one of the best put-together game adaptions I've had the pleasure of seeing. Based on an actual prologue to the Ghost Recon novels, the team in this movie have linked relations to the game team (Inspired also by the novels) and the CGI is mostly fantastic (Minus a crate at the end of the movie, which I don't care about. It's a crate.) If you can watch it, do so. You won't regret it.
HALO LEGENDS: While I am far from a fan of Halo (The stories are terrible and repetitive, but then it's a brainless shooter), and also not a fan of anime (It's mindless, void of subtlety and decent story-telling) Halo Legends took me by surprise with an incredible number of quality episodes. Origins I is boring and cheesy, the explanation of that much history with little actual information is dire. Origins II, which focuses more on the conflict of the Covenant and Earth is far more interesting and well paced. Apart from Origins I, Odd One Out is also terrible - what you'd expect from a comedy fan-movie (With a soldier called 1337). However it picks up once you move past this episode to several very emotional episodes about the state of Earth and human existence. A great series overall, and that's from someone who has more reason to hate it than give it a passing interest.
THE LAST STARFIGHTER: A brilliant, but cheesy, early 80s movie and the first to use mass amounts of CGI footage. Available on Blu-Ray, you can see all the details of this and while it pails to modern CGI it is impressive for the time. While not based on a real videogame, Atari
were going to make an Arcade machine based on the game in the film, but it was cancelled. It is therefore based on videogaming as much as War Games or Tron (No legitimate games exists, but the theme of video gaming is there).
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG: THE MOVIE OVA: DVD ONLY. Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie is another anime fare, with a relatively good script and some interesting acting scenes despite some relatively poor voice acting. It is a good movie, not the best available (Sonic the Hedgehog aka SatAM is better but is a TV Series) even for the character but it is a good, fun watch nonetheless.
STREET FIGHTER II: THE ANIMATED MOVIE: DVD ONLY. Surprisingly better in it's Western format than the native Japanese (A rarity), this comes with a superb soundtrack mixed with a well written (albeit cheesy) script and some very fluid animation. It's not dumbed down, with nudity and swear words inclusive, and includes good voice acting. It's key release downside is the best quality DVD available suffers from the same issue as the official Super Mario Bros DVDs (Bar Njutafilms release), where it is a non-anamorphic picture. I've actually measured it and on my 40" LCD TV, I actually get only 28-30" of video - the rest of the top, bottom, left and right are chunky black borders. It's not a great conversion either, even with the tiny image size. Hoping for a Blu-Ray remaster of this sometime.
