The 16 Video Game Movies That Suck the Least
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The certainties in life: death, taxes, and the assurance that if a movie is based on a video game, that movie will probably suck. The highest-rated video game movie of all time on Rotten Tomatoes is Detective Pikachu at a 68 percent. The average is somewhere around 35. In our hearts, the mean is 0.
Now, the failure has absolutely nothing to do with the video game medium. Plenty of games offer rich narrative experiences that—even if just adopted shot for shot—would make for a perfectly acceptable film. Which makes decisions to deviate from great source material inexplicable. (We’re looking at you, Assassin’s Creed—which has enough material for a very solid 8-season television series. There was only one group getting a hidden blade to the throat and that was the audience.) So instead of developing quality existent video game narratives, Hollywood has decided to ride do-nothing franchises like Tomb Raider and Resident Evil into the dirt and mire first-rate actors—Michael Fassbender, Jake Gyllenhaal, Alicia Vikander, Timothy Olyphant—in filthy mediocrity.
The good news is that recent years have probably given us the best of the genre. (We know, the bar is low.) Netflix's The Witcher series has taken as many cues from the novel series as the Geralt of the video games. And we have high hopes for upcoming projects, including HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us and Tom Holland’s Uncharted.
Otherwise, the field is a bit barren. Here are 13 live-action Hollywood video game movies that are just kind of okay. That’s the bar: just kind of okay.
Mortal Kombat (2021)
In many ways, Mortal Kombat should be the easiest video game to adapt successfully. Just give us well-directed violent fight scene after violent fight scene and we'll leave happy. The newest Mortal Kombat, which debuted simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max in 2021, delighted long standing fans with some epic fight sequences. However, any attempts at stringing together a coherent plot remained pretty much unsuccessful.
Street Fighter (1994)
Jean-Claude Van Damme was the literal inspiration for the video game Mortal Kombat (so, really, Mortal Kombat is a video game based on a movie). The fact that Van Damme is even in Street Fighter gives it a spot on this list. Legend.
Resident Evil (2002)
Of all the Resident Evil films, it's the first that strikes all the right nostalgia vibes—and provides some actual horror and ass kicking. Michelle Rodriguez and Milla Jovovich are perfect. It won't get any better than this, but, oh boy, will it try for the next two decades.
Mortal Kombat (1995)
The original Mortal Kombat adaptation is just pure fun. It's maybe the best video game adaptation, and only because it doesn't try to be anything it's not. Simple storyline. Awesome fight choreography. Maybe could have been more violent, but, hey, we'll take what we can get.
Max Payne (2008)
Something about Mark Wahlberg as Max just doesn't work (maybe it's a New York/Boston thing). The rest of the film—the snowy NYC cinematography and violence—all just kind of works. It's fine. Like, we'd watch it on the plane. Whatever.
Assassin’s Creed (2016)
No problem with casting here. The issue is entirely with the script, which somehow makes one of the most film-worthy franchises utterly boring and unnecessarily confusing. Why on Earth they wouldn't adapt the Ezio narrative from Assassin's Creed 2 is beyond us. At least there's some good fight scenes? Yeah, kind of.
Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
The last two years have maybe provided us with the best video game adaptations ever. For all the VFX frustration over the original Sonic model, the updated film looks great, feels fun, and features Jim Carrey. What's not to love?
Sonic pretty much has his own Cinematic Universe at this point, with a well-received sequel premiering in 2022, and a spinoff movie starring Knuckles the Echidna coming up next.
Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019)
Given the bar for video game movies, Detective Pikachu absolutely soars over the competition. One of the most surprisingly fun films of 2019, the movie dishes equal doses of nostalgia, sincerity, action, and irony. Hopefully it is a sign of better video game adaptations to come.
Tomb Raider (2018)
The Tomb Raider film franchise hasn't yielded anything close to the excitement and innovation of the games. The most recent installment, starring Alicia Vikander, is just kind of ... okay. We know Vikander got crazy jacked for this role, so there's no shortage of heart here. The story simply fails her.
Silent Hill (2006)
Say what you will, Silent Hill doesn't hold back. Even a halfway-decent horror adaptation of the terrifying game would have made for a solid film. Silent Hill, however, is equally dark and trippy and gory and frightful.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)
Prince of Persia benefits from attaching the original game designer, Jordan Mechner, to the project; he wrote the film's screenplay. It's glaring downside today: the obvious white washing of its lead role. Otherwise, it's not a bad adaptation. Not at all.
Hitman (2007)
Going into the film, many were unsure how the film would bring Agent 47 to life, but Timothy Olyphant pulls it off. If the film wasn't based on existent source material, we may just call it a decent action movie. The fact that it's both a decent action movie and one based on a video game makes it a very good action movie.
Rampage (2018)
By all accounts, Rampage is easily the dumbest movie on this list. It is also one of the best video game adaptations of all time. Video games are fun. Movies are fun. Video game movies should be fun. Rampage gets it.
Werewolves Within (2021)
This delightful horror-comedy romp is based off of the Ubisoft VR game of the same name, which tasks players with deducing who in the game is a disguised werewolf, much like the party game Mafia. It’s held down by an incredible lead performance from Veep star Sam Richardson, who plays forest ranger Finn Wheeler trying to keep several residents of a small town together after they’re trapped in a lodge during a blizzard. Naturally, while there, they start being attacked by a werewolf.
Uncharted (2022)
This adaptation of the hit Playstation adventure game series was delayed for a while due to the COVID-19 pandemic, finally hit theaters in February 2022. It was criticized for paling in comparison to other adventure film stories it was clearly inspired by like Indiana Jones, but the action sequences, along with Tom Holland’s solid performance as Nathan Drake, mean this film still has some fun moments in its runtime.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Mario couldn’t stand to let his former rival, Sonic, hog the video game movie spotlight for that long, blasting into theaters along with a solid cast for The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Some diehards may not appreciate Chris Pratt’s leading performance, but he did exactly what he needed to do. It also had undeniably great production value, though older Mario fans won’t find a particularly deep or compelling plot to chew on here.
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