Why Do Movies Based On Games Suck?

Despite the fact that the film adaptation of Metal Gear Solid game series has already received the director (Jordan Vogt-Roberts), its creators are still writing and rewriting the plot.

Vogt-Roberts joined the project at such an early stage because of his passion for MGS. In addition, the director said that he knows why do movies based on video games turn out to be bad.

"I think that filmmakers have looked at a video game movie and said, 'Oh, that's flashy! That's cool!' and there's very little desire to really understand the tone and the atmosphere. A big part of it is not fully committing to the source material, being able to say 'No, this is what makes this great, so let's figure out how we translate it.'"

Vogt-Roberts compared movies based on games with film adaptations of comic books, which recently are experiencing a revival. According to the director, this did not happen earlier, because the studios did not understand the genre, did not understand the comics and could not find the right people for filming which could be trusted. As an example of good films based on comics in that period are the Sam Raimi’s trilogy "Spider-Man."

"I just don't think that the right filmmakers have been paired with video game adaptations yet--people who have had their DNA and their brains re-wired by games. If you grew up on video games, there's a language to those games that I think seeps into your brain at a very young age."

According to Vogt-Roberts, every game makes you feel somehow specially, and it's this feeling that needs to be translated into a movie language. The director believes that the games of the Metal Gear Solid series are filled with a sense of panic and tension, while you are sneaking and avoiding enemies.

"Soon people will not negatively associate games and movies. I think it will be a positive comparison."