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Ahh, the video game adaptation: far from being most gamers’
delight, when we hear that our favourite joystick escape is getting tooled up
for an outing in the cinema or on streaming, our first reaction is usually
to cringe and s**t-post online. Across the past four decades, as gaming has
moved from being a frivolous distraction to become one of the major
pillars of global entertainment, video game-based film and TV has become
increasingly normalised, with the quality only gradually improving across this
period.
Unlike the process of bringing a book to the big screen,
games often don’t offer a clear narrative structure – at least not one that can
be easily condensed into ninety minutes, if they even have one at all. This
leads to filmmakers taking creative liberties, and sometimes getting things
terribly wrong.
So many films have inalienably altered character
backstories, killed off fan favourites, missed out key details, gone light on
the effects, and just generally failed to do the source material
justice. Indeed, Hollywood knows no bounds in terms of meddling with our
most precious gaming titles. And it ain’t just the bad adaptations either –
even the gold standard of video game media have made mistakes that piss off the
die-hards.
So prepare to throw your controllers at the TV and rage quit
cinema for life, because these 20 films and shows are guaranteed to upset you,
the fans of the games they are based on,
This year brings the moment gaming fans have been waiting
for: Karl Urban brings Johnny Cage to the big screen in Mortal Kombat II. But
it’s not the first time the classic character has been up there.
The actor-turned-interdimensional fighter made his first
live action appearance in Paul W S Anderson’s middling-at-best 1995 adaptation Mortal
Kombat. Played by Linden Ashby, Johnny joined Special Forces officer Sonya
Blade (Bridgette Wilson), former Shaolin monk Liu Kang (Robin Shou) and Lord Raiden
the god of thunder (Christopher Lambert) to defend Earthrealm from Outworld, and
prevent the mysterious emperor Shao Kahn (Brian Thompson) from taking over.
However, video game and film fans alike who rocked up to the
film’s sequel, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, expecting to see Johnny rip through
a new horde of uglies were sorely disappointed. In a jaw-dropping opening
moment, he has his neck snapped by Shao Kahn and that’s him done, light
out, gone for good.
We can only hope and pray Simon McQuoid and co. know what
they’re doing with Urban – and can return him to Earthrealm in one piece!
