Top 5 Most Underrated Video Game Movies
1) Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is the best example of an underrated video game movie. Gamers absolutely hated this thing because of how corny it turned out. IGN even gave the movie a flat out ZERO as a review score! Roger Ebert, however, scored it three out of four stars.
The movie is replete with big names such as Daniel Craig, Jon Voight, Iain Glen (who you probably know as Jorah Mormont from Game of Thrones), and of course Angelina Jolie. Jolie's performance got heavily criticized by some and praised by others. For example, she was nominated for the Worst Actress Golden Raspberry Award but then also got nominated for the Best Female Performance from the MTV Movie Awards. Strange how she could be nominated for both extremes isn't it?
Tomb Raider goes to show just how different video games truly are compared to movies. What makes for a serious, complex, and beloved story in a video game like Tomb Raider is seen as silly and simple in a movie. This is a theme we've seen throughout this list from Max Payne to Mortal Kombat. This is why movies based on video games suck time and time again. Everybody simply expects way too much out of them. Gamers are expecting a completely accurate representation of the game on the big screen despite the fact it is missing the most important element of any video game, the gameplay, and non-gamers are expecting an epic story because they have heard so much about how successful and popular the game is and then they're let down with what they get.
On its own merits, Tomb Raider is a fun and entertaining movie that shouldn't be taken so seriously. Like Hitman is a poor man's Bourne, Tomb Raider is a poor man's Indiana Jones. In fact, Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom both filmed at Angkor Wat in Cambodia. If you're an Indiana Jones fan you should be able to honestly enjoy the Tomb Raider films.Honorable Mention: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time with Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton earns an honorable mention but not an actual spot on the list because I have not seen it personally which is a requirement for inclusion. Although it raked in a whopping $336 million at the box office, making it the highest grossing video game movie ever released, it flopped in review scores both critically and by fans of the game.
I feel like this post could have been titled "If You Have Really Low Expectations, These Video Game Movies Are Okay." And, that's frustrating. Low standards are one of the biggest negative influences in the video game industry. For example, the author all but directly states here that you can't expect a video game to have a high quality story.
Why not? Where is it written that video game writers undergo mandatory lobotomies? One of the main reasons there's yet to be a truly great video game movie is because video games are not respected as a medium. 42 years after Pong and the Magnavox Odyssey were released, people are still debating whether or not the medium counts as "art." To put that in perspective, less than 40 years after the very first image was captured on a video camera, Sergei Eisenstein had released The Battleship Potemkin. 12 years later came Snow White.
If we don't start expecting better quality from our video games, we should get used to a lot more lists like this.
Tomb Raider came out when I was sixteen. I'd already been such a fan of the video games, and I really liked it. It was nice to have a female role model to look up to. I enjoyed it and will still defend it to people who didn't like it today as a positive movie for young women.
Max Payne is one of the worst videogame adaptations ever made imho.
Mortal Kombat is one of the worst movies ever made period imho.
..Doom? not even a mention? come onnnn
Silent Hill was great. True to the atmosphere of dread the game instilled and true to game monsters. Plus the ending was actually satisfying. How they made such a horrible sequel is beyond me.
None of these movies are underrated. They got what they deserve.
I liked the Mortal Kombat movies. Yes I said I liked them both. Yes they weren't perfect but i never expected perfect from a Mortal Kombat movie. For one thing they didn't follow the games exactly. But I can deal with that. My only complaint was the 2nd game was entirely skipped over opting for the storyline based off 3. But I liked that storyline in the games anyways so I can deal with it. Even though they had their faults they were still enjoyable and I am glad to own them on dvd.
tekken was pretty good
I would put Mortal Kombat ahead of Tomb Raider as I was always a MK fan and never really played the TR games.
I would have left Max Payne off the list, I wanted to like it but I thought it was terrible.
Tomb raider got 8 on ign
Silent Hill is a terrible movie. With all the changes done to the story it's not even Silent Hill anymore. Was a big fan of the series and I was appalled with all the changes made.
The Cult being changed over to religious people trying to kill the witch, rather then being a cult to harness Cheryl's powers. Pyramid Head being in the movie didn't make any sense, he's a manifestation of another character that's not in the movie. That whole nurse scene, where the mom is dodging knives. Why did they switch it over to the mom? Is it unrealistic for a dad to care about this daughter? The town being abandoned? It is not an abandoned town, it is full of people! The abandoned version exists in a pocket dimension! That little girl couldn't act!
Its like they didn't even try!
what about the Resident Evil movies? if its because you haven't seen them, then i highly recommend them. the special effects are high end, the plots are good if not very complicated, and the acting is pretty great, especially if you are comparing it to other video game movies out there.
Silent Hill 2 wasn't bad at all IMHO.
I love Mortal Kombat! I heard good things about the Tekken movie... But I'll wait to see it. Those were $500 sunglasses a...
Anon 1, understated means people didn't like them.
How are these movies underrated, everyone knows them and has seen them.
I really liked Prince of Persia. It's one of the few movie I bought in Blu-Ray.