VIDEO GAME MOVIES: The Good & The Bad...Well, The Mostly Bad
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Let’s face it—if a new movie is based on a video game, there’s a 99.9% chance it’s going to suck. That’s just the reality. Historically, movies based on video games have an absolutely terrible track record. In fact, they might have the worst track record of any movie subgenre.
So, in “honor” of the release of the Minecraft movie—yes, a Minecraft movie starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, which (spoiler alert) is not good—I decided to take on the nearly impossible task of digging through the rubble and finding video game movies that are actually good.
I managed to find seven. That’s it. Seven movies based on actual video games that I can honestly say I liked—or, in two cases, liked because they were hilariously, watchably terrible. So to be clear, we’re talking about a list that includes five good movies and two that are so bad they’re fun. That’s the best I could do. And believe me, I tried.
Here’s the thing: I’m not a gamer. Never have been. The only video game system I’ve ever owned was Pong—that’s it. So when these video game movies get released, filled with winks, Easter eggs, and inside jokes meant only for diehard players, I’m usually lost. But I’m not watching them as a gamer. I’m watching them as a movie fan.
And here’s the problem: most of them don’t play like movies. They play like video games. And movies shouldn’t play like video games—they should play like movies. With stories. Characters. Emotion. Not just pixels, noise, and non-stop nonsense.
Still, Hollywood keeps churning them out. Big stars keep signing on. Consider just a few examples:– Uncharted with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg. Terrible.– Prince of Persia with Jake Gyllenhaal. A disaster.– Borderlands with Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Hart. Awful.
Six Resident Evil movies starring Milla Jovovich (plus a reboot and a TV series).– Four Mortal Kombat movies.– Three Sonic the Hedgehog movies.– Three Super Mario Bros. movies.– Two Max Payne movies.– Two Tomb Raider reboots.– Two Street Fighter movies.
And don’t forget the Angry Birds movies. There are two of them. Yes, they made two movies based on the game where you fling birds at pigs.
And it gets worse: there are 24 Pokémon movies. I repeat: 24. Two live-action, twenty-two animated. That’s a lot of Pikachu.
And then you’ve got the ones that aren’t technically based on real video games, but play like they are: Wreck-It Ralph, Free Guy, Ready Player One, Jumanji, Gamer, The Last Starfighter. Those don’t count for this list. What does count are movies based on actual video games. Real games. Real titles. Real properties.
Which brings us to the legend—the man, the myth, the bane of cinema—Uwe Boll. Arguably one of the worst directors of all time, this guy made a career out of turning video games into cinematic garbage fires. House of the Dead, BloodRayne, Alone in the Dark, In the Name of the King—the list of crimes is endless. If video game movies have a bad reputation (and they do), this guy’s a big part of the reason why.
But somehow, somehow, a few movies managed to rise from the ashes. And again, I say a few. Seven to be exact. And yes, I recommended all seven of these as a professional film critic.
A couple of them are genuinely good films. A couple are decent, fun action flicks. And two are so godawful that they loop around and become enjoyable again—kind of like the Showgirls or The Room of video game movies.
So, in celebration of another swing and a miss (Minecraft), here’s a look at seven video game movies that, shockingly, don’t suck. Ranked in order of my preference.
Let’s press start...
Seven Video Game Movies That Actually Don't Suck:
This is either a brilliant piece of surrealist cinema, or the director just got really lucky. Directed by Christophe Gans and written by Oscar winner Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction), Silent Hill is based on the popular horror video game series.
Radha Mitchell stars as a woman who crashes her car outside of Silent Hill, only to wake up and find her daughter missing. Cue creepy cults, supernatural fog, and terrifying dream logic.
Silent Hill doesn’t make a lick of sense. I’ve seen it multiple times and still don’t know what the hell is going on. But that doesn’t matter. The atmosphere is so thick, the imagery so haunting, and the tone so dreamlike that you get swept away in it.
It’s surreal, moody, and surprisingly artful. The cast (including Sean Bean, Kim Coates, and Alice Krige) is great, and the direction is genuinely unsettling. Forget the sequel and any upcoming reboots—this is the definitive Silent Hill movie. Weird, wild, and wonderful.
I covered this in my werewolves article, and it's worth repeating here: Werewolves Within is a blast. Based on the Ubisoft game, this comedy-horror hybrid is directed by Josh Ruben and features a great cast including Sam Richardson, Milana Vayntrub, and Michaela Watkins. It’s set in a snowy Vermont town where a group of quirky locals suspect that one of them is a werewolf.
It’s funny, sharp, well-paced, and doesn’t rely on you knowing the game to enjoy it. I’ve never played Werewolves Within, but the movie stands on its own as a smart, entertaining whodunit with fangs. A rare gem in the video game movie graveyard.
Not the Angelina Jolie ones. I’m talking about the 2018 reboot directed by Roar Uthaug and starring the incredibly charismatic Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft. This version has more grit, more grounded action, and is anchored by Vikander’s fantastic performance.
The plot is standard adventure fare: Lara goes looking for her missing father and uncovers a larger mystery. But the action is tight, the pacing is strong, and Vikander is mesmerizing—funny, smart, sexy, and completely committed. The film doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does spin it fast enough to keep you engaged. A solid, enjoyable action flick.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect to put a Sonic movie this high on the list, but here we are. The first two Sonic films were fine (thanks mostly to Jim Carrey), but Sonic 3 takes things to a whole new level of insane.
Carrey returns in dual roles and delivers two performances that are as unhinged as anything he’s done since Ace Ventura. He steals the movie. Keanu Reeves shows up as the voice of the villain and adds another fun layer to the madness.
The animated characters are fine, the plot is ridiculous, but the energy is there and the kids will love it. I loved it because Jim Carrey is completely off his rocker, and I mean that in the best possible way.
Loosely based on the arcade game, this one stars Dwayne Johnson as a primatologist who bonds with a genetically altered gorilla. Giant monsters wreck buildings. Stuff explodes. People scream.
It’s dumb, of course. But as a lifelong fan of kaiju movies, I had a blast. The special effects are solid, the monster fights are fun, and the destruction of downtown Chicago is an added bonus for locals like me.
Watching the Sears Tower (yeah, I still call it that) get smashed to bits was surprisingly cathartic. Sometimes stupid spectacle can be really satisfying. Rampage delivers exactly what it promises.
This is one of two movies on the list that is technically awful... but I still love it. It’s cheesy, silly, poorly acted, and aggressively '90s. But it’s also incredibly fun.
Christopher Lambert is hilariously weird as Raiden, the fight scenes are goofy but entertaining, and the whole thing feels like a sweaty, late-night fever dream. I saw this at a drive-in, and I can’t think of a better place to watch it. Bring a six-pack and some friends, and you’ll have a blast.
This movie is bad. There’s no other way to say it. The fight scenes are lame, the plot is idiotic, and it stars Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas, if that gives you any idea of the level we’re working with here. But there’s one reason this made the list: Chris Klein.
Chris Klein gives what may be one of the worst—and most hilariously entertaining—performances in the history of cinema. His intensity is off the charts. His line delivery is bonkers. His facial expressions belong in a cartoon. I’ve watched this movie multiple times just for him. He’s so bad, he’s brilliant. It’s a masterclass in how not to act, and I cherish every second of it.
So there you have it. Seven video game movies that, for one reason or another, are actually worth your time. Some are good, some are dumb, some are hilariously awful, but they’re all entertaining. And in the world of video game adaptations, that’s a miracle.
Did I miss any? Let me know at nick@nickdigilio.com
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