Movies based on video games, or Movies? Based on Video Games!?

Do these movies work? Taking a look at the list of such movies, I find that while there is an occasional decent movie, the vast majority are just plain awful. Let's take a look at some:

Alone in the Dark	Nominated for worst director AND worst actress in 2005 Razzie's.
Doom	Nominated worst actor, the Rock, also 2005 Razzie's.
Mortal Kombat	Surprisingly decent; however, it's the exception that proves the rule.
Resident Evil	And I quote, "What will, most likely, turn out to be the most repellent movie of 2002." -Jay Boyar, ORLANDO SENTINEL
Tomb Raider	Neither bad nor good.
Street Fighter	The poster child for why video games shouldn't be made into movies.
Super Mario Bros.	..... ok, maybe this movie is the poster child for why most video games shouldn't be made into movies >.<

So is there hope? Perhaps. Let's take a look now at a couple upcoming movies.

HALO
Peter Jackson has agreed to step in as executive producer for the upcoming Halo movie. He's also bringing in the help of his partner/wife Fran Walsh, Weta Digital, and Weta Workshop. Sound promising to anyone? =)







Silent Hill
For those that don't know, Silent Hill is a survival horror series that had its start on the original PS. It is commonly felt to be the scariest of them all. Gamespot writes, "...rather than ape the shock-based thrills popularized by Capcom's Resident Evil series, Konami went for a darker, creepier feel in everything from the game's environments, to the monsters, to the story itself. The resulting game offered its own fair share of shocks, as well as some genuinely fearful, emotional, and disturbing moments."

Will a movie adaptation work? I have my doubts. But they do have some good things going for them. The movie is being directed by Christophe Gans, best known for directing the greatly atmostpheric Brotherhood of the Wolf. It also stars Radha Mitchell (Finding Neverland) and Sean Bean (Boromir, Lord of the Rings). The film's script was written by Roger Avary, who shared a Best Original Screenplay Oscar with Quentin Tarantino for Pulp Fiction. Not a bad resume.

The movie comes out April 21. You can check out the movie trailer here on Yahoo. Looking at the trailer, the vision limiting fog, the lighting, the atmosphere, all seem to adhere pretty faithfully to the video game. But will the movie be good? Or will it too be yet another Hollywood video game casualty? For this movie, I still suspect the latter, but we'll find out soon enough.