A thought on video game movies

This weekend - I completed a video game for the first time in a LONG time - Bioshock. After seeing the complete story unfold - and seeing how interesting the world of the underwater city of Rapture is - and seeing its inhabitants (pictured above the Frankenstein like - Big Daddy & a Little Sister) and how and why they've come to be - I think I would be interested in seeing what a movie on Bioshock might look like.

The game revolves around your character trapped in Rapture after your plane crashes in the middle of the ocean. A man you know only over a radio begs you to help him rescue his family from the mad creator of the city - who's God complex has turn Rapture's residents crazy and very very violent.

I agree in part with Roger Ebert who's recently said that video games will never be translated to movies successfully - because the moral choices that the gameplayer has cannot be quantified into a film.

Where beg to differ is - just as not all books translate well to film - it takes an adept hand who knows how to boil down the story to its base elements - and stick to that story. Which means concentrating on the film story - even if you anger gamers by not referencing their favorite subplot. Video games should be looked at like books - they are what they are - and "the original may always be better" - so make an intelligent movie to be proud of using the pieces you are given - but don't color too far outside the lines.

Also, if you consider the games that have been translated - such as House of the Dead, Mortal Kombat, Alien vs. Predator, Street Fighter, Doom, Super Mario Brothers & Tomb Raider - simply don't have the advantage of being made in an age where story really plays into the video game experience to the affect that it does these days. (Not to mention, studio's hoped the name would sell these films - so talent behind the camera was optional)

I'm sure that I wouldn't have to wait long - as it seems like if you sneeze - there's someone out there adapting it as Hollywood seems out of ideas - but a movie based on a video game doesn't have to be dumb. I'm just saying...