If you saw the 1980s go by from your basement because you were glued to your Atari, Nintendo or Sega console, you are part of history… and maybe even history, the one with a capital H , if we are to believe Tetriswhich lands on Apple TV+ on March 31.
What, another film from the world of video games from another era? It’s exactly that. 8-bit images and music. But it’s also something completely different. In Tetrisit’s layer upon layer of blocks that pile up and eventually fit together and then disappear… but the blocks aren’t what you think.
Because that’s the story behind the game we’re talking about here. Tetris the game, if we are to believe the producers of Tetris the film, is an integral part of the reasons that led to the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Nothing less. Spasiba !
Taron Egerton (Kingsman, Rocketman) plays Henk Rogers. In the late 1980s, this programmer and entrepreneur negotiated not always above the table with Moscow, the KGB and Alexey Pajitnov, creator of Tetristhe rights to the block game which later found itself included by default in the box of the Game Boy, the first portable and inexpensive video game console that Nintendo brought to market in 1989. A success in the making.
As Tetris the game, Tetris the film reveals over its 118 minutes one level after another of corruption within the Soviet state. Quite a headache for a simple programmer who saw the future of digital entertainment in a top-secret Nintendo lab in California: the Game Boy, the great-grandfather of computer mobility.
We don’t know if Bonnie Tyler speaks Russian. What we do know is that his super hit Holding Out for a Hero punctuates a soundtrack resolutely of its time in this generously romanticized documentary drama. Last seen in a movie, the song animated Kevin Bacon’s perky footsteps in Footloose…in 1984.
It doesn’t make anyone any younger. Perhaps if Russian President Vladimir Putin subscribes to Apple TV+, he too will blame his decadence. To see a Mikhail Gorbachev admit his country is bankrupt to three Western capitalists ready to give him crumbs to acquire the rights to publish Tetris in the mobile version, then arresting a particularly rogue KGB spy, it reminds us that empires sometimes rest on very fragile foundations.
Anyway, in Tetrissimple blocks with four segments fall one by one… and end up reversing History.
From “Tetris” to “Super Mario”
“Nintendo Spring” has only just begun! Because the 5th of April tumbles into the good old cinemas The Super Mario Bros. movie, an animated film based on another cult game from the Japanese video game giant. Whether you pronounce “Mario Brault”, “Mario Brosse”, or “Mario Brodeur”, know that you have not finished hearing about voices and accents, even in English.
Because the voice of the actors, mainly that of Chris Pratt in the role of the legendary Italian-Japanese plumber, has no resemblance to that heard in the games since the first Super Mario Bros. released on console in 1985. Perhaps the French version will be more convincing? To be continued.
Those who have a good memory may remember that the main novelty of this game was the second chance provided to the player who ran into an enemy, then the three lives that it was possible to improve by accumulating gold coins. . Because, it should be specified, in the 1980s, it was normal to see the heroes of video games die during the game. Everything then had to start over.
The film produced by Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment is also a second chance on the big screen for Mario and Luigi. We will soon see if they have eaten enough mushrooms to survive the turnip that will have been the Super Mario Bros. from 1993. If so, maybe we’ll see Mario turn into a flying squirrel in a possible sequel…
Another Montreal blockbuster in sight
If you allow the understatement, let’s say that the transpositions to the cinema — or these days, on digital platforms — of video games have not all been successful. The release by HBO and Crave (in Canada) of the series The Last of Us could signal a change in trend this year. More than one video game expert seems ready to admit that 2023 could be the year when films and television series derived from the universe of video games will be… good.
In any case, there will be many: BioShock, Borderlands, Haloand even…Gran Turismo are expected in theaters in the coming months.
We leave with the impression that a video game is not a commercial success if it does not have its own film or series. And if Assassin’s Creed from Ubisoft Montreal had its Hollywood heyday in 2016, another Montreal title will soon be added to this list. The Behavior Interactive studio announced at the end of February that it has teamed up with the American studio and specialist in horror films Blumhouse (Halloween) to produce a feature film inspired by its platform game Dead by Daylight.
“The game is very cinematic, the scenario is linear, it makes for a good story, explains Mathieu Côté, director for Behavior. The world of video games takes its place. It is no longer a niche like 10 years ago. Between a TV series, a miniseries, a film, the line becomes thinner, including with video games. You just have to find the right format to tell stories. »
Some stories are simply more implausible than others. The Game Boy who brought down the USSR… really?