TOP TEN TUESDAY: BEST VIDEO GAME MOVIES

We all love video games. It only makes sense to take some of our favorite digital characters and/or stories, and put them on the big screen. With the release of RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE in 3D, we here at WAMG are celebrating with our favorite movies based off of video games. They might not all be Oscar Winners, but they have certainly entertained us at one time or another… plus, who doesn’t like ass-kickin chicks! (Relax… This is a girl writing this! I can say chick!)

We are going to start this off a little differently. There are a ton of really bad video game based movies, so instead of an HONORABLE MENTION, we are going to dive into our list with a…

DISHONORABLE MENTION: MAX PAYNE

Oh… Mark Wahlberg, as much as I like you, this movie was a big bust! This film had the potential to be awesome, but instead it was tedious and boring. Their first mistake was rating a violent video game based movie PG-13 rather than spicing it up and going for an R rating. Plus, they didn’t even follow basic plot lines from the games. They basically borrowed scenery and a title. BARF!

10. SUPER MARIO BROS.

Is it award winning? No. Is it entertaining, fun and incredibly cheesy? Hell-to-the-YES! Bob Hoskins John Leguizamo play the classic NES Kings Mario and Luigi who are on a mission to save the Princess from King Koopa. Sure, it’s not the most believable movie ever made, but neither is the video game. Two plumbers fighting mushroom looking guys and killer turtles to save a princess??? Don’t think I’ve heard this on the local news in a while! Take it for what it’s worth… a comical flick made about a nostalgic game.

09. POKEMON THE FIRST MOVIE

Aka MewTwo’s Counterattack, POKEMON THE FIRST MOVIE was the first theatrical release in the POKEMON franchise. Pokemon was unbelievably popular when the film was released in 1999 and it was a box office hit worldwide. Any parent of a kid at the time can attest to this phenomenon seeing as we had Pokemon trading cards, games, and anime videos all over the place. Pikachu along with the Pokémon – Bulbasaur, Charizard, Squirtle, Pidgeotto, Geodude, Onix, Vulpix, Zubat, Staryu, Goldeen, Psyduck, and Togepi – and their human trainers, Ash Ketchum, Misty and Brock brave a storm while enroute to an island to battle for the title of “World’s Greatest Pokémon Master.” First released in 1996 in Japan for the Game Boy, kids and adults alike were enamoured by the magical powers of the Poke-balls and battles of the Pokemon vs the villains.

08. LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE

Angelina Jolie is back as the vixen of video games in the second installment of the Tomb Raider franchise. I cannot think of a single actress that could have fulfilled the idolized role of Lara Croft better. Let’s face it, Lara Croft is a gamers wet dream! In the search for Pandora’s Box, which is found to really exist in this installment, Croft is on a mission to keep a billionaire villain from obtaining the container, which could wipe out civilization as we know it. That’s a big job… which means a ton of action and adventure!

07. DOOM

Dwayne Johnson is just plain likeable. Although this film has been dubbed by gamers as “Resident Evil in space”, this film has plenty of action and adventure to go around. They could have taken a little more of a horror angle rather than just action, but the film still lives up to the shooting game. Plus, they included the zombies. I like zombies.

06. RESIDENT EVIL

Alice is the reason that we are all here, on this fun filled Top Ten journey. The first of four films, Milla Jovovich dives in as the heroine Alice, who is turned into an experiment after “the virus” takes over. Jovovich is mesmerizing in this film, and certainly takes charge with her action scenes.I really enjoyed watching her fight off the evil dogs… and man, does red dress sees some serious bloodshed!

05. MORTAL KOMBAT

I was actually quite shocked to hear that they were making a Mortal Kombat movie back in the day, but I think they did a pretty good job of taking a standard fighting game with no real story line and turning it into a movie. It’s not a fantastic movie, but we are comparing it strictly against other video game movies, and this one does a decent job. For an arcade game turned movie, they made an entertaining adaptation.

04. RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION

Alice is back, in my favorite to date installment of the Resident Evil franchise. She is on her own, but joins other survivors in the Nevada desert to takt down the Umbrella Corporation. The scenery and colors in this film are stunning. Although I think I would cry if Las Vegas was actually destroyed, it was a cool backdrop for the action. Alice kicks some serious “undead” ass!

03. FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRIT WITHIN

This is the only one on our list that is not live-action. Although this movie failed at the box office, the film itself is a futuristic adventure. This was not exactly what die-hard FF fans were looking for, but it did well with sci-fi fans. Plus, the animation is stunning.

02. SILENT HILL

If you like crazy creatures, than this is the film for you. Silent Hill is jam packed with gore and some pretty impressive animation. Sure, some parts are a little drawn out, but the scenes and creatures were almost identical to the ones in the game. This is probably the closest movie made in comparison to the video game that is is based on. They even get the weird camera angles right!

01. LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER

And WAMG crowns as their #1 Best Video Game Movie none other than Angelina Jolie’s high-flying LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER. From 2001, video game adventurer Lara Croft comes to life in the movie where she races against time to recover powerful ancient artifacts before the bad guys can. With Jolie as the mythic Croft, this hardcore fighter literally comes alive on the screen and this exciting adaptation is definitely aligned to the Tomb Raider video game series. While some critics thought it silly goofiness, we gamers didn’t think so and TOMB RAIDER became a huge box office success.

So readers, what film did we leave off the list? Any beefs on who we included? We can take it, so have at it and please leave your pithy quips below.