I am in your films, makin you angry.
So the internets have been ablaze with the news that the beloved PS2 title Shadow of the Colossus will be adapted to the big screen. This news has angered fans of the game beyond belief. Some commentators on this here site has some very interesting (see: blindly rage-filled) things to say about it, ranging from death threats to physical violence.
I ask, why the hell is this such a big freakin' deal?
Yes, the game is beloved. It has atmosphere, character and uniqueness coming out it's ass. I love the game, you love the game, anyone who's played it loves the game. And the film will almost certainly not 1/10 as good.
But the film -- no matter how shitty it could be (which is something else altogether. Isn't there a small chance it will be great?) -- will
not change that in the least. I am reminded of the minor firestorm that came about when the Dante's Inferno was announced. Really, it does nothing to detract from the original. But the outrage at that project is nothing compared to what we have here.
Really folks, from The Inferno to the Watchmen and SotC films -- the creation of these tie-ins
does not take away from how great the original is in the first place. If anything, it confirms to fans what they knew all along. "The *blank* was better."
One commentor said something to the effect of "unless it makes my copy of the game magically disappear, I don't care." I wish everyone else would have that mentality.
Plus, you're all going to go see it anyway.
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OMFGITLLFCKNSUXTHOWONTIT!
*slaps self*
Hear, hear indeed!
Watchmen was good shit, Spiderman 1 and 2 (3 was an epic mistake), Coraline, all good movies, all based of something else all together.
It's all about taking the source material, and making the picture you get in your head, into an actual moving picture on screen, and making that moving picture enjoyable to watch. It's good movie making is what it is.
Nothing more, nothing less.
I guess they could do a whole movie like the first 20 minutes of Wall-E
I guess.
Honestly, if it wasn't Justin Marks handling the writing, then I wouldn't be so quick to assume that the film will be fail, but his track record is kind of disheartening.
You'd be pretty angry, even if in reality you are hung like a colossus.
(Please don't take any of that seriously.)
In Dante's case, we're seeing a world ripe with interesting characters and atmosphere being diluted into an action game when it could've instead been better translated as an Adventure game. In that case, the creators would be taking advantage of the source material's strengths and applying them to a new medium to amplify the experience.
For this film, people are mostly freaking out about the writer and for good reason. I remember someone bringing up Del Toro as another possibility for creative control, and honestly, that would probably turn out alright. But instead, it's becoming obvious that the IP is being treated with the same artistic care that Street Fighter and others were given.
Could it be good, or even just ok? Yeah, possibly. Though people like to play their hands close. Their rhetoric makes it sound as if the writers trying to bank on having a fantasy world to work with and make it competitive with the Lord of the Rings, whichever way that might take it.
Personally I wouldn't mind a movie if it is made CG (to permit more appropriate character design and choreography) and if it was made by Ueda and crew.
SCORE!!!!
Seriously, a SotC film is about as bad as a Sims film.
Most of the movie-goers will have had never played the game; and they will thus form an opinion about the game from the movie.
In their minds, for better or worse, SotC will forever be intellectually linked with the movie. Even if they later play the game, they will interpret it through the lens of their movie experience.
If you understand the concept of bricolage, I don't think you can argue that the movie will have no impact on the perception of the game.
I'm actually not against a movie. I think it might actually add something to the experience of the game. It's just important to understand that they will become artistically entangled.
Puppy Licks fucking wins.