| I don’t want to alarm you, but we are about to be flooded with films based on video games.
Intriguing trailers for Silent Hill (2006) are currently being shown, and there’s much more where that came from. Sarah Michelle Gellar is slated to star in the film adaptation of American McGee’s Alice (a disturbingly twisted and "adult" variation on the classic Lewis Carroll character); John Woo is set to adapt two popular old-school games (Spy Hunter and Metroid!); Corey Yuen is preparing to unleash his version of the sexy punch-’em-up DOA: Dead or Alive (featuring Sin City’s lethal hottie Devon Aoki); and, of course, Uwe Boll continues to churn out hilariously shoddy films as part of his ceaseless efforts to get viewers to finally stop going to video game movies.
Boll operates exclusively in this peculiar sub-genre, and his talent for attracting terrible reviews is remarkably consistent – his last three films have all been placed high on the Internet Movie Database’s (imdb.com) Bottom 100 list (2003’s House of the Dead and 2005’s Alone in the Dark and BloodRayne are currently rated at No. 16, No. 22, and No. 24 respectively). Boll’s latest opus, In the Name of the King (scheduled for release in 2007), is based on the Dungeon Siege games, and wound up with such an over-inflated running time (180 minutes!) that the distributor apparently toyed with the idea of releasing it in two separate parts, a la Kill Bill (egad! The mind boggles!).
Movies based on games seem to do moderately well at the box office, despite the stunning number of duds the sub-genre has produced. Occasionally, a flick like Doom (2005) will wind up being more fun than it has any right to be, nearly undoing Boll’s valiant efforts to finally kill the sub-genre off.
One of the more intriguing of the announced game-to-film adaptations is Hitman (2007), based on the popular series of stalk-and-kill games, which are so cinematic to begin with that it’s impossible to play them without imagining what an exciting film could be made from the premise. In the games, the player takes the role of "Number 47", a man who awakens on a hospital bed with no memory of his identity or prior life. He is manipulated by a mysterious "agency" into honing his assassination skills, and embarks on a career as a professional killer, expected to infiltrate heavily guarded areas and silently remove targets with a minimum of fuss. These "missions" form the bulk of the gameplay, and the player is given free rein to perform the job as he sees fit – whether he elects to barge in the front door with guns blazing, or take the subtler method of entering by stealth, waiting for the opportunity to strike in private and slipping away unnoticed (the latter approach is rewarded by a higher score). The methods of dealing death are wonderfully varied, including everything from high-powered rifles to piano wire to a piece of poorly prepared sushi.
Vin Diesel has been selected to play Number 47 in the film, a decision that has drawn the ire of many fans of the games. The feeling seems to be that a Vin Diesel vehicle would not be able to capture the cold-blooded flavour of the games – and after the goofy spectacle of xXx (2002), it’s a difficult point to argue. Numerous replacements for Diesel have been suggested by Internet petitioners, including such candidates as Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones, Christian Bale and David Bateson. Who? Bateson is a lesser-known actor, but is uniquely suited to the role in some fans eyes due to the fact that 47’s appearance was modelled on Bateson and he also provided the voice in all of the games.
No matter who winds up playing Number 47 in Hitman, the film’s chances of perfectly replicating the nihilistic tone of the games are remote. Film is a very different medium from video games, and the loss of interactivity will need to be balanced by solid cinematic technique in order to satisfy fans. Nevertheless, if the film winds up being a disappointment, viewers can take solace in the various films that do successfully capture the ruthlessness, professionalism and isolation of the life of a contract killer.
First on the list is The Alzheimer Case (De Alzheimer Zaak) (2003), a fantastic Belgian thriller released over here as The Memory of a Killer. The protagonist here is an aging hitman with the cunning and experience needed to elude the police, but also the strength of character to stand up to the bad guys when they go too far. His final assignment is complicated by the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and the killer desperately tries to elude both sides of the law while struggling with his ever-worsening memory loss. It’s a dazzling cinematic achievement and one that lingers in the mind long after the credits roll.
Other worthwhile examples of hitman cinema include: The Professional (1994), La Femme Nikita (1990), The Killer (1989), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Buddy Buddy (1981), Le Samourai (1967), Naked Killer (1992), Day of the Jackal (1973), Jerry and Tom (1998) and Pulp Fiction (1994). |
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