Get ready to dive into the most cringe-worthy, disappointing, and downright terrible movies ever adapted from video games. Welcome to WatchMojo and today, we're exploring the absolute worst attempts to bring gaming franchises to the big screen.
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00:00This is a mining journal left behind by a corporate bureaucrat.
00:04He cataloged everything the miners brought in, most of it useless.
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 30 most abysmal,
00:14dreadful, god-awful movies based on video games.
00:19Will we ever reach near tranquility with video game adaptations?
00:24It needs to be big, so we can all fit inside.
00:34You put me in charge of security, remember father?
00:38The jackhammers answer to me.
00:41For a martial arts movie, Tekken isn't the worst thing we've seen.
00:45For a movie based on the acclaimed 3D fighting franchise, is everything a fan would never
00:51want from a Tekken movie, as it completely ignores the franchise's story in favor
00:57of something original.
00:58Jin is some street punk doing contraband runs and is trained by Steve Fox, even though Jin
01:05does karate whereas Steve practices boxing.
01:09Christy Montero and Eddie Gordo have nothing to do with each other, despite having a whole
01:13story between mentor and master in the games.
01:17But are the fights at least good?
01:19Well, we couldn't tell.
01:21The camera wouldn't stop shaking for us to appreciate whatever choreography there
01:25might have been.
01:2629.
01:35Uncharted If you're looking for a cheap popcorn flick,
01:47perhaps Uncharted wasn't as bad as fans were making it out to be.
01:51But that's if you aren't a fan of the games in the first place.
01:55Perhaps nothing about this movie felt like Uncharted until the very end of the movie,
02:00and by that point, it was too little too late.
02:03Uncharted spent too long relishing in heist tropes, being annoyingly mysterious about
02:09character motives, and making very, very few allusions to the games outside of Nolan North's
02:16cameo.
02:17Separated from the games, maybe, Uncharted is decent at best.
02:21Unfortunately, it's hard to ignore how much it deviates from the games when every game
02:26in the franchise is basically a playable movie in itself.
02:30And they're playable movies with great writing and pacing.
02:3428.
02:35Heavenly Sword This
02:48oft-forgotten animated movie should have been a hit.
02:52It has a great cast, with some actors having already played their respective roles in the
02:572007 video game.
02:59But it's literally everything else that made it fall apart.
03:03The story makes no sense, the music gives the movie no identity, and worse, the animation
03:08makes Mars Needs Moms look like a da Vinci painting.
03:12If Sony had enough confidence in the IP to make a movie adaptation seven years after
03:17the game came out, you would think more time, money, and effort would have gone into this.
03:23Alas, no.
03:25And now, it's hard to say if we'll ever see Noriko ever again.
03:3527.
03:38The Angry Birds Movie There isn't much of a story to Angry Birds.
03:50You just launch birds with different powers to defeat evil green pigs.
03:54What reason is there to make a movie?
03:57Well, if you wanted yet another corny family-friendly movie with a cast loaded with SNL alumni,
04:03you got your wish here.
04:04Even though The Angry Birds Movie has its moments, the star power and uninteresting
04:09plot make it feel more like a cash-grab project.
04:13The young ones may have had their fun with this, but for the grown-ups, there were better
04:18options to waste an hour and a half.
04:2426.
04:26Resident Evil – Welcome to Raccoon City Look, the Paul W.S.
04:38Anderson movie may not be the Resident Evil movies we wanted, but there are some redeeming
04:43qualities when you watch them as cheesy action-horror flicks.
04:48Besides, they are way better than whatever we're getting with Welcome to Raccoon City.
04:53Once again, Resident Evil's own unique story is sidelined for something else entirely,
04:59and the plot does nothing to garner interest in the IP.
05:03Every one of our favorite characters is unlikable to the very end and given no proper motives
05:09or development at any point in the 107-minute runtime.
05:13There's just no room for Raccoon City in the world of TV and movies.
05:2325.
05:25Five Nights at Freddy's Whereas Uncharted frustrated many fans,
05:37Five Nights at Freddy's pleased many fans, but only the fans.
05:42There are aspects to Five Nights at Freddy's that can be appreciated between the production
05:46designs and faithfulness to the IP.
05:49However, those who know nothing about the games were taken for what felt like an erratic
05:55ride for a horror movie.
05:57Dead kids haunting the bodies of animatronics, everyone seemingly knowing about this cursed
06:02pizzeria, yet no one wanting to tear it down, and the whole twist with Vanessa towards the
06:07end felt haphazardly thrown together.
06:11Couldn't this just have been a one-man movie in the same vein as 1408 or something?
06:16Again, lore-fueled fanatics might have loved the movie, but for others, well, let's hope
06:22the sequel has more focus, huh?
06:3224.
06:35Ratchet and Clank Ideally, Ratchet and Clank would have been
06:41a good movie, but unfortunately, this was not the tale of a Lombax and robot we needed.
06:50Credit where it's due, the animation here is pretty solid and fits the style of the
06:56games from Insomniac.
06:57Plus, we respect the decision to keep the original voice cast.
07:01Unfortunately, the plot was super thin with Chairman Drek having no motive outside of
07:07being a corporate overlord and Qwark being even more of an egomaniac than he is in the
07:13games.
07:14Even with a 90-minute runtime?
07:17Come on, you could have told a compelling sci-fi epic with this IP.
07:21Was there any semblance of structure in the story during pre-production that could have
07:25added more depth to the characters?
07:28Oh, well, shoulda, coulda, woulda, but didn't.
07:35Speaking of which, am I to assume that you have retired from the Galactic Rangers?
07:40Nah, once a ranger, always a ranger.
07:4423.
07:45Monster Hunter We all know what Monster Hunter is, right?
07:56Yeah, it's the fantasy action RPG where you and three friends can explore exotic locations
08:02to fight colossal beasts together.
08:05So, in the synopsis, where is the part where we mention something about the US Army going
08:11isekai and being transported to another world?
08:14What's frustrating about Monster Hunter is the fact that the movie clearly knows the
08:18IP, its world, and its characters.
08:22Why else would it use the same monsters and weapons as the games?
08:26And yet it opts to use entirely different characters from a world that would never be
08:31seen in a Monster Hunter game, as well as some of the most boring environments that
08:35look nothing like the worlds we've seen in the games.
08:38Who was this movie for, exactly?
08:41If not for the fans…
08:4622.
08:49Doom Annihilation To its credit, Annihilation at least pulled
08:59a few threads from both the old and new Doom games, but only in shout-outs and lore.
09:06Does it boast the same intense action, horrific imagery, and garish depiction of hell?
09:11Well, in a half-assed fashion, maybe… actually, quarter-assed.
09:16From the get-go, you can smell how cheap Universal went on the budget with constantly reused
09:21set-pieces, poor direction, and a story that constantly meanders and kills off its cast
09:28with little to no warning.
09:30Plus, the whole pointless symbolism with our main character, Joan Dark.
09:34Do you get it?
09:35Do you get the symbolism, Joan Dark?
09:38Joan of Arc?
09:39Do you get it?
09:40Do you get it?
09:4121.
09:42Borderlands It's been quite a while since we've seen
09:53a video game movie bomb as severely as Borderlands did.
10:03There was not a soul on Earth that wanted this to happen, yet it somehow went through
10:08its entire production.
10:09Borderlands not only made questionable decisions with its casting and writing, its humor and
10:15lack of meaningful plot was kind of a window into why most folks don't like or don't
10:21even care for Borderlands anymore.
10:24Never before had we seen Lilith, Tiny Tina, and Claptrap at their most annoying points,
10:30and after this, some fans were left questioning if it was time to move on from the world of
10:35Pandora.
10:4020.
10:44Prince of Persia – The Sands of Time In another case of what might have been, Prince
10:49of Persia – The Sands of Time had the potential to be a thoroughly enjoyable film.
11:00Critic Brian Tellerico summed up our disappointment best, though, writing, quote, "...imagine
11:05watching someone else play a video game while another guy narrates it.
11:09The characters, despite their decent casting, are stereotypical, the plot is confusing and
11:14ridiculous, and the ending is highly predictable."
11:18It's a watchable film, however, so at least there's that.
11:27Coming off the vastly superior Sands of Time game, however, it could have been so much
11:32more.
11:3519.
11:39Resident Evil – The Final Chapter The Resident Evil film series contains six
11:44entries, none of which were well-received critically.
11:47The final film isn't an exception, and they didn't exactly save the best for last.
11:59As critic Donald Clark put it, quote, "...the film is 20% boring plot talk and 80% even
12:05more boring action.
12:06The film itself was widely panned for being dull and sloppy, while the action proved too
12:11dark to make out."
12:12Unfortunately, more than one critic theorized that this would, most likely, be a never-ending
12:26franchise, despite the word, final, in the title.
12:3518.
12:36DOA – Dead or Alive Making a movie out of an arena fighting game
12:41is difficult, and DOA is a prime example.
12:53The games were praised for their environments, gameplay and impressive graphics.
12:58The movie was not, to put it generously, cited by many critics as an excuse to show
13:04hot girls doing martial arts.
13:06The film was not much more than that.
13:13We suppose watching this on mute would be a good idea, if babes and kung fu are your
13:18thing.
13:19For anyone who wants something of substance, though, Dead on Arrival would have been a
13:22more appropriate title.
13:3017.
13:32Need for Speed Racing is fun, cars are cool.
13:36These were two things that spawned the film adaptation of Need for Speed.
13:40Making a feature film out of a racing game is essentially about as practical as making
13:45one out of a classic board game.
13:54Critics were generally displeased with the film, calling it boring and lacking in character
13:58development.
13:59I'm going as far as to say the cars are its strongest point.
14:07It's not surprising that a decent movie couldn't be made out of a car-go-fast video
14:17game.
14:18On the heels of Breaking Bad, Aaron Paul's big screen vehicle sadly turned out to be
14:2316.
14:30Lara Croft – Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life
14:34What to do when the first installment of a film gets a lackluster Rotten Tomatoes score?
14:39Make a sequel, of course!
14:41The Cradle of Life wasn't much of an improvement, which is a shame.
14:50The Tomb Raider games are beloved by players, and the anticipation for film adaptations
14:54was surely high.
14:56It's becoming a bit of a pattern at this point.
14:58The characters in The Cradle of Life were underdeveloped, leading to a lack of engagement
15:03in the plot.
15:10Also Lara Croft literally punches a badly CGI'd shark in the film.
15:16Insert your own jumping the shark references here.
15:25Number 15.
15:26Assassin's Creed The Assassin's Creed game franchise is massive,
15:32rich in history and narrative, and contains some beloved interesting characters.
15:37The film is none of these things.
15:45It switches back and forth from past to present, much like the games, yet makes a muddled mess
15:50of plots or non-plots.
15:53It is very well cast, but it seems that the A-list actors were bored and uninvested in
15:58the parts.
15:59One possible issue is that the film strayed too far from the source material and got lost.
16:12The games are so rich and ripe to be farmed, yet nothing other than a couple of nods to
16:17the main gameplay staples were even seen in the film.
16:20And what the heck did you do to the Animus?
16:26Number 14.
16:28Max Payne We'll try to avoid the obvious puns with
16:31the movie title here.
16:33Another video game adaptation attempt, 2008's Max Payne provided its audience a painful
16:39experience.
16:40Sorry, it's too easy.
16:45The film was fairly dull, focusing entirely on the visuals rather than the dialogue and
16:50acting.
16:51Think Sin City, but not good.
16:54Critic David Hogan went as far as to say the character of Max was better acted in the video
16:58game.
17:05It's probably easy to get carried away with visuals in these projects, as players expect
17:10to see frequent nods to their favourite games.
17:13Max Payne did impress with photography and general ambience, but failed everywhere else.
17:26Number 13.
17:27Street Fighter Fans of the classic game were not pleased
17:30with the multiple character changes in this adaptation.
17:34Street Fighter the movie is filled with cheesy one-liners, a muddled storyline, and takes
17:39way too many liberties with character deviations.
17:48We're talking entire character backstories thrown out and rewritten.
17:52One example is that Van Damme's character is supposed to be quintessentially all-American.
17:58The issue here is obvious.
18:06The film's one redeeming quality is the late Raul Julia's over-the-top performance as villain
18:11General M. Bison.
18:13Despite the campy source material, Julia delivered a professional and theatrically acclaimed
18:18performance.
18:19The film was his last, unfortunately.
18:23Number 12.
18:26Silent Hill – Revelation Film critic Marv Savlov giving the film a zero
18:31out of five sums up this film quite nicely.
18:34Quote, Enduring this botched video game-based nightmare is like sleepwalking into the world's
18:40dullest Halloween party.
18:47The film's first installment had more than twice the budget of its sequel, and a far
18:52less convoluted plot to follow, yet it still didn't earn high praise.
18:56Thus, why not make a sequel and introduce a confusing cult subplot?
19:01We have a theory.
19:02This film and its predecessor did badly because Sean Bean survived both films.
19:12In order for a film to be canonized in the Hollywood ranks, should it boast Sean Bean
19:17in the cast?
19:18Sean Bean must die in the film.
19:21It's a scientific fact.
19:23Learn from it.
19:28Number 11.
19:30Warcraft Though this film was praised for its visual
19:33beauty and performances, it was panned for its lack of an interesting plot.
19:38We're beginning to see a pattern here.
19:44Fans of the game were awestruck by the scenery and likeness to the general atmosphere of
19:49the playable version.
19:51The orcs are very well rendered and the lands beautifully displayed, but there was room
19:55for far more character and story development to be had from the games of origin.
20:05What Warcraft did have going for it is the fact that those unfamiliar with the games
20:10could still enjoy the film.
20:12That however, doesn't mean they did.
20:21Number 10.
20:22Doom The Doom series has been a staple of gaming
20:25since 1993.
20:27With a long-running collection of games, you'd think the film would stick to the source material.
20:37For example, the creatures in the game Doom were simply demons from hell, and not genetically
20:42transformed humans.
20:44The wormhole idea is also one of the filmmakers and just adds unnecessary complexity to an
20:51otherwise simple concept.
20:53The film's one redeeming quality is the first-person shooter sequence, a direct homage to the games.
21:08The sequence took three months of careful planning and 14 days of shooting.
21:12With that much meticulous attention to one scene, perhaps the filmmakers overlooked everything
21:18else.
21:19Number 9.
21:20Hitman Agent 47 2007's Hitman film was a flop, garnering less
21:27than 20% on Rotten Tomatoes.
21:30So let's try again, change up the cast, etc. and now it's less than 10%.
21:42At least the original film was deemed terrible, but watchable.
21:45This film was a collage of mindless, trashy action sequences, not to mention a bore.
21:51It's unfortunate because lead actor Rupert Friend did all this homework for the role.
22:00He studied more than one fighting style, knife fighting skills, and judo, as well as performed
22:06most of his own stunts.
22:08It's a shame the rest of the crew couldn't put in as dedicated an effort to produce a
22:12quality film to compliment Friend's talents.
22:20Number 8.
22:22Double Dragon Despite it being in many 90's kids' memories,
22:26Variety's critic Brian Lowry referred to Double Dragon as quote, high-energy, low-IQ, futuristic
22:32slugfest.
22:34It depicts the story of two brothers, who share zero resemblance, you know, they were
22:46twins in the game, right?
22:48The film did feature some decent special effects, but the actors' performances were really amateurish,
22:54the dialogue campy, and the story too simplistic.
23:01One problem is that the director intended it to be for kids, although it was still given
23:05a PG-13 rating.
23:07Expectations are different in the older audience category.
23:11Keep this one in your childhood memories, don't watch it now.
23:27Number 7.
23:29Street Fighter – The Legend of Chun-Li It seems exceedingly difficult to make a decent
23:34Street Fighter film.
23:35The 2009 film made viewers wish Van Damme had made a sequel.
23:43Famed film critic Leonard Moulton claimed that Legend of Chun-Li made the original Street
23:48Fighter film seem like Citizen Kane.
23:50Oof.
23:51Contrary to some of the entries on our list, this film has no redeeming qualities.
24:03Even the fight scenes, which are often primary focus in these movies, are poorly choreographed,
24:09as is seemingly custom in the films on our list.
24:12The screenplay is also subject to ridicule.
24:15If you're a fan of the Street Fighter franchise, stick to the games.
24:30Number 6.
24:31In the Name of the King – A Dungeon Siege Tale
24:34Based on the popular Dungeon Siege games, this film boasts an abysmal rating on Rotten
24:39Tomatoes.
24:40Believe it or not, that's not even the worst score for the notoriously terrible director
24:46Uwe Boll, who typically finances his own films.
24:55This film stars Jason Statham as the farmer protagonist and a slew of desperate-for-work
25:00actors of 1990s fame.
25:03But whom, you may ask, plays the titular king?
25:06Why, Burt Reynolds, of course.
25:09Yes, Burt Reynolds.
25:10You'll regret watching this forgettable campy pile of garbage, so maybe read a book
25:19or something instead.
25:23Number 5.
25:24Super Mario Bros.
25:26Come on, now you didn't think we'd leave this one out, right?
25:30The Super Mario Bros. film is infamously terrible, with a production wrought with hardships,
25:36unhappy actors, and inexperienced directors.
25:44The studio demanded so many changes in the script that the end result was an almost non-existent
25:50plot, flashy, nonsensical scenes, and an overall experience that made us wish we were watching
25:55the TV show again.
26:03The film strays too far from the game and is bound to disappoint any Mario-phile.
26:09Celebrated thespian Bob Hoskins called it the worst thing he ever did, claiming that
26:14he and John Leguizamo would drink before and during the job in order to endure the torture.
26:26Number 4.
26:28Blood Rain.
26:292006's Blood Rain is another disaster from Uwe Boll, but still somehow not his worst.
26:35By this point, it becomes clear that adapting a simple shooter video game to the screen
26:39is a bad idea.
26:45The fight scenes are basically editing nightmares, with clearly untrained actors being cut and
26:50pasted into oblivion.
26:55Boll's decisions are most likely the problem here.
27:03The man hired actual prostitutes for one scene to save on money.
27:08The standard for this one were obviously quite low.
27:12Wait, is that Ben Kingsley?
27:14What are you doing here?
27:20Number 3.
27:21House of the Dead.
27:23This film was directed by Uwe Boll again, and there's still one on this list that ranks
27:28even higher.
27:30It never ends with this guy.
27:42House of the Dead doesn't exactly feature any known actors, contrary to some of Boll's
27:47others.
27:48It's a zombie film, with some young, reckless people fighting the undead on an island and
27:52a boat.
27:57That is all.
27:58There's no plot to be had, so fans of the actual narrative in films beware.
28:03Critic David Keyes claimed that the film made him quote, weeping for the future of the industry.
28:08Honestly, we can't really expect much more from a film based on a Sega arcade game.
28:21This is it.
28:22Uwe Boll's absolute worst video game adaptation.
28:26Honestly, we think we're being generous by only ranking it number 2.
28:33The film was intended to be released at the same time as Eden Games' Alone in the Dark
28:385.
28:39However, the studio drew back and delayed the release of the game, reworking the entire
28:44thing.
28:45Hmm, suspicious?
28:47No one likes this film.
28:49It is a brain-dead, unintentionally funny mess.
28:58The game, at least, had some scary moments.
29:02The film is just an empty waste of time.
29:04It's usually a good indication that the film will be subpar when actors you haven't really
29:09seen since the 90s headline the performances and you say, oh yeah, that guy.
29:15But still, Christian Slater deserves better than this.
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29:39Number 1.
29:40Mortal Kombat Annihilation The original Mortal Kombat film set a fairly
29:45low bar for its sequel.
29:47But the filmmakers seem to have misunderstood that you need to go above the bar, not win
29:51a limbo championship.
29:58The original film at least seemed badass, probably mostly due to the theme song.
30:03The sequel is… a thing.
30:06This film has it all.
30:08Terrible acting, unnecessary and inexplicably awful special effects, kicks and punches and
30:14punches and kicks… that pretty much sums it up.
30:19The franchise was supposed to produce three films, but this film was so bad that the third
30:24installment was cancelled.
30:30What's the worst movie based on a video game you've seen?
30:39Let us know down in the comments and don't forget to subscribe to WatchMojo.