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Relax. The headline is more humorous than anything. There are people that are going to comment on social media without reading this article and that always makes me laugh. Truth is, I enjoyed the Resident Evil movies/shows for what they were. That’s a feeling we’ve been used to as gamers since the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie with Bob Hoskins – “enjoying it for what it is.”
If you haven’t seen the first episode of The Last of Us on HBO Max, do yourself a favor and watch it immediately. I would even say its worth the HBO Max subscription. It’s a fine example of an adaptation being loyal to the game, which we aren’t used to it as gamers. We typically get a heavily altered version of the source material. 2021’s Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City made an attempt by following the events of the first two games but failed to deliver with…everything else. Still I tried to enjoy it for what it was. The Last of Us pilot, however, proved that following game lore can be done right even down to camera shots. It’s taken away the feeling of “enjoying it for what it is” and replacing it with “expecting it for what it should be.” That’s not a bad thing! How many of you have been on headsets with your friends talking about a game that would make a great movie or TV show? How many of you have said the same line, “and you wouldn’t have to change a thing?” Don’t answer I know you have. Now change isn’t always bad, look at the Sonic the Hedgehog movies or Detective Pikachu. They weren’t exactly in line with the video games’ lore, but they were good movies that could pull in the casual movie going audience – there are exceptions to every rule.
The Last of Us is the first adapted show that I can remember that has pulled in the casual audience while sticking true to its roots. That is a game changer (I’m so sorry for that pun). HBO’s The Last of Us reminds me of when Hollywood finally got comic book movies right. When X-Men hit big, Hollywood studios grabbed every conceivable comic book property to make movies, and it took some time with various flops and blockbusters, but now our cinemas are loaded with superhero movies we only dreamed of seeing. That potential is now with video game movies/shows, and I would say a standard has been set with The Last of Us. There’s an upcoming live action Twisted Metal show, an upcoming animated Super Mario Bros. movie, live action Fallout series, Ghost of Tsushima, I could go on but my point is Hollywood is grabbing video game properties just like they did with comic books, aggressively and with recklessly throwing millions into the budgets. Which will land and which will crash-and-burn has yet to be determined, but I remember sitting in a theater watching Mortal Kombat: Annihilation saying “It’s over for video game movies.” But now, they are being given another chance and more effort is being put into them.
The Last of Us series isn’t the first adaptation to come out in recent times, mind you, but it is the first to stick the landing with the lore like it has. The 2021 Mortal Kombat movie, as fine as it was (and yes I say fine) There was no tournament! With 2022’s Halo on Paramount Plus, they specifically said does not follow the video game/book lore. While it has been ordered for a second season, it’s caused division in the Halo fanbase and the ratings for it began to dwindle as it its finale approached. Did the showrunners make a mistake? Some would say yes, while others enjoy the fact that it’s a different universe of its own. Time will tell.
It all comes down to the differences in writing for a video game versus writing for a television/movie. Video games are very hard to translate to live action form for the simple fact of gameplay. Yes, gameplay. In a video game you don’t have to let plot lines simmer or earn its moments, the player earns them through gameplay and based on that gameplay and how you got to the particular moment is where the writing is determined as a success. This is not true with every game, I understand that, and I’m sure some of you are beginning to piece your comments with examples of where I’m wrong. Again there are exceptions to the rule. For the most part though, there is a large difference in the writers’ appraoch. There’s also keeping the casual audience in mind as to not completely alienate them with what they’re seeing. For example, how would the first episode of The Last of Us come across if Joel’s daughter Sarah was 14 like she was in the game instead of 17 as hinted in the show? While the age difference isn’t vast, there is a level of maturity in 17 years old than there is in 14 years old. If the casual audience saw an independent 14-year-old some would say “Wow. Joel needs to be home more and be a better dad, Sarah could get herself hurt or worse.” Sarah being 17 gives the casual audience members the idea that Joel has been a great dad since she’s almost an adult and seems like she has a bright future ahead of her. Its this type of detail that is important in adaptation trying to nab the casual viewer.
Hollywood for a long time didn’t know how to balance the video game lore with the realistic expectation of the casual viewing audience. Some studios didn’t even try, and we can list those movies with a big LOL afterwards. The Last of Us shows a changing in the tide, a balance, and that’s the most promising thing not only about this show, but about live action adaptations of video games in the future. Hopefully there are Hollywood writers taking notes and inserting the same methods used in The Last of Us for future adaptation projects. Do the Resident Evil live actions owe us an apology? No. We appreciate them for trying. However, if effort gone into The Last of Us series can inspire new lore-focused adaptations for not only Resident Evil but other video games in the future, that would be enough to get us over our quarrels with the past.
