This news has the gaming world all a-flutter. Variety announced today that Gore Verbinski is taking the director's chair for the big screen adaptation of Bioshock. Universal has the rights to the video game adaptation, which Verbinski will direct and produce. John Logan will write the screenplay, and Verbinski plans to jump into pre-production as soon as it is finished and approved.Bioshock was a hugely successful game, winning numerous awards and making a movie inevitable. And Take-Two Interactive, Bioshock's publisher, is so determined to see it onscreen that they structured the deal to make Halo like failure impossible.
The story centers on a pilot who crashes underwater at the gates of a Art-Deco themed city called Rapture. It is a utopia gone wrong, a city based on the principles of Ayn Rand, where idealism has died along with many of the city's inhabitants. The city is now populated with genetic experiments gone awry, and the pilot is forced to confront alongside issues of morality and free will.
Verbinski's a fan of the game, and obviously eager to do it justice. "I think the whole utopia-gone-wrong story that's cleverly unveiled to players is just brimming with cinematic potential. Of all the games I've played, this is one that I felt has a really strong narrative." He's particularly fond of the graphics and art deco design -- and it was Rapture's freaky characters, particularly the mechanical Big Daddys, protectors of the genetically mutated Little Sisters, that inspired him to see the game as a film.
I apologize if all the above is coming off a bit stodgy -- I will lose some geek cred here, but I haven't played a video game since Tomb Raider Chronicles. It wasn't for lack of trying, I was just too poor to afford any of the consoles and none of my friends wanted to share. So whenever a game based movie like Bioshock comes along, I am utterly clueless. However, the screen caps I have seen look fantastically creepy, the website is chilling, and I have much faith in Verbinski. Anyone who can turn a Disney ride into a damn fun movie has my vote to direct nearly anything. If you're a fan of the game, please share the gory details, and what you think about its movie prospects. And pity me for not getting to play it.
1. This movie has potential to actually be good. The reason this movie might win where others have failed is Bioshock the game has an actual honest to god good story. This is where most game to movie adaptations fail. More often than not they take a game that has sold well. More often t han not the game sold well because the gameplay mechanic was entertaining, origional, or engaging enough to be good and not because the story was worth it. Halo, GTA, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Tomb Raider, Mortal Kombat, all have a story that can be described as mundane at best.
Hitman had a shot because the game had a story that was good or at least sort of entertaining. The movie ended up sucking out loud because the removed most of the story concepts for whatever reason. In the game he was a clone, the best or latest of a new batch.
Bioshock had an an actual engaging story significantly more so than Hitman, so there is actual potential for it to be a pretty good movie. The two things that make me skeptical;
1) Hollywood's inability to stick to the origional plot of anything. I don't know if it's a problem with the writer or the studio but more often not when adapting anything the source material is ignored because someone thinks they can do it better; ignoring the fact that there must be something about the source material that made the game/book click with people and become popular enough to pop up on their radar to begin with.
2) The problem with Bioshock's story is the big twist hinges on the gameplay mechanic. It's going to be hard to address the fact that revelation not only makes you question but actually validates the linear nature of most games that have an appearance of open endedness. It's hard to go into further detail without ruining the plot for others.
Posted at 1:14PM on May 9th 2008 by Jesse