Leveling Down

District 9 and Kick-Ass are two great films for mature gamers now available on DVD.

My wife was out of town this past weekend, leaving me to myself. Between my time spent playing Halo: Reach and Fallout 3: GOTY, I watched a couple of films that I didn’t think she would be interested in seeing: District 9 & Kick-Ass. After having seen both, I think I was right in that she would probably found it difficult to sit through both. Both of these films were perhaps too gruesome for her, but I think any gamer will enjoy these films – provided you are old/mature enough to watch them. If you want to go in fresh when you see these films, don’t hit the jump. But…if you want to know why I think they’re so great for gamers, read on. [WARNING: SPOILERS!]

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Today is President’s Day in the United States, so we’re off (and I just woke up). I’ll use today as a short entry to recommend you gamers see the film Zombieland – especially if you’re a fan of the Left 4 Dead games. Zombies seem to be popular in both films and video games, but they’ve become very popular in video games as of late and it looks like they’re also seeing a “resurgence” in film as well.

The movie is a little on the short side, but it has a lot of humor and it’s done quite well. It’s surprising that the people who created Zombieland did not mention taking any influence from the Left 4 Dead games, since it has so many things that we’ve experienced in both Left 4 Dead games. One thing that we’ve experienced in the Left 4 Dead games that seems to also occur in Zombieland is the lack of a plot. The plot for the film is not much better than the plot for either of the Left 4 Dead games. Well – maybe a tiny bit better. But all you need to really know is that these 4 survivors are trying to make their way across the United States, which is now basically Zombieland since everyone has pretty much turned into zombies.

Zombieland really is for us gamers, as the main character is the young guy on the left in the shot above and his narration is what guides us through the film. His thoughts and mannerisms are easily identifiable for gamers, as he comes up with all sorts of rules to survive such as always checking the backseat when entering a new vehicle. We even see him spending time playing World of Warcraft in his apartment before the zombie infection begins, which is a nice little touch for fans of the game.

This honestly feels like a Left 4 Dead movie. 4 survivors come together and team up to take on a zombie horde that has ravaged America, all with their own distinct personalities and traits. I don’t want to give too much of the film away, but definitely check it out if you enjoy Left 4 Dead!

Jake Sully, the film’s human protagonist, is able to control a synthetically created Na’vi to communicate with the alien race.

We’re off today for Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday in the states, but I’ll post a short entry for those of you that are checking our site today. I got around to seeing the film Avatar in the theater with my wife this past weekend (the 3D version), and liked it a lot. It’s actually quite an entertaining film for the gamer crowd, so I wanted to mention it here that you should go see it if you haven’t yet. For the Digital 3D version, the theater gives you 3D glasses to wear through the entire film and several of the scenes appear in 3D, which is pretty interesting.

To be honest, my wife and I had no idea what the film was about, except that we’ve seen posters and it looks like some blue person and neither of us were too excited to see it. For those that want to go in fresh, don’t read any more of this entry and just go see it. But for those at least curious what the film is about, it’s a sci-fi film that revolves around humans landing on Pandora, an Earth-like moon that not only has tons of vegetation and wildlife, but another humanoid race called the Na’vi that is already living there. In order to communicate with the giant and blue-skinned Na’vi, the human scientists have figured out a way for the humans to control “synthetically created” Navi (which is why the film is called Avatar) that are a blend of human and this alien race. Basically, a human can “log in” onto their Na’vi and control the synthetic Na’vi just like they were really that alien. The storyline focuses on these human scientists trying to learn from this alien race, but at the same time, the humans have military that are not as interested in diplomatic relations. The main character, Jake Sully, is caught in the middle of all of this as a human that learns more and more about the Na’vi ways through his time spent with them.

What makes the movie such a treat for gamers is that it is has many elements found in video games today. The humans have mechs and several air units that look like Hornets and Vultures right out of the Halo universe. The two species are balaancing between diplomacy and warfare. Plus, the whole concept of the scientists going into a pod to jack into their controllable avatar is really not that much different from us gamers turning on a video-game and controlling the character we see on-screen. With most of the movie in CG, you can almost feel like you’re in a video-game world when watching the film. Some scenes are a bit groan-worthy, but overall I thought it was well worth watching – especially in the theater.

I just saw the film, Taken, this past weekend and had to mention it here. While this is primarily a video game-oriented blog, Taken is the kind of film that you should see if you’re interested in watching a video game-styled movie.

Note that I say video game-styled movie – not a video game-based one. Video games that turn into movies generally aren’t so great, with the latest ones including: Max Payne, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, Hitman, etc. The opposite is true as well, but the transition from movie to video game sometimes isn’t as bad if you don’t count all of the generic kids films.

Taken is a movie that when you watch it, you feel like it could totally be based on a video game, or a video game could be based on it. Thankfully, neither is true. Thus, we can enjoy the film for what it is: a 90 minute action gamer’s thrill ride all on film. R rating for gratuitous violence? Check. Protagonist that is not only intelligent, but a badass that doesn’t take crap from anyone? Check. Tons of action where the protagonist goes around killing dozens of bad guys without even thinking about it? Check.

In a sense, watching this movie is almost like watching someone get the Mile High Club Achievement in Call of Duty 4 without restarting – but through 90 minutes of film. Well, the first segment of the movie is not exactly action-packed, but I forgive it since it needs to set the scene for Liam Neeson to switch into the killer that even Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne may question. Definitely check it out if you’re in the mood for a thrilling film that bears many similarities to a video game without being constrained by one. Apparently it did so well that a sequel is already in the works!