Mass Effect games as Sci-fi

[crookeddy]

Has anyone here played the Mass Effect trilogy? Am I the only one that thinks that a movie done right could be an absolutely amazing sci-fi movie?

I mean, the universe is detailed, the characters are already fleshed out. The story is gripping. I wish I could talk about the details, but that would be spoilers.

[Bob The Skutter]

Mass Effect movie has been in the works for a while, I guess it may or may not happen but they did start developing it.

Legendary Pictures has a slate of ambitious action features headed to theaters in the coming year, from Zack Snyder's Superman pic Man of Steel to Guillermo del Toro's giant robot adventure Pacific Rim and the 300 sequel 300: Rise of the Empire. But they've struggled to crack the code on how to adapt the wildly popular videogame Mass Effect into a promising project.

The production company first snagged the movie rights to the game back in 2008, and shortly thereafter picked Mark Protosevich, who contributed to the screenplay for I Am Legend and Thor, to script their adaptation. However, a new report seems to suggest Legendary is starting from scratch once more. Variety reports assistant editor turned screenwriter Morgan Davis Foehl has been selected to take on the tricky task of translating the role-playing third person shooter game into a cohesive and exciting sci-fi action adventure.

Foehl is an up-and-comer with two scripts in development, an adaptation of the comic book Crosshair over at Summit, and a curiously titled sci-fi script titled Alien Sleeper Cell with producers Bill Block and Adrian Askarieh. He also made the illustrious Black List in 2009 with Whatever Gets You Through The Night, which follows the son of a long-time mob lawyer who must choose between prison or teaming up with man who murdered his mother. To date, none of Foehl's screenplays have been produced, but besides being a confessed Mass Effect fan, the spec scripts he has penned are said to have a strong espionage bent that should prove useful in this project.

Each version of the Mass Effect has been a bestseller, which suggests this project would have a massive marketability right out the gate. However, fans of the franchise wonder how the game—the direction of which is shaped largely by its user—will translate into a film. Set in the future, the first game followed a human space commander, leading a team of soldiers seeking to squash a vicious force of mechanized aliens that descend and destroy every 50,000 years like merciless, metal cicadas. However, there are no details on what Foehl has in mind for his adaptation.

[M'rk, son of Mogh]

I'm not overly fond of the idea of a movie.
What can the movie do that's better than the game, which YOU get to decide how you want to play?

Absolutely nothing.

[crookeddy]

M'rk, son of Mogh wrote:

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I'm not overly fond of the idea of a movie.
What can the movie do that's better than the game, which YOU get to decide how you want to play?

Absolutely nothing.

I must be a bit too old school, because I just can't see video games as a true story telling medium. I kind of feel like the story would get far more acclaim as a book or a movie.

Also, I found myself wishing to get the FPS parts over with so I could get more of the story.

[Jono]

I don't think it would be a great movie but instead just a good popcorn flick...probably a bit like Expendables In Space. If that even. I can't think of the last game-turned-movie that was any good at all.

If any film was to follow the games imagine the noise that fans would make about any decision the film Shep would make...even selecting the gender of the film Shep would see a bunch of complaining no doubt.

[Aragorn]

Seventh White Boomer wrote:

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I don't think it would be a great movie but instead just a good popcorn flick...probably a bit like Expendables In Space. If that even. I can't think of the last game-turned-movie that was any good at all.

Resident Evil makes money, but the only video game-turned-movie that seems to be held in any regard is the first Mortal Kombat.

[crookeddy]

Aragorn wrote:

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Resident Evil makes money, but the only video game-turned-movie that seems to be held in any regard is the first Mortal Kombat.

And it's not like Mortal Kombat was a difficult movie to make... Resident Evil just ignores the plot of the games. And the moves are getting worse with each sequel.

[Angel4576]

Well the first movie is supposedly going to adapt the story of the first game, hence it's probably safe to assume that subsequent movies will adapt the latter games. Huh, that should prove interesting when they try and adapt the trilogy's ending.

[Reverend]

The movie project was announced several years ago and as far as I'm aware they've made no overt progress. I honestly won't be surprised if it ends up in development hell, if it isn't already there.

Can't say as I'd be too bothered either since if they're seriously just going to adapt the main plot of the games, there'd be very little to hold my interest. I mean no matter what plot choices they go with, it's a loose loose situation for Mass Effect fans, no? For example; do they kill off Ash or Kaiden on Virmire? Either choice means one group of fans is going to be disappointed that their preferred character isn't going to be in the subsequent films.

ME2 will be a problem too as they'd either have to cut characters altogether or drastically compress the recruitments to some kind of half baked montage. Factor in the loyalty missions and you're either going to have a very unfocused plot, or next to no character development for the squadmates.

All in all I think they'd be better off making a movie based off their own original story and leave Shepard's tale in the realm of video games.

[Kegg]

^
The time spent on characters is why it'd arguably work better as a television series, I've seen people convincingly make the argument that ME2 in particular feels arced like a good season of television.

crookeddy wrote:

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I must be a bit too old school, because I just can't see video games as a true story telling medium.

And yet you liked Mass Effect enough to want it get its own film adaptation, and called the story 'gripping.' However one feels about the gameplay of the series (which I found improved markedly with ME2 after some missed calls with ME1, while ME3's multiplayer was largely frustrating) that it places so much emphasis on player choices - right from your character's gender and appearance on to their history and etics - is a major part of that story's appeal, and in itself is a good example of how 'gaming' can tell meaningful and interesting stories. (Telltale Games' surprisingly excellent Walking Dead adventure game is another example of same.)

[crookeddy]

If they just have a basic plot in the same universe, what's the point? The games pretty much established that Shepard was in the thick of almost every important event. The movie would just be a re-imagining of one person's playthrough.

[JD]

I really don't see the need to do a direct adaptation of the games' stories myself. The games tell the story very well, and in a much more interesting way than a movie ever could. Now, I would love to see a movie or TV series set in the universe, I rank it right up there with the 3 Stars (Trek, Wars, and Gate) as one of my favorite sci-fi universes.

To be completely honest, at this point doing movie adaptations of games is kind of pointless IMO. In this day and age the games are pretty much telling movie quality stories just as well, if not better in some cases, than movies themselves. At this point I would gladly put any of the Uncharteds up there with Raiders of the Lost Ark, and any of the Mass Effects up there with Empire Strikes Back and Wrath of Kahn.

[Drago-Kazov]

Mods, please give this thread the title ME Paragon Lost and let's discuss that since it's almost out.

[Kegg]

^
Wouldn't that be better suited to the Mass Effect thread in the game forums? This is about Mass Effect as a potential film (or series of films).

[Reverend]

Drago-Kazov wrote:

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Mods, please give this thread the title ME Paragon Lost and let's discuss that since it's almost out.

Or you could just make a new thread, no?

Kegg wrote:

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^
The time spent on characters is why it'd arguably work better as a television series, I've seen people convincingly make the argument that ME2 in particular feels arced like a good season of television.

And yet you liked Mass Effect enough to want it get its own film adaptation, and called the story 'gripping.' However one feels about the gameplay of the series (which I found improved markedly with ME2 after some missed calls with ME1, while ME3's multiplayer was largely frustrating) that it places so much emphasis on player choices - right from your character's gender and appearance on to their history and etics - is a major part of that story's appeal, and in itself is a good example of how 'gaming' can tell meaningful and interesting stories. (Telltale Games' surprisingly excellent Walking Dead adventure game is another example of same.)

I hadn't considered a TV show and you're right, from a pacing standpoint it would be a better fit. Still, I stand by my dislike for a retelling of Shepard's story. Since you mentioned 'The Walking Dead', I think right there is an excellent example of an existing IP being adapted into a different medium--two, in point of fact--and being able to remain faithful to the source while telling a unique story. More so with the game, but even the TV show has already gone it's own way on numerous occasions and so far all for the good.

Like just about any good IP, there's ample room in the Mass Effect universe for any number of new stories not directly tied to the central plot of the games. Take Star Wars for example, the game with the highest regard among fans is KotOR, which has *nothing* whatsoever to do with the plot of any of the films. Opinions vary of coruse, but from what I can tell the X-Wing novels are also considered the best of the medium and again, aside from the odd cameo and the presence of a three time background character, nothing to do with the films beyond the setting.