After Mortal Kombat, Sonic, Dungeons & Dragons, Resident Evil and Uncharted, it's now the turn of the video game Tetris to have its film adaptation. But, unlike the previous ones, it's not the game's principle that's being adapted, but the story behind its conception. Tetris, starring Taron Egerton, will be released on Apple TV+ on March 31, 2023.
Its history is little-known. Tetrisis a video game invented by Soviet engineer Alekseï Pajitnov in 1984. It was an immediate worldwide success. Today, it remains a benchmark for gamers. But bringing it to market was a legal battle worthy of a spy movie, as told by British director Jon S. Baird(Stan & Ollie).
Our verdict
Did you know the story of Tetris? Behind the bricks and the heady music lies a veritable imbroglio between the game's copyright holders. It all began with Nintendo's creation of the Game Boy. Tetris had already been a popular arcade game for a few years when Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton), a game developer, discovered it and negotiated with Nintendo to make it the flagship game for their first handheld console.
Problem was, the game had been created by a Russian computer scientist in the middle of the Cold War, and negotiating for the rights to use it on a handheld console was mission impossible. The developer went to the USSR to try and win the battle for what he knew would be a game of immense potential, selling millions of copies.
Despite the fact that Tetris is a commissioned film with no great flights of fancy or inspiration, we can't help but enjoy discovering this bigger-than-life story. The film is scholastic, but its little 8-Bit animations are fun, as is Taron Egerton, who gives his all in this role that was close to his heart (he is also the film's producer). But the filmmaker fails to avoid the Wikipedia syndrome: throughout the first half, the film tells the story instead of showing it to us.
Tetris at least has the merit of being one of the first biopics on the history of video games, treated with immense respect. The scene in which the first Game Boy is unveiled is almost touching! But the film isn't about geeks developing revolutionary games, it's more about marketers who want to get their hands on the license, at any price. For the characters presented, it's more about big money than passion, and this lure of gain will take them far! In the USSR, where Tetris almost becomes a state affair, even Gorbachev is involved.
It's also the story of a little story within a big story, as the legal battle for the rights to Tetris in the USSR comes at a time when the Communist regime is cracking and on the verge of collapse. It's a crazy story that's worthy of a film, but we'd have preferred it if it hadn't staked everything on its crazy pitch.
The incredible story of the most popular video game of all time, and how it came to be so popular with gamers the world over. Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) discovers Tetris in 1988 and risks everything when he travels to the USSR, where he teams up with Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov), to bring the game to the world. Inspired by a true story.
