Shadow of the Beast

Last week I heard that there is a Shadow of the Colossus movie in development and it has a director, Josh Trank, attached to it. Normally I don't pay much attention to game-to-film adaptations as they tend to have a rather terrible reputation (one well earned mind you). But SotC is a favorite game of mine and, as a result, this is the first I've heard of such an adaptation.

So in order to talk about this, let me share my thoughts on video game-to-film adaptations: It is something I have mixed feelings about. Sure they nearly always turn out to be terrible movies but consider this: Any movie can work if the effort is put into it - even to the point where any dubious origins can be ignored. Take the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie - great movie but looking at now, one wouldn't think that it was inspired by a theme park ride in Disneyland.
But ultimately though, unlike movies, books or TV series, video games hold the unique position of being a form that entertainment that requires participation form the viewer. As such there are many scenarios in a game that will never work in a movie.
Having said that however, it also works the other way. I never liked how games bill themselves as movies, or on par with movies, because that really defeats the purpose of it being a game. If you're going to make a game that requires the player to sit quietly when the action is being played out then why are you making a game? If you're billing movie-like quality to a game then why isn't it a movie? As such I have seen some games that present scenarios that could work great as a movie but fail when placed in the context of an actual game. Having said that, when is a Dreamweb movie going to get made, hrmmm?

But having got that off my chest, let's talk Shadow of the Colossus.
How on earth can one hope to make a movie out this scenario? There's only three characters in the entire game: One of which is in a comatose state and another one is an equine. There's the colossi true but whereas the game was sold on the seemingly insane principle of sixteen boss fights, making a movie out of that principle sounds impossible.
And that's not even considering the ambiguous nature of the game: When you think about it, Shadow of the Colossus presents a story but only half of it - or even less than half. So what would the movie hope to achieve with half a story? Will it explain the origins of Dormin? Describe the exact relationship between Wander and Mono? Illustrate how Emon knows Wander? Somehow having such mysteries explained for me loses their allure.

Personally if I were to make a game based movie I would do one based on those Space Marine combat games (ie Gears of War). But I'd take one of the macho space marines and then place him in a world AFTER victory has been achieved and he must learn to reconnect with the real world and function as a proper human being :)