Ratchet & Clank Go Hollywood--Can It Possibly End Well?

Steve Anderson : End Game
Steve Anderson
The Video Store Guy
| The video game industry has gone from a mole hill to a mountain in no time flat, Chris DiMarco is your Sherpa as you endeavor to scale Mount “Everquest”

Ratchet & Clank Go Hollywood--Can It Possibly End Well?

A new report has emerged saying that a new video game franchise is about to get a theatrical release, set to release in 2015. The title in question, coming from Blockade Entertainment and Rainmaker Entertainment, is no less than "Ratchet and Clank," one of the biggest franchises in the Sony family. But can it beat the common curse of the video game movie? Moreover, can it be part of a new generation in video game movie: the good generation?

Let's face it, most video game movies have not ended well. The Double Dragon movie, most any Street Fighter movie (the one with Raul Julia wasn't half bad, mostly because Raul Julia was in it and was clearly having the time of his life as M. Bison), Wing Commander, that horrendous Super Mario Brothers movie...all terrible.

But there have been some high points in the subgenre that do bear noting. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time pulled in over $335 million, just at the box office. The Tomb Raider movies did almost disturbingly well, and the Resident Evil series is still running. The Japanese animated versions are even better. The Silent Hill titles were hardly slouches, and the gaming influence carries on from there.

More recently, the idea of animated adaptations of games has continued on, showing up in things like the Dead Space series, as well as the Dragon Age line, with varying degrees of success.

The thing about game-based movies is that they're much like any other movie, and require essentially the same elements in order to be truly good. They need a good script, sound characters, good acting--voice or otherwise--and good effects. Thankfully, games already come with good characters--Ratchet and Clank certainly qualify, as people are quite fond of that duo already--but all that's left is to make a sound overall script. Given that the Ratchet and Clank is written by Insomniac's own TJ Fixman, the script should be just as sound as any game's normally would be.

With a good amount of investment behind it to ensure that the visual effects would be as good as they would be in, say, a video game cut scene, it's entirely possible that this newly animated adventure of Ratchet and Clank would end reasonably well. In fact, it's not out of line to suggest that it could be good after all. A good companion movie would likely draw new attention to the game itself and serve as a marketing tool.

Sony needs some hits right now, be they movies or be they video games, and managing to do both by using the intellectual property in a whole new way may just be exactly what the beleaguered company needs. Only time will tell if the extra push gives Sony the boost it needs, but a good quality Ratchet and Clank installment should help.
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