Rating: 6.5/10
Verdict: It's an entry-level, unfocused look at video games, but tries to convince us that it's more. Gamers will most likely already be too familiar with what is being said to feel like they're learning anything new because it doesn't add much to the conversation. For those who may not be as knowledgeable on video games, this could be an informative watch despite the lack of depth.
Here on On The Gamely, I cover video games. Once in a while though, I will review something from a different medium so long as it relates to games. I've done a review or two on books that were about games, and now I'm premiering the first ever movie review on this blog. How fitting it is then, that it's a movie about the art form as a whole and not a particular game or aspect of gaming. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great experience.
When Video Games: The Movie starts, we are given a bunch of video game footage. A lot of these games are old, some very old, but it is used to set the tone, to show us where we began. After that, we are given an information dump -- a bunch of statistics on things such as what percentage of each sex plays games, for example. It's dry and it's not really how I would have started a movie that is meant to be a love letter to games.
In fact, the main problem I have with it is that it's basically Video Games 101. Part of the problem is with the director/writer himself, part of it is due to the fact that gaming, at this point, is too huge an industry to generalize in a movie that spans an hour and forty minutes. If it was explicitly stated that the movie is a beginners guide to gaming, then I would have less of a problem, but it gets lost in an identity crisis. Is it an entry level look at games? Or is it meant for the people who probably already know most of what they're talking about -- the gamers? This is a problem throughout.
If you are an outsider looking it, it's probably relatively informative. It touches briefly on what goes into making a game, gives a look of the evolution of games, and there are talking heads discussing how much they love games. It mentions gaming as an art form and the controversies that have plagued the industry for a long time. What gamer can forget all the studies we've had that "prove" that games make kids violent? It's a decent, yet extremely general, look at video games. I never felt like I was learning anything, but I'm sure non-gamers would.
In defense of the movie (yes, against myself), it's extremely difficult to take a subject like this and tackle it effectively. Because video games are a very forward, fast moving medium, it'd be incredibly frustrating to try to make a movie that documents all of that. The movie needed more focus. I would have preferred a movie that dissected certain aspects well rather than one that only briefly mentions topics that need more time than they were given.
The lack of focus extends towards how it's organized. The movie jumps around way too much, trying to juxtapose things that shouldn't be connected. It has a real issue with tone because of that, and it doesn't help that they'll mention something only to go back to it ten minutes later after they've discussed something else. It's not that it's hard to follow, it just messes with the flow of the entire film. The transitions are often messy, and there's very little consistency, which really dampens the overall experience. This is a passion project, and at times this shines through, but it's clumsily put together and has a hard time getting that passion over on its audience.
It's not a terrible documentary, but I wish it was put together better and was more sure of itself. There are moments that just make it feel insecure. This is a problem that bleeds into what I said above -- it doesn't know who it's for. Why should it have to justify gaming if it's meant for the people who already love games? Just go that extra mile and give us the love letter that it teases. If it's not meant for the serious gamer who already has knowledge on the subject, then ride with that.
As it stands, it's just too confused to be a great movie. Despite it's organizational issues and its sometimes dry nature, it manages to land firmly in the "pretty good" category. It is a broad, far-reaching attempt to shine light on something that may be a baby compared to other art forms, but it fails to add any real substance to the conversation. But hey, at least the DLC will fix it... right?
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