When did they make a Farcry movie?

A book can feel very much like a memory of your own story.

A movie can feel like watching or being told a great story.

A video game can feel like experiencing a story being written.

So browsing through the newest arrivals into the Netflix Instant movie stables on my 360, I saw Farcry. It should be no surprise that the title was directed by the imfamous Uwe Boll.

The opening scene only lasts about 5 minutes, watching a team of vanilla ‘solider dudes’ encounter ‘something bad’ and they all die. Within a few seconds I was treated to the line, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Funny enough though, after a moment I could almost imagine what it would be like to witness these events portrayed with polygons. I imagined creating my own point of view by adjusting the right joystick. I imagined waiting for longer than 5 minutes, like 15 minutes, letting the terror set in.

Then it seemed okay! The cheesy cliche lines, improper casting and predictable plot lines all made sense as a game. Should it have stayed that way? Probably yea.

The battle of the mediums has birthed some funny children, games that want to be as vidid and poetic as movies and books, books that try to adapt big movies and video game universes, and of course movies that try to cash in on the high install base of the rabid video game/book fan.

Movies are quick, but visual. Games are immersive and lengthy. Books are full of granular detail and require the largest commitment of time. Translating these factors is not an easy thing, and requires real adaptation and thought. Think about it.

This movie is just bad.