I guess the possibility for a Portal movie is way more controversial than a Half-Life movie, because Portal is considered by many to be the pinacle of video gaming/interactive storytelling: it's short but leaves an impact, it has one mechanic that it greatly develops, it has atmosphere, identity and lots of polish.
Why should we care? Portal is as a movie something that legitimely has never been done before in cinema; hero rescuing princess, two kingdoms fight, journey across the land, magic portal between two dimensions, all of that have been done before with goods and bads each, always sticking to the formula, but Portal is different, it's thought-provoking, hard to categorize and it's one of those games (Uncharted, Bioshock, etc.) that has high chances of working due do it almost being a movie itself. How to translate that into the big screen?
I think plot would be the easiest, when we start we know as much as Chell and we're promised answers [and cake] at the end of it, there, we have a motivation and reason to get the plot moving as the secrets unravel. With that said, Chell is alone and GLaDOS will be the one to do most of the talking, they will likely have to rewrite that to make Chell have more interaction with maybe the Companion Cube or the other robots, because an hour of Chell silently solving Portal puzzles is not good neither in paper nor in practice. Artistic liberties are definitely going to happen or else it will go down the FF: Spirits Within route of "too much talking, not enough showing".
Then it would come down to main thing: Portals themselves. Check ou this video where the guys at Corridor show some impressive stuff that could be done:
Comedic value aside, that was really good, much like the game they toy around with perspective, making something really interesting, make a scene where Chell learns how to use Portals properly and let some hijinks ensue, then escalate to some more calculated setpieces.
All things considered, this might actually work. The plot is relatively simple for audiences to follow, the capture of atmosphere and feel is doable [I hate this word] and camerawork and perspective could be everything to make Portals something interesting to watch as much as it is to play as. I just hope that they give it to someone that doesn't shout "The Cake is a Lie" whenever he is asked about the most memorable thing in Portal, but then again, this meme may be the reasone people will go see it. I'm optimistic about this one, didn't really care for Warcraft or Ratchet and Clank as those kinds of stories had been done somewhere before, but I see potential here.
Why should we care? Portal is as a movie something that legitimely has never been done before in cinema; hero rescuing princess, two kingdoms fight, journey across the land, magic portal between two dimensions, all of that have been done before with goods and bads each, always sticking to the formula, but Portal is different, it's thought-provoking, hard to categorize and it's one of those games (Uncharted, Bioshock, etc.) that has high chances of working due do it almost being a movie itself. How to translate that into the big screen?
I think plot would be the easiest, when we start we know as much as Chell and we're promised answers [and cake] at the end of it, there, we have a motivation and reason to get the plot moving as the secrets unravel. With that said, Chell is alone and GLaDOS will be the one to do most of the talking, they will likely have to rewrite that to make Chell have more interaction with maybe the Companion Cube or the other robots, because an hour of Chell silently solving Portal puzzles is not good neither in paper nor in practice. Artistic liberties are definitely going to happen or else it will go down the FF: Spirits Within route of "too much talking, not enough showing".
Then it would come down to main thing: Portals themselves. Check ou this video where the guys at Corridor show some impressive stuff that could be done:
Comedic value aside, that was really good, much like the game they toy around with perspective, making something really interesting, make a scene where Chell learns how to use Portals properly and let some hijinks ensue, then escalate to some more calculated setpieces.
All things considered, this might actually work. The plot is relatively simple for audiences to follow, the capture of atmosphere and feel is doable [I hate this word] and camerawork and perspective could be everything to make Portals something interesting to watch as much as it is to play as. I just hope that they give it to someone that doesn't shout "The Cake is a Lie" whenever he is asked about the most memorable thing in Portal, but then again, this meme may be the reasone people will go see it. I'm optimistic about this one, didn't really care for Warcraft or Ratchet and Clank as those kinds of stories had been done somewhere before, but I see potential here.
