Shadow of the Colossus Hits The Big Screen

[Kevka]

I'm a little more dead inside than I was this morning. Hooray for depressing news.

Someone mentioned that they thought that Watchmen didn't work as a movie. I disagree, but that doesn't help me get any more excited about this movie because of the writer involved.

Unless Hollywood manages to find exceptional writers and a director who knows, and loves, the source material, this movie will not work.

I'll still go see it though, even though I hate funerals.

 

[O maestre]

Lord of the rings esque? this is going to not only fail but miss the point and atmosphere of the game entirely, they should leave the plot unexplained and for the love of (enter deity here) maintain the utter sense of complete loneliness that the game so masterfully captured, throughout the entire game the only contact you had was with your horse and the colossi, the rest was just open plains deserted of pretty much all other sentient life.

the appeal of shadow of the colossus was the mystery of everything that happened, like a weird dream or a david lynch movie. the experience was awesome but there was nothing tangible or understandable.

either that or they should approach it in the same manner of a folk tale, which shadow of the colossus easily could have been inspired by. like a folk tale the setting of the game was all important, and the entire place seemed timeless, much like folk tales, they happened a long time ago but nothing concrete.

i feel as if ive just been told that someone was going to cock slap me and there was nothing i can do about it. it is not that the cock slap would harm, damage or kill me but it's still a fucking insult if not the worst fucking insult in existence!

 

[shMerker]

At this point, I'm required to ask...why are we butchering games for a few bucks to throw down at the movie theatres?

That's a very interesting question. Maybe it has something to do with this:

I'll still go see it though, even though I hate funerals.

Moving on

I hear that the game was pretty good; I've been looking for a copy of the game forever.

I'm just saying that from first impressions, it seems very possible to make a movie based on a guy fighting some bigger guys.

I'm just joking around about the sacred status the game has acquired. I think the prevailing feeling is something like, nobody was really angry about the idea of a Halo or Gears of War movie because at their hearts they're basically big dumb action movies. On the other hand Shadow of The Colossus is an adventure, but it has an emotional quality that really connected with a lot of players. It's more fairy tale than action adventure and a treatment that really was just "man kills giants" lacks the subtlety and ambiguity that the game had. And then there's also the feeling that there's not really anything a film could add. The game is already visually stunning and has an excellent score. Meanwhile a lot of the game's emotional impact came from the player's direct involvement in the action, something that simply can't be done in a film.

By the way the game can be purchased online all over the place. Anywhere that still carries PS2 games will also probably have it since there was a "greatest hits" reprint of it. It is not a difficult game to find and it costs $20 new.

 

[almaster88]

50 cent gonna play the main guy in saints row? He already has his own third-person video game like saints row but more racist.

Plus he cant act

 

[O maestre]

As someone who hasn't played the game yet, I could see it working.

Hero guy on horse slaying gigantic demons of doom? Add a MacGuffin here, a few characters there and an intriguing story in between, and you have a movie!

Mind you, I have no idea what the game is about.

Look, I know you don't know what you just said, but just get out. Now. No no, don't worry about getting your things, we'll handle that. You just really need to leave right now.

I hear that the game was pretty good; I've been looking for a copy of the game forever.

I'm just saying that from first impressions, it seems very possible to make a movie based on a guy fighting some bigger guys.

yeah but is that truly why you think that the game has such high acclaim? what you described is a mediocre game and a mediocre movie, which yes could work, and might work very well indeed. however there have been a ton of mediocre games on the ps2 why is this one being singled out for a movie shot especially since it has not sold as much(relatively) as other games, a game that has an incredibly simple combat system that has little variation.

why on earth would it have any acclaim? well because the game is in my opinion the closest thing to "art" or rather one of the closest things in the game world which has been able to invoke an emotional and in some way a spiritual response from people, like art(impressionism in this case).

please try the game, i know it is kind of difficult to acquire in now a days where the ps2 is slowly turning into an antique. and please refrain from feeling put off by how strongly i personally feel about this game, it is just that while most games try to balance art, gameplay, plot and "gimmicks" this game has almost completely devoted itself to the artistic(and the gimmicky of course), it's not that it is a game for smug people to feel even more smug, it's just that you sometimes can compare a spoon and a knife, and sometimes even exchange each others roles, this game isn't even cutlery, and to treat it as such would ruin the entire purpose of the game.

much like what happened recently to the story of I am Legend when it was made into a film it missed the point entirely and instead focused on one guy fighting a bunch of zombies.

shadow of colossus is even easier to screw up because there was essentially no concrete plot the experience relied solely on what impressions the game gave to the player and how the player would choose to interpret them

 

[O maestre]

At this point, I'm required to ask...why are we butchering games for a few bucks to throw down at the movie theatres?

That's a very interesting question. Maybe it has something to do with this:

I'll still go see it though, even though I hate funerals.

Moving on

I hear that the game was pretty good; I've been looking for a copy of the game forever.

I'm just saying that from first impressions, it seems very possible to make a movie based on a guy fighting some bigger guys.

I'm just joking around about the sacred status the game has acquired. I think the prevailing feeling is something like, nobody was really angry about the idea of a Halo or Gears of War movie because at their hearts they're basically big dumb action movies. On the other hand Shadow of The Colossus is an adventure, but it has an emotional quality that really connected with a lot of players. It's more fairy tale than action adventure and a treatment that really was just "man kills giants" lacks the subtlety and ambiguity that the game had. And then there's also the feeling that there's not really anything a film could add. The game is already visually stunning and has an excellent score. Meanwhile a lot of the game's emotional impact came from the player's direct involvement in the action, something that simply can't be done in a film.

By the way the game can be purchased online all over the place. Anywhere that still carries PS2 games will also probably have it since there was a "greatest hits" reprint of it. It is not a difficult game to find and it costs $20 new.

exactly my sentiment (especially that it is more like a fairy tale). there is not a single thing i would want to change about the game, except of course the gameplay.

however i do believe it could be recreated in on film, it would of course be an almost utterly silent film, it should be a film focusing more on the images and the atmosphere and the action of course, rather than forcing a red thread through the movie

 

[Red Right Hand]

....
........
.............
I am currently attempting to think of a way in which this will NOT fail. However: SotC was very cinematic, so I suppose in the right hands it could turn out ok. Maybe?

The key word there is right hands... and I really don't think the guy who made that awful Chun Li movie has them

The only director that could pull it off well would have to be Jesus himself.

 

[THEMANWHOIS]

I'm more interested in the fact that he's remaking 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

For Disney though? I loved that story, and the original film believe it or not, but if it's gonna be a Disney film, I have a sinking feeling that they're going to turn it into something like Journey to the Center of the Earth, that monstrosity with Brendan Fraser. I hope I'm wrong though.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

Why do I got a bad feeling that I'll be wasting 20 bucks on movie tickets.

Wut? $20? And I thought our $5 is a lot.

Your forgetting Popcorn,snacks, and most likely I'll see this with some friends and (Being the one with a job) I'll have to pay for at least one of them.

 

[Nova Tendril]

I'm more interested in the fact that he's remaking 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

For Disney though? I loved that story, and the original film believe it or not, but if it's gonna be a Disney film, I have a sinking feeling that they're going to turn it into something like Journey to the Center of the Earth, that monstrosity with Brendan Fraser. I hope I'm wrong though.

I in no way think that the movie will be good. I'm just interested in the fact that they would actually remake it.

 

[pigeon_of_doom]

This movie will be nothing but an insult to the game and gamers in general.

That, more or less. It undermines gaming to try and adapt Shadow of the Colossus as some kind of LOTRs style epic, and I can guarantee that director will not be able to capture any of the games elegance and ambience. I think that the game could be adapted as an arty flick (as others has stated), but they appear to be appealing to the stereotypical nerd audience, completely disrespecting the source material and the fans themselves, of whom many won't be interested in this adaption.

 

[Abedeus]

Why do I got a bad feeling that I'll be wasting 20 bucks on movie tickets.

Wut? $20? And I thought our $5 is a lot.

Your forgetting Popcorn,snacks, and most likely I'll see this with some friends and (Being the one with a job) I'll have to pay for at least one of them.

I don't get it, why people bring food to the cinema. It's gone after 30 minutes, and it often costs half the ticket... At least in Poland. It's actually much better to buy popcorn in a store, then heat it in a microwave. You have more, cheaper and you don't waste cash.

 

[Shycte]

Loved the game.

The movie will blow, BIG

 

[Jumplion]

This is the gaming equivalent of making a movie of Watchmen.

Go fuck yourself Hollywood. Some things really don't work as movies.

Isn't that what they said about, oh, I dunno, Watchmen?

Umm...Yes. Thats why the movie didn't work.

Really? I've heard opposite and that it was a pretty good movie adaptation from the comic. I've seen it myself and I liked it. Never read the comic though.

 

[Vlane]

Please don't do it. You would have to destroy what the game is about: loneliness and silence. Shadow of the Colossus almost has no dialogue and if you add dialogue it's not the same.

Edit: And why do you even get a writer. The game has about 50 sentences (maybe not even that much). You don't need a writer for that. The material is already there.

 

[Anachronism]

Why?! Why must Hollywood ruin everything? Is nothing sacred?

SotC is one of my favourite games of all time, and I know they will screw this up.

*cries in a corner*

 

[Byrthnoth]

As awesome as the game was, there's no way it can work on the screen. The game was a singular experience, no one besides your character, the dark voices in the temple and your horse for company as you go about killing titans... Hollywood can't have that, Hollywood needs other characters to talk to and cut-aways to other characters to keep it interesting. If they keep it true to the game, you'd have just as much fun (if not more) just watching someone play the game... if they adapt it (as they will), it'll come out more like the "Silent Hill" movie.

I totally agree, and therefore imagine that the film is going to end up being quite a different animal from the game. It would be strange if the film achieved critical acclaim. Don't forget that the film will be aimed at a larger audience than just gamers. It could be possible that bare fragments of the original concept will be spliced together to turn it into quite a popular film, but I think gamers will still be sobbing in the aisles. As someone else said, the game is more like a piece of art in places.

 

[Anachronism]

I think gamers will still be sobbing in the aisles.

I know I will. Especially if they make it into an LotR-style film. It would completely kill the sense of isolation that was so important in the game.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

"Lord of the Rings-style fantasy tentpole."

OK... i think the answer to wheter or not this will be good or not is clear.

There is no way they can make a movie on this and hope for it to make it to cinema while still being faithful to its source. They might as well try to make a blockbuster out of a poem.

IT WONT WORK. It will end up as some diluted garbage. Maybe... just maybe, if they forgo all typical hollywood trappings, make it a subtitled film with the fictional language (apocalypto was a good movie and it was all subtitled, altough the language was real), avoid unnecessary dialogue sequences as to let the viewers figure out the plot for themselves and blah blah blah...

that wont happen... They're going to squeeze this 4-5 hour interactive poetry into a 2 hour stream of cat scutter with frilly bits thrown in for the dipshits.