Video games and movies have completely different expectations when it comes to narrative presentation. Games have much more time to develop a world and characters than movies, while movies are usually made for a much wider audience, which is why the plots of movies based on video games tend to differ from the games they're based on.
Characters get changed beyond recognition or entirely new characters are added to introduce elements of the games to viewers who aren't familiar with the source material, e.g. Cole Young in the new Mortal Kombat movie and James Marsden's character in Sonic, or sometimes the studio or director completely misunderstand what makes the games special and end up making a formulaic mess with only minor resemblance to the original, like how the Monster Hunter movie became a military isekai.
Of course, the movie that finally seems to hit the right balance between staying true to the games while still being an entertaining movie in its own right doesn't come from Hollywood, but never did I imagine it'd be a live-action Dynasty Warriors of all things.
I won't lie, I've never cared much for Dynasty Warriors. Killing 47 brainless fodder enemies with a single button press just never appealed to me, and even the boss fights felt off because the combat system is built around attacking scores of dudes at once instead of focused one-on-one duels. Getting the platinum in Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, one of many licensed reskins developed by Omega Force, was one of the most tedious gaming experiences I've ever suffered through. But goddamn, if this trailer ain't hype as fuck!
Dynasty Warriors is a Japanese-made series loosely based on Chinese history, and considering big budget CGI action movies are all the rage there, a Hong Kong/Chinese-produced Dynasty Warriors movie makes perfect sense in theory. And in execution it looks pretty damn good as well; the stylized costume designs, the huge-scale fight scenes with flashy special movies and the heavy metal soundtrack perfectly capture the vibe of the games. No race or gender changes, no new characters creates solely for exposition, and no dumbed-down plot to make it easier for general audiences to consume; just guys twatting each other about with cool particle effects. It actually makes me want to play the games, and I don't even like them.
The movie was released in China and Hong Kong last week. A western release is still TBA, but hopefully we'll get it before long.
Are you guys fans of Dynasty Warriors? What do you think of the trailer? Would you watch it even if you aren't into the games? Let us know in the comments!
