Mass Effect Movie. Thoughts, hopes, fears?

Well, ME3 came out, and the game was 98% win
and then there was the last 15 minutes...no comment on that as it is a complex topic...

Anyhow

Mass Effect, The Movie
Is actually due to come out I believe this year (2012 (unconfirmed date))

First my view on the pros
The company behind this (Legendary) is actually a good company. They do some justice to movies they make, such as Watchman, 300, Inception, Titans stuff, The Dark Knight, etc...basically they do good work
full list Here

So, the company is good. ok, great. Personally, I would prefer Peter Jackson to be directing it, as he would demand 3 hours just for 1 part of the film...but I guess he was busy.

Second pro
If it is done well (chances are, as a stand alone movie, it will be awesome) then it may push the mass effect franchise to star trek level fandom (or higher considering its a hell of a lot more trendy) Personally, I would prefer a HBO "game of thrones" style series verses a movie, but meh, what do I know...still trying to talk pros here

Third:
By having a expanding fan base, it will ensure future titles of the franchise..and perhaps an expanded development base for faster turnout (this is both a pro and a con however).


Cons:
First:
A movie? seriously? ok..sure...do a movie, but don't do it about an actual existing plotline that is already in a game..do a prequel! Nope...its loosely based off the original Mass Effect (go get Saren)...no mention of reapers (how can they possibly tie all this in without reapers?!) And, even if its a 12 hour movie, it will still be fluff to anyone whom has played the game.
Yes, I know...like books, games will always trump any movie adaptation...so its more of a "look and feel" verses a true experience, but still...your taking an epic poem and reducing it to a catch phrase

I won't complain too much here. My expectations are soo low that I am hopeful it simply captures the essence enough to make people interested in the franchise...if they try to do too much, it will however cheapen it.

Second:
Seth Green is not a shoe in for joker
ok, now if Legendary is even halfway sane, then yes, they will at least give this bone to the fans...and I can understand how they may not commit to naming names yet, but the overall issue is casting here. Joker is oddly enough the most critical make or break part of this, and having anyone but Seth play Joker would be a simple slap in the face to all the fans. Shep? meh..get that dude from Avatar..Frankly, I am fine if they just got Mark Meer to play the role..Grow a bit of scruff and shave the head..sorted. you can custom make shep anyhow, so getting him spot on isn't critical, the presence is more important, and Mark is an actual fan of the series, and a proper actor anyhow, so sure...
But ya...casting...my god, I hope they go with actual feel here verses trendy (However, Sookie could play a Krogan...)

Third:
With popularity comes fluff.
The worst case scenerio is they become victims of success..that soo many new lesser minds start buying the games after the movie, and find it all hard and complicated, what with the decisions and such, and voice their complaints, making future titles progressively dumbed down and shot out like a corporate machine verses an artistic vision.

Lord of the Rings had this issue...great book, good movies, and a series of horrible video games just to soak up any profits...most being made of fail (I will admit a bit of love for the battle for middle earth games though).

Forth:
Seth Green may not be joker
Just felt this is important enough to state twice!!!

Fifth:
Plot. The movie is going to be a success. A good space movie is always loved by the world. Star Wars, the latest Star Trek movie, etc..This is going to blow the socks off of the space fans out there..but with no lead in, what will happen?
Here is what it says:

Will it be a trilogy?

We are really focused on making this a great movie, so we'll see where it takes us. We have to get the first one right to know whether there will be more.

Although a sensible corporate view, that means there is no overarching cliffhangers or anything of the like planned (ahem...reapers...). So great...we get some space soldier going after a single bad guy...no ring of power, no Mordor growing in strength, etc...nothing...we got a cop V a robber.
How can you make Mass Effect that stands on a single movie and get even the look/feel of Shepherd right without this massive threat bearing down on the galaxy that is slow to wake up?!! I sense fail here..
I think Legendary is screwing up here...they need to plan on its success, and state it will be at least a 3 part movie (or more frankly)

Else your just doing sidequests!

Will there even be an illusive man?!

Anyhow, just my thoughts about it. I put this in the video games section because even though its a discussion about a movie, its based on a popular video game franchise..so, not fully sure where it is to go.

Whats your hopes and concerns about it?!

(if they make a second one, I do hope they cast Tricia Helfer (BSG's Six (the hot blonde)) as EDI)

Sources:
Legendary Entertainment's questions
Review discussion. Some incorrect info(no comment on joker does not mean no

reply to post by SaturnFX


If Seth Green is not Joker, I will not watch it. As far as Shepard goes, I originally heard Mathew Fox was going to play him. I actually think that would work as he's got that same whiny voice that the iconic Commander Shepard has. That whiny voice is why I always play my customized chick. Her voice is waaaay cooler.

That is also why, no matter who is Shepard, I won't be able to relate to him since Shepard (to me) is a hot goth chick with a snarky attitude.

A mass effect movie? That's awesome although im still waiting for that add on for the ending to ME3, but I wont derail the thread with all that lol.

There is so much material there, in the Mass Effect realm, that I couldn't possibly see how one movie can get it right and show all that there is to it..does that make sense? I dont know, I don't think it's a good idea because if they don't get it right its' going to piss a lot of people off because the fan base is passionate about the trilogy.

What I would like to see is the movie focus on the events that happened during the first contact war with the Turians, or when humankind found the artifacts on Mars. That way you have a movie that leads up to the video game trilogy rather than a movie trying to compile a video game trilogy.

What's great though is that they still are trying to sell this story in various ways..I hope that means more great video games in the future.

Originally posted by Cuervo
reply to post by SaturnFX

 

If Seth Green is not Joker, I will not watch it. As far as Shepard goes, I originally heard Mathew Fox was going to play him. I actually think that would work as he's got that same whiny voice that the iconic Commander Shepard has. That whiny voice is why I always play my customized chick. Her voice is waaaay cooler.

That is also why, no matter who is Shepard, I won't be able to relate to him since Shepard (to me) is a hot goth chick with a snarky attitude.

I will watch it, and I just know I will be grinding my teeth through a lot of it.
Its the issue of reading a book before going to watch the movie...that way you are totally disappointed in it.
However, the opposite way typically works great.

So, I am trying to prepare myself that its not the game they are doing, but just trying to give the people a general taste of what ME is, in the hopes that they will go buy it after...and on that I will judge the movie, not how close they came to getting the details right..

Still going to have some cringing moments no doubt..hopefully it will be minimal.

Methinks it will be total epicness. It must be.

BTW. The Illusive man kinda looks like...Tom Cruise:

Originally posted by anno141
Methinks it will be total epicness. It must be.

BTW. The Illusive man kinda looks like...Tom Cruise:

edit on 15-5-2012 by anno141 because: (no reason given)

Maybe.
But I think his voice is too dug in. Martin Sheen seems to be a good fit (might have to darken his hair a bit, flush out some of the wrinkles, he is ultimately a smoking, drinking, womanizer (according to the shadow brokers file on him)...can't be too old.
But the voice is just too familiar and sort of perfect for the role..

Then again, I might be pressing too much of my game desire into the possible cast.

Frankly, everyone is open for debate except for Joker...Seth Green or its a flop...

ugh video games into movies always sounds like a good idea but then they suck to all the game fans and creates a whole new dumbed down fan.

resident evil games on ps1 were epic. movies sucked. liked mila jovovich until this movie.
tomb raider also great. sucked as a movie although they did get a good guy to play the butler. still like jolie though.
final fantasy 7 was the most awesome game i played. as a movie i think spirits within was much better than the ff7 movie.
max payne. i kinda enjoyed the game but not the movie.
street fighter
mario brothers

im all for more mass effect but i don't think movies are the best way.

Originally posted by listerofsmeg
ugh video games into movies always sounds like a good idea but then they suck to all the game fans and creates a whole new dumbed down fan.

resident evil games on ps1 were epic. movies sucked. liked mila jovovich until this movie.
tomb raider also great. sucked as a movie although they did get a good guy to play the butler. still like jolie though.
final fantasy 7 was the most awesome game i played. as a movie i think spirits within was much better than the ff7 movie.
max payne. i kinda enjoyed the game but not the movie.
street fighter
mario brothers

im all for more mass effect but i don't think movies are the best way.

Although I sort of agree in premise
I do take some issue overall with the whole "the resident evil movies suck" stuff.

I played RE1 the day it came out on the PS. It was flipping amazing.
Later on, the movie came out...was it the game? nope..but, it captured enough of the games "feel" to get into it.

Frankly, I now prefer the movies over the games..the games went off into strangeland, whereas the movies kept with a flow.

Tomb Raiders movies...pretty alright. I think lots of people go in wanting to see their actual game playthrough on the screen and anything less is made of fail...but if you go in wanting to just have a "feel" for the atmosphere the movie is based off of, then you can do a much better judgement of the movie in question.

My biggest worries about this is...its the story about Shepherd going after Saren. Which is fine...thats what ME1 was about at a certain level, but, will there be geth in there? more importantly, will there be hints of the Reapers? that is the core of the franchise (to date anyhow). Mass Effect is not about a space cowboy going after a criminal..its a overarching theme of man V machine. The different people involved are ultimately inconsequencial outside of some fun action.
So, if they establish the overarching theme of the coming doom, then it might be alright.
If they make it a space cowboy taking down bad guys feel..then ya...I wont be thrilled.

I'm a huge ME fangirl and I'm really looking forward to the movie. It won't be released this year- they only gave a script and executive producers so far, there isn't even a guarantee the movie will be made (yes, I know that's a sad thing to say, and chances are it will be made, but until pre-production starts we can't be certain).

And fir the record, I'll take Mark Meer as Commander Sexy....oops, I mean Shepard, and Emilio Estevez as TIM

reply to post by anno141


As awesome as all the other video game movies, that started out with lots of promisses, hope and hype and in the end it was a total disaster?
The same things you people here say "Ooooh it will be awesome" "they can't # it up" has been said about every movie before: Max Payne, Hitman, the Resident Evil movies, Silent Hill, Doom...and they all sucked.

It will be the same with Mass Effect, the movie studio will force changes to make the movie interesting for the non-gaming audience.

Don't get your hopes up...especially since Bioware is owned by EA

They gotta use the gal that did Tali's voice AS Tali, or I won't watch... *drool*

Terrible idea... just no. Lets not take what was once great and slam it into the ground even more so. Talk about adding insult to injury.