As we’re seeing superhero films flounder under audience fatigue, there’s a new subsect of IP being explored in a particularly exciting fashion; and it has nothing to do with sequels either! (Although, given how well received Creed III, Scream VI, and John Wick: Chapter 4 have all been, sometimes following through on existing titles isn’t always a bad thing).
Air Jordan sneakers (Ben Affleck’s forthcoming Air) and the creation of Cheetos (SXSW winner Flamin’ Hot) are just two of the corporate brands being given the cinematic treatment, and akin to David Fincher’s biographical Facebook drama The Social Network, Jon S. Baird‘s Tetris is a far more involving and thrilling tale than what many will assume when it comes to the creation and distribution of one of the world’s most popular, addictive games.
Set in the late 1980’s, Tetris centres itself around Henk Rodgers (Taron Egerton), a fast-talking, persuasive-enough software developer who discovers the “Tetris” game at a tradeshow. He’s in considerable debt, but believes he has found the next revolutionary model in gaming, so he re-mortgages his house (the confidence!) and secures the Japanese rights in the process. Henk believes his life is about to change for the better when he manages a meeting with Nintendo, and in doing so is brought face to face with an unreleased Game Boy console where he is presented the offer that his game will be pre-packaged with the eventual launch.
What should’ve been the simplest of transactions turns ugly when Henk realises that handheld rights for “Tetris” were never purchased from those he met with at Nintendo, leading him to track down a series of corporate heads who, similarly, never legally secured any worldwide rights either. From here, Henk ups it to the Soviet Union in hopes of striking a deal with the original manufacturers, but travelling to such a communist state (remember, this is the 1980’s) without proper visa documentation puts him under a microscope he may not be able to charm his way out of.
Shady KGB operatives and entitled moguls start dancing around Noak Pink‘s script, with the film surprisingly moving into an espionage-laced thriller mentality that is fascinating to watch unfold, but can’t help but also feel at a little bit of odds with what has come prior; especially when the initial sequences adopt an 8-bit video game graphic style to assist in expressing the film’s period quirkiness.
As tonally uneven Tetris may be, there’s no denying it’s still an entirely fascinating story; one that’s more interesting and involved than I expect most people will assume for something as trivial as a game of “Tetris”. Throughout it all though, Egerton keeps the film gliding along at a watchable pace. He’s so effortlessly charming and likeable – even when his character makes incredibly frustrating moves – that any flaws there are in a rogue brick or two landing out of place are easily smoothed over by a series of calculated moves that puts the game back on track.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Watch Tetris globally on the Apple TV app, from 31st March 2023.
