Jack Black recently expressed how he can't believe that GTA and Red Dead Redemption never received a movie adaptation... But he's missing the point of why there are games to begin with.
Red Dead Redemption and GTA are Rockstar's babies and probably two of the most successful game franchises ever. But what if you could experience Arthur's or Michael's story in the form of a movie? Jack Black recently expressed his surprise that Rockstar Games, the creators of the popular games series' have not yet turned their games into films. But we, and many others, disagree.
Why We Don't Want A Red Dead Redemption Movie
Jack Black recently said this in an interview with Total Film:
"I can't believe they haven't already started making a movie of any of the Rockstar Games – Grand Theft Auto, but especially Red Dead Redemption. Those things are already like movies, you know?"
But we disagree.
Red Dead Redemption stands out with its amazingly complex and well put together storyline, which is being portrayed perfectly by its great narrative design. Until 2023, Red Dead 2 has been sold over 60 Million times. It is one of the highest-rated games on Metacritic, and according to The New York Times, is considered as an example of video games as a work of art – which it really is.
Obviously, people would want to see more of that – Hence the wish for a movie adaption. Although more and more games have received successful movie adaptations recently, such as The Super Mario Brothers or The Last of Us series, we think that a Red Dead Redemption movie would do the game no good.
Think about this: What values or experiences could a movie adaption possibly add to Red Dead Redemption, that it doesn't offer already?
The storytelling, the staggering world and the complex game design are a masterpiece in itself. Many people argue that games nowadays are like movies, but that is not true. The increasing quality in realism and cinematography might make games more movie-alike, but they are still games for a reason.
Telling a story through a game medium is far more complex than producing a movie about it. A game is an immersive experience. Players ACTUALLY take over the role of the main character and begin to act as them, relate to their feelings, and make hard and game changing decisions. A movie, on the other hand, will never be able to give us the same feeling of joy, guilt, sadness, or anger as Red Dead Redemption 2 did when we were Arthur Morgan.
Certain games can only be experienced as games. A 2.5 hour movie cannot do justice everything that a player goes through here. Part of the emotion in RDR2 is the long ~60 hour journey you take with Arthur, not just the objective script from cutscenes.
— Tom DiMaggio (@tomdimaggio) March 27, 2024
It is very hard to imagine that a movie could be able to portray the story of Red Dead Redemption to the same extent as the game did. And trying to do so, could ruin the franchise for many. So... No, Mr. Black, we don't think you had a great idea here.