Tetris - Movie Review

Critics Score - 8 of 10

General Audience Score - 7 of 10

After the massive hits Pong and then Super Mario Bros. for the original Nintendo Entertainment System, the game Tetris took the video game world by storm in the late 1980’s. The game was as simple as it was addictive, it could be picked up and played within a few moments, and it sparked a sensation across the entire globe. Who knew that at the beginning of this video game there was a Soviet Union controlled company and a Cold War era controversy while companies and game developers tried to get their hands on the licenses to the hit bestseller before it was introduced to the public. The new film Tetris debuts on Apple+ on March 31st, it stars Taron Egerton as Henk Rogers, a businessman who saw the potential and went hardcore after the game, jeopardizing everything as he traveled into Russia during a time when foreigners weren’t exactly welcomed. While no doubt some of the events were sensationalized, a car chase through Moscow to the airport to try and escape the country being a little extreme, it was a well constructed story depicting a chess like game between businessmen maneuvering pieces in pursuit of the next big thing. This film is sure to keep most general audiences and critics alike lined up like Tetris blocks, taking them on an amusing and fascinating exploration of the origin of one of the biggest video games ever created.

SYNOPSIS - This true story begins in Las Vegas, where Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) is working a Consumer Electronics Show, selling his own homemade video game without much success. His lady assistant happens upon Tetris for sale by another vendor, he asks what it’s called but the scene cuts and Henk is explaining to a bank loan officer about Tetris. He explains that the name Tetris is a variation of the Greek word for four, tetra, and also that he took the money the bank loaned him for his own video game and spent it on purchasing another one. Interwoven periodically in the film are some 8-bit computer graphic animations of the things happening on screen, like something from an NES game, which was a little silly at first but not altogether off putting and after you get used to them they were somewhat amusing. But Henk continues to tell the bank manager the back story on Tetris, as the screenplay smoothly gives us an exposition dump, filling us in along the way with all the details of the games origin and the big players involved in trying to get the rights to said game. Tetris was created in Moscow by Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov) four years prior, but not much comes out from behind the iron curtain. Eventually Robert Stein (Toby Jones), an entrepreneur who buys cheap games from eastern countries to sell to the west, stumbles upon Tetris. A year prior to the events of the film, Stein goes to rich media tycoon Robert Maxwell (Roger Allam) and his son Kevin (Anthony Boyle), they join forces with Stein to bring Tetris out of Russia and make big bucks selling it elsewhere. 

After the introduction to the big players on the video game stage, we catch back up with Henk as he’s asking the banker for three million dollars to get started on his project. Henk has already met with the corporate Nintendo CEO and got an agreement in place to make some arcade machines and produce Tetris game cartridges for the original NES, I still own one of these items oddly enough. Henk believes in the success of Tetris so strongly that he puts his house up as collateral. The film sells us on Henk being the most deserving winner of the licensing, highlighting his family and the relationships he has with his wife and girls. He’s so desperate to get a deal done that he’s willing to travel into the Soviet Union on a tourist visa, even though he’s there on business and the government has been known to cook up whatever they want to detain anyone they feel is a threat. But as the film shifts gears and the players all begin to sit down at the table to negotiate with the Russian government, everyone trying to get an advantage in the high stakes game, the film sustains excellent momentum and pacing through to the finale. But the screenplay is fun and has it’s moments of brilliance, it cleverly utilizes cliffhangers in the negotiations process between the Russians and the potential buyers. But even more amusing, at one point Henk Rogers blames the Russians for the screenplay’s work, as they silently walk out of the room after he offers them five million in royalties saying, “Oh come on! You guys are the kings of cliffhangers!”.

Tetris happens to be the first of a deluge of films this year that explore the beginnings of popular products that present themselves as being in the same vein as The Social Network. Really though, any comparison to The Social Network is an unfair one, The Social Network is an almost flawless piece of cinema, a near perfect and utter masterpiece of filmmaking if you ask me. But these films purport backstories of popular brands and products we know and use, (or used to use anyway), with punched up drama and fascinating stories. Tetris is certainly a Social Network wannabe, minus the blazing score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, no precision direction from Fincher and no super quick and scorching dialogue by Sorkin to match the direction and score. The direction of the film by Jon Baird is surprisingly solid, as I’m not familiar with anything else he’s worked on. As I mentioned, similar to Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Tetris utilizes some retro video game graphics, only in a more serious way, Tetris being a much more serious film than Scott Pilgrim. I will say it was an interesting directorial decision, but honestly, the kind of laughable, cartoony old graphics, without the humor and just thrown into an otherwise serious film, didn’t feel quite at home. Coming in at just over a hour and fifty minutes, Tetris is well paced, utilizes a rocking retro soundtrack effectively and all things considered, could have been much worse. Honestly this movie should be around a high 7 of 10, but the nostalgia factor was really on point for me and pushed it over the edge to an 8, just for the pure enjoyment and entertainment I got from my viewing experience.

SUMMARY - This dad movie is a crowd pleaser through and through. While the individual parts of this film may not be that outstanding by themselves, these Tetris pieces fit together so well and just like the original game, as a whole this film is more than the sum of it’s parts.