TETRIS (2023)

TETRIS (2023)

Tagline: The game you couldn't put down. The story you couldn't make up.

(Drama, History, One of The Few Video Games I Am Decent at) [R]

Because you know as well as I do, partners are what make us great. That's why Mario has Luigi. That's why Zelda has Link. That's why Mike Tyson has whoever he's punching out in Punch-Out!

In this one, a game developer named Henk Rogers basically puts up everything he owns including his house to try and get the rights to sell Tetris on computers, consoles, and handheld gaming devices. He finds out the game designer lives in the Soviet Union he travels there to meet the designer and obtain the rights. When he gets there it turns out there are two other parties trying to do the same thing and the Soviet bureaucrats play all sides against each other. Meanwhile one of the players has begun illegally selling the game that would eventually become one of the most popular video games of all time. 

First off, what caught my attention about this movie is that I actually like Tetris. It’s one of the few games that I didn’t feel like I would embarrass myself playing in front of others. This movie not only dives into how the game was first played given the limited technology available to citizens in the Soviet Union but also gets into some of the politics and lack of rights available in the country at the time. A lot of people say this was many put out to put anti-communist propaganda on full display, but I had a pastor that lived in the Soviet Union for a while and I have seen lots of commentaries from people that lived behind the iron curtain and it actually did suck. It is really strange to try to paint communism in any other light, it’s resulted in catastrophic nightmares for regular citizens everywhere it’s been attempted or is still happening. People can get bent or pissed I said that, but I am pretty sure most of the people that would bother getting bent don’t live under communism. 

Aside from all that what stood out about this film the most is the bizarre complications of rights and what people will do to obtain them when a potentially extremely valuable property is sought after. To this day as a property, the Tetris franchise as a whole has sold nearly 500 million copies, making it the second best-selling game franchise. Mario Bros is the biggest in case you were wondering. The movie is rated R due to language and isn’t really for kids in spite of its subject matter. It dives into some adult subjects and the very weird things that would happen to you if you pissed off the Soviet Union. 

Acting-wise, Taron Egerton (KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE) is outstanding in this as Henk Rogers. I honestly didn’t even know it was him till the credits because I sort of walked into this film knowing virtually nothing about it. Nikita Efremov plays Alexey Pajitnov this and does a superb job, but I haven’t seen any of his other projects. Oleg Stefan plays Nikolai Belikov who is doing most of the negotiation on the Soviet side. He has a familiar-looking face, but I have never seen any of his other films. Speaking of anti-communist films, I wonder if one of Oleg’s films called ESCAPE FROM STALIN’S DEATH CAMP was anti-communist. If you really need to cry about anti-communism, why not pick on that thing? Ayane Nagabuchi is solid as Akemi Rogers, Henk’s wife. She gets most of her scenes with their daughter Maya Rogers played by Kanon Narumi who is also more than adequate in the role. Toby Jones (CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER) is fine in this but doesn’t get a lot of screen time and basically just plays the same angry dude he’s played in most of his other big films. INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY would be the most recent example of him not playing a cranky dude…oh wait. He kind of does in that movie also. 

Overall this movie is almost 2 hours long and at times it starts to drag, but it is really interesting just from a political and intellectual property dynamics standpoint. We also got an amazing and iconic soundtrack which I really didn’t expect. 

TETRIS gets a solid 5 out of 7. It didn’t blow me away, but it does all the things you think it will and more, and that is more than enough to make it worth watching. 

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