Ten Movies Starring Video Games

With Prince of Persia set to drop tomorrow, we all wait with baited breath to see if it can break the mold of video game adaptations that monumentally suck. The early buzz has been positive, so that’s a good sign. I mean it can’t be any worse than Doom and Silent Hill and Wing Commander and Street Fighter. Right?

In keeping with the video game theme, I thought I’d take a look at some movies where video games played an integral role in the narrative. They are so important to the plot that without them there would be no movie. Instead, it would be a bunch of dumb humans standing around waiting for shit to happen. Which is why I’m calling these arcade, PC and console amusements, “stars.”

Without further delay, here are ten movies spotlighting video games.

10. Brainscan (1994)

Eddie Furlong of Terminator 2 fame plays a lonely teen who commits murder inside a computer game only to discover that the killing actually occurred, and he was the killer. Major bummer.

9. Ben X (2007)

This little sleeper from Belgium tells the tale of an autistic boy who finds solace from his daily bullying inside an online role-playing adventure called “Archlord.” Greg Timmermans gives an impressive performance portraying the titular character, Ben.

8. Gamer (2009)

Imagine being able to control another human inside an online, multi-player platform. That’s the premise behind Gamer. One such player escapes to stop the nefarious mastermind behind the game from controlling people’s minds. It’s Avatar meets The Running Man.

7. Stay Alive (2006)

Don’t die in the game “Stay Alive.” If you do, you’ll perish the same exact way in real life. Now that would really suck. It’s a Final Destination clone, but it’s good for a few laughs.

6. eXistenZ (1999)

When virtual reality blurs with real life bad things happen. David Cronenberg wrote and directed this bizarre story where gameports are implanted into bodies and nothing is as it seems. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law and Willem Dafoe headline a talented cast.

5. The Wizard (1989)

Little Jimmy may be mentally unstable but he sure plays a mean “Super Mario Bros. 3.” He and his bro Corey embark on a cross-country road trip to enter in a video game tournament. It’s The Color of Money meets Little Miss Sunshine and serves as a 90-minute commercial for Nintendo.

4. The King of Kong (2007)

Ever wonder why some die-hard gamers get a bad rap? Watch this documentary on the battle to become the world’s greatest “Donkey Kong” player and you’ll wonder no more. The words douchebag and prick spring to mind whenever Billy Mitchell and his cronies appear on screen.

3. The Last Starfighter (1984)

Using skills honed playing “Starfighter” in his shitty trailer park, Alex Rogan saves the galaxy from the Kodan armada. Ya see, video games can be beneficial. Safe to say, every boy who saw this flick wanted to be Alex Rogan in the worst way.

2. WarGames (1983)

Shall we play a game? Yes we shall, but it’s not a game, is it computer? It’s Global Thermonuclear War. Son-of-a-bitch! Damn hackers. It’s all fun and games until World War III starts and everyone gets vaporized. By the way, Ally Sheedy is really cute in this flick. Just sayin’.

1. TRON (1982)

Talk about a brilliant concept. A hacker gets literally sucked into a computer world and must compete in gladiator type games in order to defeat a nasty software program called Master Control. Even after almost thirty years, TRON still looks amazing. And yes, the long awaited sequel TRON: Legacy is due out this December. I am so there.

Honorable mention: Cloak and Dagger (1984) – Henry Thomas from E.T. is Davey, a little lad whose obsession with video games leads to the passing of government secrets and involvement in international espionage.