8 films where a computer game is the main character. The third one I revise every year

Despite the fact that today I hardly spend my personal time playing computer games, nevertheless, like any other millennial, I consider myself their child. In my early youth, everyone with a computer spent their evenings enjoying digital entertainment. If you didn’t have your own, they went to friends or to game clubs. Love for all this comes precisely from childhood. Therefore, it is not surprising that films closely related to virtual worlds and computer games evoke pleasant nostalgic feelings. However, they are also a great reason to think.

Spy Kids 3: Game Over (2003)

• KinoPoisk: 4.3.
• IMDb: 5,23.

Despite the relatively low rating and controversial reviews from critics, it seems to me that this film deserves the closest attention. It is the completion of the super popular trilogy at the time directed by Robert Rodriguez. It is likely that for adults and serious people, the picture will seem very prosaic, but for young viewers or a family evening – that’s it. Actually, before watching the third part, you can review the first two. But I myself will not call this condition obligatory – the picture has a completely independent narrative, which can be perceived in isolation from its predecessors.

The film once again returns to the young secret spies of the Cortez family. This time they are thrown inside a popular computer game, in which users from different parts of the world spend their time. Inside this virtual world, Carmen disappears, and Junie, her brother, has no choice but to go in search of her. During his adventures, it becomes clear that the creator of this digital entertainment does not have a goal of just having a good time inside him. No, he actually wants to enslave the whole real world. This is a very common motivation for a real villain.

Gamer (2009)

• KinoPoisk: 6.62.
• IMDb: 5,8.

I watched this film more than ten years ago, but I am still impressed. It always seems to me that such pictures tell the real story of our future – it’s hard to say how far away, but the world will inevitably come to something like that. Actually, according to the plot of the picture, the computer genius Ken Castle is revolutionizing the world of digital entertainment. It combines the virtual world with the most real reality. The result is a massively multiplayer experience called The Assassins. In it, gamers control the actions of life-sentenced criminals.

The main character of the film was John Tillman, who was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. However, he has a chance to get out. To do this, you need to win the game, the main prize of which for him is freedom. In the digital world, he is known as Cable. John is not aware of this, but he is only a playable character, controlled by a rich young guy. A special bond is established between Tillman, who has lived life, and the child, and they are rapidly breaking through to the top of the standings. However, the owners of the game are hardly interested in letting someone out of it.

“Scott Pilgrim against all” (2010)

• KinoPoisk: 7.23.
• IMDb: 7,5.

I have repeatedly recommended this picture to my friends and acquaintances, but not everyone really appreciated it. Some noted that they saw frank surrealism and actually did not understand anything. However, I have a recipe to use for the correct perception of this digital entertainment. It is necessary to accept that everything that happens within the plot of the picture is something like an extraordinary quest from any conventional role-playing game. In this case, the storyline no longer looks surreal and is filled with meaning.

In the center of the narrative of the picture is Scott Pilgrim – a bum from Toronto in his twenties. He has a musical group in which he plays the bass guitar, and also a girl – high school student Knives Chao, whom even he does not take seriously. However, his life turns upside down when he meets the mysterious Ramona Flowers. He instantly falls in love, but faces difficulties – in order to be with her, he needs to win a battle with all her ex-boyfriends with typical unique game skills.

Pixels (2015)

• KinoPoisk: 5.5.
• IMDb: 5,84.

Another interesting film with context that makes you think. But what happens if digital characters can escape from the virtual into the real world? Do you think this is impossible? No matter how it is! Actually, this picture shows itself a completely realistic scenario of the development of events, from which our planet is not immune. According to the plot, in the distant 80s, scientists from NASA launched a capsule into space, into which they put the most interesting facts about human history and pop culture. They thought that it would be found by an advanced civilization, with which it would be possible to establish friendly contact.

Of course, everything, as usual, did not go according to plan. The peace message was misinterpreted by the inhabitants of other worlds – they took it as a declaration of war. To attack Earth, aliens use animated characters from our popular arcade games from the 80s. The situation becomes even more dire when the usual methods of dealing with invaders are aggravated. The President of the United States decides to involve his childhood friend, arcade games champion Sam, in the confrontation. It is he who is now responsible for the fate of humanity.

Assassin’s Creed (2016)

• KinoPoisk: 5.7.
• IMDb: 5,73.

The picture, created based on the popular computer game, has won serious popularity all over the world – despite this, as is customary, its ratings on recommendation systems are not the highest. Like the digital entertainment series, the film is about the confrontation between the Order of the Knights Templar and the Brotherhood of Assassins. The main character is Callum Lynch. He – a criminal who has been officially executed – wakes up in a secret laboratory. He is forced to take part in an experiment – to immerse himself in the Animus and relive all the memories of one of his ancestors in an extremely realistic three-dimensional projection.

Callum’s ancestor is the mysterious assassin Aguilar, who lived about 500 years ago. It is through his eyes that he will see the world around him at that time. Moreover, due to the special technology, the protagonist of the story also gains all the skills of close combat that his ancestor possessed. Now he needs to fight the Order of the Knights Templar, which in the modern world is a very large and extremely powerful technology corporation. The picture will tell about everything that comes out of this venture.

Ready Player One (2018)

• KinoPoisk: 7.39.
• IMDb: 7,4.

The plot of the picture is based on the science fiction novel of the same name. The film once again shows what the planet we are used to can become if the border between the real and the virtual world is erased. The action will unfold in 2045. The earth is actually on the brink of an apocalypse, and most people spend their lives playing a computer game called Oasis. The main character of the picture, Wade Watts, in it hunts for Easter eggs, which the creator James Holliday left in the program code of the digital world.

Of course, not only the main character is trying to unearth the secrets in the game, but also millions of other players. Why do they need them? The fact is that the one who first discovers them will receive the entire state of Holliday. And this is trillions of dollars, which is a lot even for the distant future. The story is very highly appreciated by viewers and critics, including due to the use of an incredibly large number of elements of pop culture of the last century, which inevitably evoke extremely warm nostalgic emotions.

Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

• KinoPoisk: 7.37.
• IMDb: 7,4.

The second part of a new interpretation of a well-known story, which has been exciting the minds of fans of computer games and pop culture in general for several years. She tells all about the same heroes who have already tried to get out of the virtual world, into which they accidentally fell. The story begins with Spencer returning home from college and being forced to look after his grandfather after surgery. Martha, Fridge and Bethany go to Spencer’s house to visit him. They find a broken video game in the basement, which pulls them inside.

The guys are joined by Spencer’s grandfather named Eddie, as well as his old friend Milo. The new team is trying to understand what happened, and where did their friend who was not at home go. The game draws into the passage of new exciting levels, which traditionally unfold in a fairly wild jungle environment. The film is very light and looks in one breath – apparently, that is why it was highly appreciated by both critics and ordinary viewers.

“The protagonist” (2021)

• KinoPoisk: 7.1.
• IMDb: 6,9.

Quite banal, on the one hand, but extremely fascinating, on the other hand, the film. He tells about a modest bank employee, whose every day happens as according to a pre-written script. He wakes up, greets his fish, gets dressed and goes to work. There he communicates with his friend and even survives a robbery of the financial institution in which he works. It turns out that he is part of a computer game.

The protagonist of the story is a minor character in this virtual entertainment. At one point, he realizes this, and his consciousness turns over. Moreover, he discovers that his world is in great danger. Now he will have to find like-minded people and save everything that is very dear to all of them. Of course, it is not complete without a love story, which ultimately takes an extremely unexpected turn.