Red Faction: Guerrilla Review

When you think of interstellar tyranny and galactic civil war, Red Faction isn’t the first game that comes to mind. But when you replace those two things with Mars and unprecedented destruction, you have a different story entirely. Red Faction: Guerrilla is Volition’s third entry in the series and brings with it the most unmeasured, gratuitous destruction this generation has seen.

The story isn’t going to win any awards, but it does what it needs to do. For what it’s worth it follows Alec Mason as he arrives on Mars to work with his brother. Shortly after, the Earth Defense Force (EDF) kills his brother and targets Alec for being part of the resistance, part of the Red Faction. From here Alec is assimilated into the rebel ranks and must help them push the oppressive EDF back. The only problem is, well, the EDF has an entire army. Guerrilla warfare anyone?

What the Red Faction movie needs to succeed

For the first time ever, I’m actually thinking that the new deal between the Syfy channel and THQ can help lift video game movies out of the hole they’ve been steadily rotting in. Both companies have agreed to produce a two-hour straight to TV movie based off the Red Faction series. If you’ve never played a Red Faction game, know its appetite for destruction on the red planet cannot be sated and thus, is the reason this could actually work out. 

I don’t think anyone is a stranger to how despicable and utterly rotten video game movies have been. Almost every single time a famous franchise has rushed off to Hollywood, it’s come back a slime covered bastardization of what it once was. If you don’t believe me then take a stroll by the irrefutable Uwe Boll and his travesty of sorrowful products. While there have been a few decent attempts (zero by Mr. Boll), none have hit the spotlight perfectly yet and with an abundance of video game to film adaptations in the works, it’s about damned time we get some that work!

The reason I think this partnership could work is based off a couple key elements to quality movie making; here it’s mainly explosions. As stated above, Red Faction has always focused on the destructive capacity of practically everything. I’m not saying directors should pull a Michael Bay or Jerry Bruckheimer and throw as many explosions as possible onto the screen, but sometimes pure action is all a film needs to grasp its audience. A driving and overly-dramatic narrative isn’t always needed for a film to be enthralling. Look at Rambo. He says about two lines the whole movie, single-handedly shoots up tons of dudes and always makes it back alive albeit covered in blood. Action works wonders for movies like Rambo and that’s what Red Faction could possibly follow successfully.

Though it’ll probably not matter much, there still has to be some story the movie revolves around. Mars is the basis for all the games and every single time the miners or people are breaking free from tyrannical control. Obviously this would be the core to build off of. If they can’t make this work the people in charge should seriously reconsider their career path. Just stay with the central theme of “breaking free” from the oppressive government and not implementing unnecessary sappy relationships. I’m not against love interests in this particular movie, but the focus needs to be on the action. I’m sick of seeing makeshift relationships thrust upon audiences in the most contrived of ways. If there is going to be strong bonds and love interests in this movie then fasten some emotion behind it so we don’t have to bash our craniums in with a hammer. Nothing’s worse than emotionless dialogue, unless of course they toss some vampires in the mines because, you know, we don’t have enough of those already. 

Speaking of hammers, there’s quite a lot of iconic weaponry and vehicles in the Red Faction universe. It’s pretty much mandatory that they implement the hammer in some way, but the trick and craftsmanship of the film will be weighed upon by how well they fit the rest of the canon in. I’d personally like to see a stupid scenario where the protagonist must pass a doorway but doesn’t have access to the keycard required to open it. Veterans know what’s coming next, I’d like to see the dude lower his rocket launcher and bust a hole in the wall, with a line to accompany it of course. Like I said, it’s not supposed to be the greatest film but that is, in fact, great.

There’s plenty of other things that could easily fit into the Red Faction movie, but the most important thing is not to alienate fans. As long as things blow up, hammers are swung, and a rebellion is on the rise, there’s hope that a direct to TV movie like Red Faction is the boost video game movies need to come back.
 

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