Tetris

"Tetris" is a biographical comedy thriller film based on the YouTube video "The Story of Tetris - Gaming Historian" by Norman Caruso. Directed by Jon S. Baird ("Filth", "Stan & Ollie") and starring Taron Egerton in the lead role, it shows us the quirky, crazy risks taken to distribute one the most popular video games of all time.

In 1988, Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) works in marketing for the video game publishing company "Bullet-Proof Software". While attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Henk becomes fascinated by a Soviet produced puzzle game known as "Tetris", which involves lining up falling blocks to make them disappear. Believing in the potential marketability of Tetris worldwide, Henk tries to acquire the game's distribution rights but soon learns that British video game distributor Mirrorsoft also has Tetris in their sights, with them already striking up an arcade deal with Sega. In an effort to outdo them, Henk decides to meet with Sega's biggest competitor Nintendo to arrange his own partnership. Henk is shown Nintendo's soon-to-be-released handheld console - the Game Boy, and after some persuasion, convinces the higher-ups to package the Game Boy with Tetris on release day. To acquire the necessary licencing rights, Henk travels to Moscow to meet with Tetris's creator Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov), where he quickly learns how dangerous it can be doing business in a communist country.

If you've ever played a modern puzzle video game, especially one that requires the player to make certain objects disappear, then there's a high chance it has taken some influence from Tetris, which until 2020 when it was surpassed by Minecraft, was the best selling video game in history. Its simple premise coupled with its addictive gameplay has helped Tetris endure on for over thirty years, remaining an important staple of gaming culture. On a personal front, I'll always have a soft spot for this falling block game, as it just so happens to be the very first video game I ever played, having received it along with a classic Game Boy on my fifth birthday. But what many may not be aware of is the complex history behind bringing this game to worldwide attention, and in this film, simply titled "Tetris", we get to see a fun, thrilling, yet obviously sensationalistic look at how all of this was accomplished.

Structuring itself like a Cold War thriller, the film immerses its audience the world of the 80s, a time where a businessman making deals with communist nations could very well mean the difference between life and death. In any other case, such deals may be something along the lines of a capitalist company wishing to opening up store in Moscow or even the freeing of a political prisoner to prevent a global crisis. What I'm sure most people would never expect to see is a deal involving a video game, an object of entertainment programmed by a single computer engineer working for the Soviet government. This is where the film deviates from your typical Cold War-related feature, in that while it takes the idea of a video game being its subject matter very seriously, it plays up the amount of obstacles in the main character's way for humorous effect. We watch Henk narrowly dodge being arrested by the KGB for owning an illegal copy of Tetris, which could end up with him being thrown in a gulag for a very long time. Additionally, we also see him struggling to communicate simple commands due to the presence of outdated technology like faxes and phones that cannot dial internationally. Yet all of this feels believable given the timeframe in which this story is set, which makes the film not only more compelling to watch but it also makes you appreciate what Henk went through to simply to get this game released to the entire world.

Under Jon S. Baird's direction, the film has an appropriately retro video game look to it. For instance, the film appears to be divided up into four "levels", which I assume is done to reflect the four blocks that are used in each Tetris piece. As the story progresses, we witness Henk "level up" as he drifts ever closer to sealing the deal to distribute Tetris to countries outside the Soviet Union. Also, we often get to see scenes transitioning from one to the next via 8 bit pixels layered over the live action establishing shots. These quirky creative decisions allow the audience to almost feel as though they are inside a video game and that they are watching events play out like challenges the player character must overcome in order to advance forward. Though some of these segments are clearly added for dramatic effect, like a fast-paced car chase for example, they certainly aren't any less entertaining. Another thing that Baird uses effectively is the clever weaving of the Tetris theme tune, the Russian folk song "Korobeiniki", into Lorne Balfe's musical score. Every now and then the tone of a scene is set by a remix of the familiar jingle, either with a subtle piano cue or a loud orchestral piece. It's a novel way to enhance a moment that may have otherwise been slow and boring, which is something I came to really enjoy about this film. No doubt many fans of Tetris will have the song stuck in their heads long after the film is finished, because I sure did.

As the lead character, Taron Egerton effectively carries the film throughout all of its ups and downs. Egerton's performance reminded me of somebody a young Leonardo DiCaprio would play, a quick thinking man whose confidence can help him smooth talk his way out of a difficult situation. It's easy to see Egerton is having great fun playing Henk not just as a businessman, but as someone who loves video games in general. You can't help but admire the way Henk seems so passionate about Tetris as a game and the positive effect it can have on people everywhere. In addition to this, you also have to respect how much he wants this game to succeed for those who helped create it, which is explored during his bonding scenes with Alexey Pajitnov. Though there is an initial culture clash between the two men, Henk and Alexey soon realise this game's true potential and work together to get it out there for the masses. These guys are the true heroes of this story, because if it weren't for them, the video game world would be a considerably less exciting place.

For a game focused entirely around lining up falling blocks, "Tetris" has certainly had an interesting history behind its inception. The very fact that this film even exists to tell such a story is truly a testament to its long-lasting impact on pop culture. Even if you aren't an avid gamer, you can still acknowledge this film for how it is able to combine elements of a Cold War thriller with that of the development of an iconic contribution to gaming as a whole. I can't help but wonder if there are more exciting stories worth telling about the creation of other popular video games, as I'd love to see them as well. If they all turn out as enjoyable as this one, then you can count me in.

I rate it 8/10.

This drama will very likely make you experience the "Tetris Effect": such a fun and mind-blowing story, with just enough of Hollywood made-up thrill to make it even more fun but, according to the articles this reviewer has read, otherwise very close to real-life events from the 90s.

The cinematography is very pleasant, the pixelized plane taking the audience to round-the-world trips is cute, and for a child of that Nintendo/SEGA generation, the unveiling of the GameBoy was quite sublime.

And of course, Taron Egerton is, as always, absolutely brilliant, so full of energy and, without a doubt, the best "Player 1" one could wish for.

And utterly mezmerisingly surprised on how much tension such a generic ''history of the...'' could make, a real spy thriller behind the iron curtain, for the righteous rights ot patency over the may be most successfilled game in the history of digital gaming, namely ''tetris''.

This is a well acted, well set and very well acclamatized and extremely authenticly made production on the infancy of the digital gaming era, the cast makes this story very fun to follow, even for me the grumpy old man that grew up a generation before all this happened, when the electric typewriter and electronic greenglowing calculator was the top of the hype.

So if yore interested in the story behind digital stuff and all the serindipitous ways destiny may cross to make you a happy gamer, then this film is a recommend. Its funded by apple but who cares when the film is good.

Rating: 8.2 Overall, a very entertaining movie that is a well constructed fun watch to see how Tetris escaped the Soviet Union as the tone coupled with performances help bring the audience on a fun ride, though the movie is a bit too safe in its writing and storytelling.

Good Direction (Really helps set the tone and of the movie through a more lighthearted approach to storytelling; he gets a good amount out of his actors; the movie does feel very safe and nothing extraordinary in terms of its direction), Pretty Good Acting (Very Good from Taron Egerton (Does a good job in commanding the lead in the movie and showing a range of emotion throughout, the source material really limits him from going above and beyond like his other roles though), Pretty Good from Toby Jones, Pretty Good to Good from Nikita Yefremov (A bit more of a reserved performance so there is not too much to work from (not entirely his fault as that was how the character was written), but he does do a good job playing off of Egerton throughout the movie), Pretty Good from the rest of the cast), Very Good Story (The overall story is well laid out, though it is a bit overt in its storytelling, and the story elements build off of each other to create suspense for the climax), Pretty Good to Good Screenplay (A bit simplistic in the dialogue but flows well throughout; not too much symbolism because its a biopic; the humor throughout the movie was decent and helped make the film pretty lighthearted; no real foreshadowing), Good to Very Good Score (Really enjoyed how they interpolated the Tetris theme into it and used the score throughout to build suspense), Good to Very Good Cinematography (Helps with placing emphasis on different subjects and was overall very professional throughout), Good Sound (Enjoyed how it replaced sounds with 8-bit sounds to make the movie feel more like a video game from the 80s), Decent Editing (Really helped give that video game feel to the movie; the transitions between countries felt a bit amateurish though; There were also these weird freezes throughout the movie (do not know if this was intentional or if it was just from it being a world premiere and the is not fully polished yet)), Very Good Visual Effects (Gave the movie a more 80s, NES feel when it was used in conjunction with scenes; the 8-bit animations replacing shots were pretty good but felt a bit amateur (though overall I did enjoy them)), Plot Structure was pretty standard as it followed the standard arc (with the all parts of the plot being evident), Pacing was pretty steady with no major issues (no need to add or cut anything), Climax was executed well as it was a fun rush filled with action in a movie that does not have any (though it helps suspend the disbelief if this actually happened in real life), Tone was very tech as well as 80s and I felt the movie did a really good job at establishing tone; the movie did a really good job at making it a programming/CS movie as they spoke about concepts very well throughout the movie, Watched World Premiere at SXSW.

As "Tetris" (2023 release; 117 min.) opens, we are reminded that "This is based on a true story", and we are in "Level 1, 1988" as Henk Rogers is at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, trying (and failing) to push a video game called "Go". In another booth, someone is hawking a game called "Tetris" and after trying out the game for a few minutes, Rogers is completely bowled over. He needs to find a way to get a license to that game, one way or another. At this point we are less than 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is the latest film from Scottish director Jon Baird ("Stan & Ollie"). Here he brings the origin story of how the game "Tetris" became a worldwide phenom, but not before there was a frenzy over the legal rights, as fragmented as they were (both as to territories and as to platforms: video, arcade, handheld, etc.). In essence this is a legal drama and hence one cannot assume that this would be an enjoyable or engaging film to watch,. But as it turns out, this is very much enjoyable and engaging. Mostly set in the late 80s and early 90s, and effortlessly shifting settings from the US to Japan to the UK to the USSR, it becomes a zany affair, full of energy. Taron Egerton ("Kingsman", "Rocketman") as Henk Rogers is clearly having a ball with this role. If you wonder where the film was shot and what location stood in for those 80's era Soviet buildings, it is in fact Scotland (Aberdeen and Glasgow). Bottom line: I found this movie to be far better than I could've expected.

"Tetris" premiered at last month's SXSW festival to immediate acclaim. It started streaming on Apple TV this weekend, and I couldn't wait to see it. If you are in the mood for a zany legal drama on how Tetris became a mega-seller, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.