Video game designer Henk Rogers seeks to secure global rights for Tetris (1984), leading to tense negotiations in the Soviet Union, involving creators, government, and corporate intrigues.Video game designer Henk Rogers seeks to secure global rights for Tetris (1984), leading to tense negotiations in the Soviet Union, involving creators, government, and corporate intrigues.Video game designer Henk Rogers seeks to secure global rights for Tetris (1984), leading to tense negotiations in the Soviet Union, involving creators, government, and corporate intrigues.
- Awards
- 5 nominations total
Aleksey Shedko
- Alexey's Lab Chief
- (as Alexey Shedko)
Oleg Stefan
- Nikolai Belikov
- (as Oleg Shtefanko)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
I never knew this entire back story behind the success of Tetris. I was intrigued when I first saw the trailer and wonder if it could be any fun or good and I'm glad to say it's a pretty cool movie and I did enjoy it quite a ton. Taron Egerton did such a good job in the role and did some good acting and i think this movie was a pretty fun time and the whole story behind tetris. I think it was a pretty solid movie and now I want to play some tetris after watching this movie. This isn't groundbreaking but it's just a fun time in general which I think people should watch and I recommend to watch it.
*That Tetris was invented by a Russian.
That's it. Everything else is pretty much fiction. Then again, the true story was mainly a fairly complicated, protracted legal battle and wouldn't have made for a very exciting film. But an exciting film is what we have! It's well acted, the whole production is great, the story is gripping, but it's all fiction. Which is fine, but claiming it was "based on a true story" is... misleading, to put it nicely.
It's quite revealing to read all these glowing reviews praising the authenticity and what a wonderful historical edcuation these reviewers recieved upon viewing it, when even a cursory google search shows that the reality is almost entirely disconnected with the contents of this film.
Still, I have to give the film credit, it was a fun watch, a good story and VERY imaginative!
That's it. Everything else is pretty much fiction. Then again, the true story was mainly a fairly complicated, protracted legal battle and wouldn't have made for a very exciting film. But an exciting film is what we have! It's well acted, the whole production is great, the story is gripping, but it's all fiction. Which is fine, but claiming it was "based on a true story" is... misleading, to put it nicely.
It's quite revealing to read all these glowing reviews praising the authenticity and what a wonderful historical edcuation these reviewers recieved upon viewing it, when even a cursory google search shows that the reality is almost entirely disconnected with the contents of this film.
Still, I have to give the film credit, it was a fun watch, a good story and VERY imaginative!
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.
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.
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.
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.
"Tetris" is the movie I didn't even know I needed.
A ridiculously entertaining (and probably at least partially ridiculously fabricated) "based on true events" story about the fight between a desperate American video game creator and Soviet Russia over the rights to what would become one of the most famous games of all time.
I wasn't sure I was going to like it at first, as it has a very jokey, self-aware tone, as does Taron Egerton's performance. But both won me over quickly, and not long into the movie I was all in. Egerton is a ball of charisma in the lead, and he's easy to root for. The movie gets a little silly at the end (a car chase to the airport, really?) and seems to be taking historical accuracy lessons from "Argo," but by the time the end came around I didn't care. I've been complaining recently that entertaining movies for adults are in short supply, so I'm not going to quibble when one comes along.
Grade: A.
A ridiculously entertaining (and probably at least partially ridiculously fabricated) "based on true events" story about the fight between a desperate American video game creator and Soviet Russia over the rights to what would become one of the most famous games of all time.
I wasn't sure I was going to like it at first, as it has a very jokey, self-aware tone, as does Taron Egerton's performance. But both won me over quickly, and not long into the movie I was all in. Egerton is a ball of charisma in the lead, and he's easy to root for. The movie gets a little silly at the end (a car chase to the airport, really?) and seems to be taking historical accuracy lessons from "Argo," but by the time the end came around I didn't care. I've been complaining recently that entertaining movies for adults are in short supply, so I'm not going to quibble when one comes along.
Grade: A.
Did you know
- TriviaBeing a non-gamer, then Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi would give the game to his superstar programmer Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of their most popular franchises Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda, to see what he thought. Several days later, Miyamoto confirmed to Yamauchi that it was a great game and when Yamauchi asked why, Miyamoto responded "Because even your secretaries and accountants are playing it!"
- GoofsWhen reading the fax number of ELORG in Moscow Henk mentions the dialing code of Moscow as "495", which is the current code. In the soviet times until Russia 2005 it was "095".
- Quotes
Alexey Pajitnov: Good ideas have no borders.
- Crazy creditsA short video is playing about halfway through the credits. It seems to be actual footage of Henk and Alexey in Moscow.
- ConnectionsEdited from Game Grumps: Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!: Finale - Part 6 (2015)
- SoundtracksHolding Out for a Hero
Written by Dean Pitchford & Jim Steinman
Published by Sony/ATV Melody, Paramount Pictures Corp
Performed by Ren Nagabuchi (as ReN)
Appearing courtesy of Warner Music Japan
Licensed courtesy of MARV Music Recording Ltd & Warner Music Japan
- How long is Tetris?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Тетріс
- Filming locations
- Aberdeen, Scotland, UK(Tillydrone, Aberdeen city)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $80,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 58 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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