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Of the many events that have happened across the gaming industry, the story of Tetris is one of the most interesting. This simple puzzle game made in Russia had entire companies funding men to infiltrate the USSR to try and get its’ rights from their Ministry of Technology. Communist personnel played these capitalists off each other, with politics and corporate rivalry thrown in for good measure. It’s the kind of story that you’re surprised hasn’t been turned into a movie yet and after all these years it has with Apple TV’s Tetris.
Tetris (2023) is a biopic movie chronicling one man’s journey to get Nintendo the rights to Tetris so it could be bundled with the Gameboy. While the liberties Hollywood takes with the story may be a little too dramatized, it’s a brilliant retelling of the events, and with great performance all around.
Starting The Game
Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton), head of Bullet-Proof Software, is selling a game at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas when he comes across a peculiar game from Russia called Tetris. Rogers finds himself enamored with the game and soon finds that Nintendo wishes to license it for their upcoming handheld, the Gameboy. This however is easier said than done.
The game was first licensed worldwide for arcades, computers, and consoles by Andromeda Software’s Robert Stein (Toby Jones) who in turn licensed it to Mirrorsoft run by Howard Maxwell (Roger Allam). Stein however has not been getting royalties from Maxwell and the Russians are not speaking with him over the handheld rights. With so much uncertainty over contract deals, Rogers, Stein, and Maxwell’s son Kevin (Anthony Boyle) all travel to Russia in secret to speak with ELORG (Russia state own Ministry of electronics exports) about licensing the game themselves.
The trip isn’t easy though. Russia isn’t exactly kind to foreigners, KJB agents are everywhere, and Maxwell’s connections to Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev make Rogers’s trip a fight for his life. All the while Alexey Pajitnov, the actual creator of Tetris lives a humble life as a software engineer seeing no profit from his game that’s making others millions.
Scattered Blocks
If that long description tells you anything, there’s a lot to fit into place with Tetris and the movie can come off as somewhat confusing for those who aren’t knowledgeable about gaming. Terms like “handheld rights” vs “computer rights” and the names are several companies are regularly thrown around so it can be overwhelming for those that aren’t as familiar with retro gaming.
This is likely the reason that the first scene of the Tetris movie begins with a pretty lengthy exposition dump of Rogers just explaining how Tetris has been licensed from ELORG through Stein down to him finding it. It’s quite slow and feels a little spoonfed but with the sheer amount of information that needs to set the plot up, it does a decent job at making it digestible.
In fact, as someone with an interest in video game history, it does a really good job of setting up what these early gaming companies were like and making the characters feel distinct from each other despite all being middle-aged men in suits. As a Nintendo fan, I can certainly say it’s fun seeing the more cutthroat Nintendo of the 80s brought to life with Howard Lincoln and Horshi Yamuachi at the forefront.
The film also contains several animated cut-ins using pixel art that act like infographics. These give a vibrant display of the figures or case studies being portrayed in the meetings. It’s a nice touch and does help make the film more digestible to those coming in blind. This is all good setup for when the film really gets started: with the journey of these three men to Russia.
Capitalism in Communist Russia
Once they arrive in the grey, dangerous streets of the USSR the movie starts as a highly engaging thriller. The country (played by Scotland in real life) is instantly oppressive with people who are distant and KJB behind every corner. No one wants to help Henk and everyone is afraid for him and what he’s doing as it’s illegal for tourists to enter the government facilities let alone make business deals. The film makes the danger feel incredibly real, especially when Henk’s family in Japan starts getting threatened as well.
You wouldn’t think watching a bunch of business meetings would be that interesting but they’re the most exciting part of the movie. ELORG invited all three men to meet them at the same time but kept separate from each other. They move back and forth in a mixture of business and interrogations as different layers of corporate espionage and under-the-table dealings are peeled back. It’s really interesting especially when you remember that this all happened. All of this risk was taken in real life over securing a game that you can probably play on your phone for free right now.
The Hollywood Port
That being said not everything is completely accurate. The Tetris movie does have several elements that are fictional to make the movie more dramatic. The most notable is the subplot involving the corrupt KGB including a new villain who is completely made up. This allows the movie to include events like characters getting beaten by the secret police and even a car chase for the film’s climax. None of this happened.
I’m of two minds about this. On one hand, it feels unnecessary to have these conventional drama cliches when the original story is already so insane and dangerous. That being said, I do think it works as an extension of this pre-existing tension. What Henk Rogers did was illegal, he was being spied on by real KGB spies and it’s very possible he could have been arrested. From this, you could argue the film takes these dangers to a logical conclusion to further emphasize the stress, isolation, and oppression of being a lone foreigner in the USSR. This makes the movie perhaps a little more conventional but it does work at conveying the feelings of the characters to the audience.
Select Your Player
The cast makes for an exciting roster of players with Taron Egerton making for a great main character as Henk Rogers. He’s a bit of a wide-eyed dreamer with his instant love of Tetris but Egerton’s performance sells you on the guy. When he talks about how great he thinks the game is or how passionately he’s gonna see this deal through, you believe it.
He’s a great foil to Nikita Efremov who takes the role of Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov. When we first see Alexey, he’s a kind and soft-spoken man that’s been beaten down by the state. He knows not to go against the system and the dangers of Tetris’ popularity. You can see how it eats at him that he makes no profit from his own creation but he remains straight-laced to protect his family. The friendship between Henk and Alexey is the heart of the movie, with a lot of time devoted to seeing them bond over software programming and freedom of expression, showing that creativity and passion can cross cultural borders.
The Supporting NPCs
As for the side characters, the villains do feel a little like cartoons but they’re fun. The main antagonists, Robert and Kevin Maxwell are great as a classic mustache twirler and lackey who you just can’t wait to see get their comeuppance. Toby Jones likewise develops a solid performance as Robert Stein, the original licensor of Tetris who’s just trying to keep his original contract and getting more in over his head.
With the Russian authorities, Oleg Shtefanko excels as the intimidating ELORG head Nikolai Belikov. While he first comes off as a stern statesman ready to arrest his foreign guests, he comes around to being a reasonable leader, doing his best to ensure Tetris gets a fair deal. Speaking of which, Igor Grabuzov is delightfully slimy as the shady KGB agent Trifonov.
There are a number of other characters throughout the movie in minor roles including Nintendo personnel like Chairman Howard Lincoln, and North American President Minoru Arakawa but the highlight has to be Togo Igawa as Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi. He’s only in a couple of scenes but wow, he looks identical to the real man. The costume and makeup team deserve major props.
The Blocks Fall Into Place
The Tetris movie brings the insane story of one video game to life with flying pixels. While I could have done without the extra Hollywood drama, I can’t deny it was an effective narrative that showed the struggles of one man to bring a video game out of the Iron Curtain and the various tactics of corporate espionage that occurred in the background.
I enjoyed the spy thriller atmosphere of the USSR. The sets and tone were just right, keeping the film serious but with a playful gaming flair. The acting likewise keeps the many players recognizable and endearing to route for. Overall I’m satisfied with how this story has been adapted. It may not get the absolute high score but it shows the potential of video game biopics, bringing the story of Tetris to the next level.
The Tetris movie is now available for streaming on Apple TV.
The Review
PROS
- Great setting and atmosphere in the USSR
- Brings the original story to life with great execution and insight into early gaming
- Great acting from Taron Egerton and the rest of the cast
CONS
- Might be harder to follow by those who aren't as aware of the early gaming industry
- The Hollywood original characters and plot points feel unnecessary
