It feels weird to write it after decades of insults on their part, but yes, Hollywood has finally understood how we should adapt our video games. It took time, decades even, but producers, screenwriters and even directors finally understood that throwing boogers in the faces of gamers was no longer very profitable after the 2020s. you understand, not only did we love the Fallout series, but it is objectively the best adaptation of a video game to a TV series format, even above that of The Last of Us. Why? This is obviously what we will see together in the following paragraphs, since I spent my entire Monday binge-watching the 8 episodes of this show hosted by Jonathan Nolan, who is none other than the little brother by Christopher Nolan. And if the Amazon Prime Video series is such a success, it is also because Jonathan Nolan is a video game consumer and someone who deeply loves the Fallout series. Yes, the perfect combo.
We can say it without worrying about being attacked by Twitter haters: we are currently on beautiful trend in terms of adaptations of video games into films or TV series. Arcane, Cyberpunk Edgerunner, The Last of Us, Gran Turismo, Super Mario Bros (despite the abysmal emptiness of its story and its narration), the last Mortal Kombat to a certain extent (yes I know, it goes to waste halfway through of the film, but he had understood something at least), Fallout (by far), we are now on more qualitative productions than in the 90s and 2000s, even if I know that there are still some nice turds like the latest Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, or more recently the Halo series which was abused by players on Rotten Tomatoes. But then what has really changed in recent years in Hollywood? If we are to believe Jonathan Nolan, who is both the showrunner of the series, but also producer, co-writer and director of the first three episodes (the best in fact), it is because we now have a whole new generation of directors who grew up actually playing video games. Comments which were collected by Première magazine, which recalls that Christopher Nolan’s little brother is 47 years old, a generation which has therefore experienced the emancipation of video games, which fully embraces itself as a gamer in the interviews that he gives and that unlike previous directors and screenwriters, he does not look down on video games.
VIDEO GAMING FINALLY CONSIDERED?
Because yes, for decades, Hollywood has viewed the video game medium as a minor art, a subculture even, while filmmakers like him view it with admiration. Jonathan Nolan discovered the Fallout game with the 3rd episode in 2008 and spent nearly 40 hours on it. Enough to make him want to go further and take an interest in the license in its entirety and to propose to Todd Howard, the producer of both, a collaboration together. Involving the creator of the original materials is a good idea, something that Craig Mazin did with the series The Last of Us, by hiring Neil Druckmann to write, produce and even direct Episode 2. This is the miracle recipe, the one that will allow us to truly understand the original material, without denigrating it, and even go beyond it. Because before making money on it, the intention of these new creators is above all artistic, with the respect that we owe to this incredible industry that is video games.
Still in the interview given to Première, Jonathan Nolan also believes that the creators of video games have succeeded where cinema has failed, that is to say daring to write crazy stories, which went off the beaten track, borrowing a punk-rock path that cinema did not dare to take. It’s true that the story of Fallout does not lack inspiration, with an incredibly cinematic artistic touch, which also recalls that of BioShock. Atompunk atmosphere for Fallout and steampunk for that of Ken Levine’s game, admit that these cultural movements adapt perfectly to stories that are out of the ordinary. Moreover, I remind you that BioShock is also planned as a film via an adaptation produced by Netflix. Am I reassured? I don’t know. Netflix is capable of good and bad, rarely of the best, especially since adapting the BioShock universe in 2 or 2.5 hours is a perilous exercise. I think we should have opted for the TV series format. But we’ll see when the time comes.
In short, all this to return to our original point, namely to proclaim loud and clear that Fallout is to date the best adaptation of a video game, without possible dispute. Some will say The Last of Us, but what works better with Fallout than another? Quite simply because with Fallout, Jonathan Nolan used the basis of video games to make a distinct work, while The Last of Us is almost a shot-by-shot adaptation of the video game. There are several reasons for this and this is not a reason to discredit one more than another. Let’s say that the game The Last of Us is so cinematic in its staging, its narration and its writing that it was enough to transpose the game into a TV series almost simply for the sauce to take hold, and thus reach a new audience. And it worked, especially since certain episodes allow themselves to extend the lore.
For Fallout, it’s a little more complicated, in the sense that the series already has many more games, and there is no real assimilated hero. The characters we play in Fallout games are creations of the players, avatars that we create from head to toe. Choice of gender, face shape, haircut, skills, each Fallout hero corresponds to the identity of the creating player. It obviously doesn’t work like that in a film or a series, where the viewer must identify with a specific protagonist, with a liability, an identified personality. This is where Jonathan Nolan’s creative genius comes into play: by focusing his story on not one but three major, completely invented characters, obviously based on the lore of the video game. So we have Lucy MacLean, played by the hypnotizing Ella Purnell, a sunny young woman, bordering on candid and for good reason, she was born and raised in one of the many Vaults, these anti-atomic shelters which protected the rich from nuclear war for almost 200 years. It is her naivety and her limitless positivism that make her ultra friendly, but also very vulnerable to the outside world, this famous Wasteland where ultra violence has become the daily life of survivors of nuclear bombs.
We also have Aaron Moten who plays the role of Maximus, a member of the Brotherhood of Steel, who will go from simple squire to Knight capable of piloting these powerful armors, in order to crisscross Westland without fearing the slightest danger. He will become a great ally to Lucy and his personality, which is quite cold at first, but determined, will make him an interesting character to follow as well. Personally, I didn’t know this 35-year-old actor, and very sincerely, I was pleasantly surprised by these performances. I really felt like I was seeing a younger version of Denzel Washington, both in his physical features and his acting performances.
And finally, there is of course the Ghoul, an iconic creature from the Fallout games, which resembles a sort of zombie in its physical representation, whereas it is more of a human who has been exposed to radiation for too long. , hence his appearance of being putrefied, missing parts of his body and possessing superhuman strength. The genius of Jonathan Nolan is to have made a creature to kill in the game the most interesting character in the series, by writing him a past, a present and even a future. Cherry on the cake, the role was entrusted to the excellent Walton Goggins who finally has a role commensurate with his talent. He who has always played the second knife or the weirdo in Hollywood, I am very happy that Nolan thought of him for the role of Cooper Howard / The Ghoul.
And these three completely opposite characters will therefore cross paths several times in the 8/9 hours of programming of this Season 1 of Fallout, with the added bonus of this narration cut and alternated into three different prisms. We will move from one to the other with a perfectly controlled rhythm, while continuing to give substance to the central and common story, with other important characters who will be added to it. I’m thinking in particular of the investigation part of Norman McLean, Lucy’s little brother, whose revelations are undoubtedly what is most important in the series. And in addition to this narration which manages to keep you in suspense over the 8 episodes of 1 hour each, there is also this desire to change the settings and the eras. We move from the anti-atomic shelters with their atompunk atmosphere to the ravaged and desolate environments of the Wasteland, sometimes eyeing the western side, a genre that Jonathan Nolan has studied well since it also comes from the Westland series, of which he is the co- creator as well. I also hope that they can finish it, even if HBO canceled the last season.
OKI DOKI
You have understood, if Fallout is so qualitative, it is thanks above all to its story, its narration and its atmosphere, but also thanks to the quality of its staging and its settings, filmed for the majority of the time outdoors in natural settings. Of course, the series includes a lot of special effects and digital effects, but Jonathan Nolan wanted a grounded, realistic rendering, and between the desert of Namibia and the mountains of Utah, the series does not hesitate to put highlight its landscapes, often striking, especially as the wide shots allow us to better consider the extent of this post-apocalyptic world. The budget is there, $153 million for the entire series, and it shows on the screen. The aesthetic is there, often grandiose, especially since Nolan has not skimped on the ultra-violence either. We follow a group of people in a ravaged world, without law, without resources, inevitably, everyone kills each other for nothing. Blood spurts abundantly, limbs explode, heads are decapitated, with a deliberately rubbery and absurd side, to fit this surreal and sometimes burlesque atom-punk atmosphere. All this is obviously assumed and add to that a completely retro-delicious soundtrack, with songs from America in the 60s, and you will have a nice overview of what awaits you. Of course the main theme is in the series, especially since the sound design also uses the sounds of video games. A real treat for the ears. Moreover, fans of the series will love spotting all the easter eggs from the video games which have been placed with intelligence and parsimony, especially since we are even entitled to the origin story of certain elements of the game, like the creation of the Vault-boy, extremely well found.
Fallout is the perfect example of what you can do when you find the right people to adapt video games that deserve to go beyond their medium. Holywood has finally understood what the players expected, what moments in a game must be adapted, to what extent we can move away from it or not and when the exercise is successful, we generate interest in games, since since the TV series was released, sales of Fallout games have been revived. What if video games had become Hollywood’s new golden goose, who can no longer count on superhero films to explode their box office? I am convinced of it.
OUR RATING: 9/10
