What We Want in the Shadow of the Colossus Movie

No matter how many lackluster video game adaptations Hollywood churns out, there are always studios snatching up new properties for development And no matter how many times we're burned by films such as Prince of Persia or Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, we can't help but hope that Hollywood will finally deliver a strong adaptation.

Sony has been quietly developing Shadow of the Colossus for several years now. Momentum finally picked up on the project this week when it was announced that Chronicle director Josh Trank has signed on to helm the movie.

Shadow of the Colossus is undoubtedly one of the more challenging video games to adapt for film, but also potentially one of the most rewarding. Shadow of the Colossus could be the movie to finally break Hollywood's trend of bad video game movies. But if Trank is going to stand a chance, there are a few guidelines he should keep in mind along the way.

 

A Strong Artistic Direction

The common factor among all of Fumito Ueda's games are a sense of creativity and strong artistic style. One only needs to look at Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and the upcoming The Last Guardian to know they're all the product of the same mind.

We're hopeful that same flair for visual presentation and unique game worlds makes the transition to film. Shadow of the Colossus needs to offer viewers a stunning depiction of The Forbidden Land. This is a realm that should feel both familiar and alien and shouldn't resemble any one location on Earth too closely. The movie needs plenty of wide, sweeping vistas and haunting shots of a world that has decayed into ruin. The world should draw in viewers every bit as fully as Pandora did in James Cameron's Avatar.

Equally as important as the world design are the Colossi themselves. The game sees the protagonist, Wander, battle 16 hulking creatures who roam the Forbidden Land. The Colossi all have unique appearances and are all fusions of living tissue and local architecture. Despite their large size and unusual appearance, the Colossi need to feel as real and organic as anything else in the film. These aren't terrifying monstrosities, but living, breathing, feeling creatures.

With these elements driving the visual design, we're not sure a traditional live-action approach will suit this adaptation. At the very least, Trank may need to take the Zach Snyder/George Lucas approach and film live actors against a green screen. Or perhaps an even better (if more costly) approach would be to deliver a completely CG-animated adaptation. We haven't seen many studios attempt this method with video game adaptations, but in this case it could be the best way of bringing Ueda's world to life.

 

The Silent Treatment

Another defining trait of Shadow of the Colossus is the lack of dialogue. Wander's quest to destroy the Colossi is a mostly silent affair. And while there are some conversations and interactions in the game, the characters don't even speak English. Even the music was downplayed. The soundtrack to Shadow of the Colossus was very well-received, but the music only flared up during vital cut-scenes and the battles with the Colossi.

We hope to see the film embrace this minimalist approach to sound design. The game's distinct tone is thanks in part to the haunting, empty quality of the Forbidden Land. Wander has only his horse to rely on for company. Those long stretches of time between battles create a sensation of isolation in an alien landscape. What exactly is there to gain from adding dialogue and a thumping soundtrack to the mix?

We picture Shadow of the Colossus playing out similar to the opening act of Pixar's Wall-E. In that movie, neither Wall-E nor his companion EVE were capable of anything more than the most rudimentary form of communication. The result was that the movie conveyed its story more through emotion and action that dialogue. Colossus could be the same way. We want the film to focus on raw emotion as Wander bonds with Agro and becomes corrupted through the process of killing the magnificent creatures than roam the landscape.

As he did in the game, the character Lord Emon can provide whatever exposition is needed through his narration. Ideally, the rare moments of dialogue would be spoken in the game's nonsense language rather than English, but this may be asking too much of a big-budget Hollywood adaptation.

Too few films recognize the power of silence. But with the popularity of Wall-E and The Artist having dominated the Oscars recently, maybe audiences are ready for a hero who speaks softly and carries a magical sword.

 

Thrilling Battles

As vital as it is that the Shadow of the Colossus movie focus on the haunting and otherworldly nature of the Forbidden Land, the movie won't get very far if it can't deliver some epic Man vs. Colossus battles. It needs to be as much a violent action film as a quiet character drama. Otherwise, why not just hire Wes Anderson to direct it?

That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea...

Anyway, Shadow of the Colossus has the opportunity to deliver a very unique slate of action scenes in today's jaded Hollywood environment. The sheer scale of the Colossi is both a challenge and an asset for Trank and his collaborators to confront. These creature measure dozens or hundreds of feet tall. And even with his enchanted sword, Wander faces a monumental challenge in taking down even one Colossus. Look at it this way – the Colossus battles have to be exciting and challenging enough to make up for the extended stretches of gameplay with no action. In the same way, the various battles in the movie need to be epic enough to offset the periods of downtime.

Shadow of the Colossus will require some fancy special effects wizardry and clever cinematography to pull off these battles. That means Trank will have to leave behind the simple, found-footage approach of Chronicle and deliver something much more bold (unless he wants to deliver what would essentially be a big-budget remake of Trollhunter). Trank may also have to pick and choose among the best Colossus encounters in the game. Sixteen battles may not sound like much for a video game, but in the context of the film that would grow too repetitive. At most, five or six Colossus encounters seems like ample material for the film.

 

A Tragic Tone

Above all, Shadow of the Colossus is a tragedy. It's a pretty depressing story from start to finish. The entire conflict comes about because Wander is seeking to resurrect his lost love, Mono. The story is further darkened because Wander's heroic quest requires him to destroy 16 incredible creatures. If ever the phrase “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions” applied to a video game character, it's Wander.

Viewers need to feel the sense of pain and loss that comes with each Colossus kill. These creatures aren't monsters or villains. They're simply living beings who stand between Wander and his singular goal. Each kill is cause for sorrow, not joy. And that process of destruction takes a very physical toll on Wander over the course of the game. The character gradually takes on a haunted, demonic appearance as he kills more and more Colossi. That physical and psychological process of transformation needs to be reflected in the film. By the climax of the film, viewers should be questioning whether the end truly justifies the means in this adventure, and whether Wander is a hero or villain.

The truth, of course, is that there is no villain in the story. The characters and conflicts need to be presented in such a way that viewers can sympathize with Wander even as they lament the terrible actions he undertakes. There needs to be a profound sense of despair every time a Colossus is killed, and also a pervading hope that everything will be alright in the end.

The movie should strive to match the emotional resonance of the game as well. Shadow of the Colossus doesn't deliver a typical Hollywood happy ending by any stretch of the imagination, but nor does it end the story on a completely depressing note. There should be plenty of room left for interpretation as Wander's quest comes to a close.

 

Leave Room For More

Shadow of the Colossus is a complete and self-contained story, but that doesn't mean there's no room for sequels or spinoffs to the story. For one thing, there are subtle ties between this game and Ueda's first PS2 adventure, Ico. Depending how you choose to interpret the events of the two games, Shadow of the Colossus may even be a prequel to Ico.

Whether or not Sony chooses to move forward with an Ico adaptation, it's clear that the world presented in these games is ripe for further exploration. The Forbidden Land is merely one isolated area in a much larger landscape. To draw another comparison to Avatar, the world itself is rich and compelling enough that there's room for any number of sequels that don't necessarily have to feature the same characters.

Fans of Ueda's games have been frustrated these last few years as The Last Guardian has slipped further and further behind schedule. Perhaps the best outlet for new stories and adventures in the world of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus isn't more games, but a series of movies that can effectively capture what makes the game so brilliant in the first place. That's a tall order, and we'd like nothing better than to see Trank and the rest of his cast and crew rise to the challenge.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/25/what-we-want-in-the-shadow-of-the-colossus-movie