History Film / Tetris2023

* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: After securing the funding and (what he thinks are) the rights to start porting ''Tetris'', Henk gathers his Japanese employees to announce, in Japanese, "we are big failures now!" After a couple seconds of confused and worried reactions, Akemi steps in to correct Henk's pronunciation, and Henk repeats the announcement - "We are big PUBLISHERS now!" - to relieved cheers.

** The movie opens with Henk at an electronics convention in Las Vegas, demoing and trying to show off his "revolutionary" new computer game - ''[[TabletopGame/{{Go}} Go]]'' for PC.
** While Henk and Alexey are out partying, TheMenInBlack are seen getting into a car and entering an industrial building, presumably to crash the party. [[spoiler:They're actually there to threaten Henk's wife and family.]]

* BrokenPedestal: Kevin Maxwell starts the movie proud of being Robert Maxwell's son, [[InsistentTerminology even insisting on being called "Mr Maxwell", by anyone besides his father]]. By the end of it he is [[EvenEvilHasStandards so completely disgusted by his father's immoral (not to mention illegal) actions]], that he wants nothing more to do with him.

* ClosetShuffle: Alexey hides Henk in his storage room when he hears a loud bang on his door, since it's illegal for a foreigner to visit a Russian's home without the goverment's permission and supervision. [[spoiler:Thankfully, it's not the KGB but Alexey asks Henk to leave his house regardless]].

* ConsolationPrize: Robert Stein might have lost the console and handheld rights, but he still has the home computer and arcade rights by the end of the movie. [[spoiler:Too bad he is not getting any more money out of the arcades and his current computer publishers, Mirrorsoft, aren't going to give him anything because they are about to go bankrupt]][[note]]. The WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue in the Gaming Historian's [[https://youtu.be/_fQtxKmgJC8 video]] on ''Tetris'' states that he eventually lost ''those'' rights due to not being able to pay, ''right before the PC boom of the [=mid-90s=]''. Even though he had already made more than 250K from ''Tetris'' [[MyGreatestFailure he never got over losing it.]][[/note]].

* MoodyTrailerCoverSong: An ominous, synth version of the game's theme -- the Russian folk song "Korobeiniki" -- plays over the trailer, mixed with "[[Music/{{Europe}} The Final Countdown]]".

* AdaptationalVillainy: The real Robert Stein was more direct in his dealings and was, in fact, already negotiating handheld rights with Atari when Henk Rogers contacted him[[note]] In reality, the Game Boy had already been out in Japan, without any bundled games, for some time by then[[/note]], meaning he didn't go behind his back to screw him. His company, Andromeda Software, was much more than a simple IP leecher, it had, in fact, developed over 70 titles by the time Tetris came along, and Stein is known in his home country as "[[https://thecinemaholic.com/robert-stein-death/ The Father of Hungarian Video Game Development]]". Also, the movie severely underplays the fact that ''he was the man who discovered'' Tetris, ''recognised its huge potential and first bought it to a wider audience''. In general, he was a much more complicated and sympathetic person than the CorruptBureaucrat with a ChronicBackstabbingDisorder portrayed in the movie.

** After Henk makes [[CorruptBureaucrat Robert Stein]] an offer for the handheld rights (which tips Stein off that something big is afoot) he tries to screw Henk by taking the handheld rights for himself and selling them to the highest bidder. By the end of the movie, Belikov loses the [[LoopholeAbuse legal loophole]] that allowed him to sell the console rights to ''Tetris'', meaning he is '''stuck''' with the home computer and arcade rights, which he already sold and isn't getting any more money for. Even though he didn't go bankrupt after the events of the movie, the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue confirms [[MyGreatestFailure that he never got over losing the console rights]].

* LeonineContract: {{Subverted|Trope}}. The new contract Stein has to sign is ''presented'' to him this way by Belikov, since it also includes not only the original's home computer rights, but also the arcade rights which Stein sold to Mirrorsoft illegally. It includes much higher royalty rates and much stiffer penalties than the original contract Stein signed previously. The subversion is that in reality, it's mostly a BatmanGambit made to make Stein negotiate the rates and divert his attention [[ReadTheFinePrint from the fine print]].

* AdaptationalVillainy: The real Robert Stein was more direct in his dealings and was, in fact, already negotiating handheld rights with Atari when Henk Rogers contacted him[[note]] In reality, the Game Boy had already been out in Japan, without any bundled games, for some time by then[[/note]], meaning he didn't go behind his back to screw him. Also, the movie severely underplays the fact that ''he was the man who discovered'' Tetris, ''recognised its huge potential and first bought it to a wider audience''. In general, he was a more sympathetic person than the CorruptBureaucrat with a ChronicBackstabbingDisorder portrayed in the movie.

* AdaptationalVillainy:
** As the [[https://youtu.be/_fQtxKmgJC8 Gaming Historian shows]], the real Robert Stein was more direct in his dealings and was, in fact, already negotiating handheld rights with Atari when Henk Rogers contacted him[[note]] In reality, the Game Boy had already been out in Japan, without any bundled games, for some time by then[[/note]], meaning he didn't go behind his back to screw him. Also, the movie severely underplays the fact that ''he was the man who discovered'' Tetris, ''recognised its huge potential and first bought it to a wider audience''. In general, he was a more sympathetic person than the CorruptBureaucrat with a ChronicBackstabbingDisorder portrayed in the movie.
** {{Averted}} in the case of Robert Maxwell who was actually [[https://web.archive.org/web/20221112180724/https://thecrimewire.com/true-crime/The-Dark-World-of-Robert-Maxwell as ruthless in real life as he is portrayed in the movie]].

* AllForNothing: Kevin Maxwell plays this straight. After going through all the trouble to make a deal with ELORG for ''Tetris'' it turns out [[spoiler:that due to his father's fraudulent activities, the Maxwells don't have the liquid assets necessary to keep their end of the deal in time for the ''Tetris'' rights to be secured. His father [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Robert Maxwell]] still congratulates him however, because Kevin's efforts means the Maxwells are now able to [[WhiteCollarCrime bluff Nintendo into signing a fraudulent contract]], something that [[EvenEvilHasStandards horrifies Kevin]]]]. After all of this, he understandably goes into a VillainousBSOD.

* AsYouKnow: Subverted. Since the film mostly focuses on Henk Roger's involvement with licensing ''Tetris'', quite a few events took place prior to Roger's involvement, which he recounts to his AudienceSurrogate in the films opening scene.

** Henk and Alexey's spatial arrangement skills, [[TheTetrisEffect developed through playing Tetris]] allows them to quickly calculate [[spoiler:that Alexey's small car is ''just small enough'' to slip through the space between the road and the big truck that's coming their way allowing them to significantly increase the distance between them and the KGB. There is even a SuddenVideoGameMoment before they doing so, displaying Alexey's car, the KGB vehicles and the road as "Tetris Blocks"]].

* CompositeCharacter: Valentin Trifonov, the corrupt head of the KGB is not a real person. Instead he is meant to represent all the corrupt officers that lead to the USSR's downfall.

* CutApart: As Henk and Alexey are partying at secret nightclub in Moscow, the scene is intercut with two KGB agents are shown walking down a long corridor, leading the viewer to believe that they are about to be apprehended. [[spoiler:The two KGB agents then step through a set of double doors at the end of the corridor and into the offices of Bullet-Proof Software where they threaten Henk's wife. Henk continue to party with Alexey, blissfully unaware of what's happening back in Tokyo.]]

* FascistButInefficient: The Communist regime is shown to be full of corruption from the bottom-down to the higher echelons, with at least one ObstructiveBureaucrat present each step of the way, and even the occasional ReasonableAuthorityFigure being mistreated for not falling in line. Meanwhile people are starving in the streets and innovators like Alexey can't even make money out of their own creations. Most Russians know that this system is unsustainable and that it is eventually going to implode.

* FreakierThanFiction: One part of the film's tagline is a NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer ("the story you couldn't make up" says the trailer). Understandable, considering one of the toughest, nastiest obstacles to get the game released (as showcased also on the trailer) was [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar the Communist government of the USSR]]. Even more freaky, interviews with some of the real-life people portrayed in this film make clear that, if anything, the film's events are LighterAndSofter than what really happened or would have happened. That said, many of the action scenes such as the car chase, the rush to the airport, and the kiss and blackmail are all ArtisticLicense and RuleOfCool.

** For arranging to have the KGB beat up [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Nikolai Belikov]], the head of ELORG, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Robert Maxwell]] gets [[NasalTrauma his nose smashed in]] when he attempts to attack Belikov after signing the ''Tetris'' deal with Nintendo. The WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue reveals that Maxwell died while being ''over 5 billion pounds in debt''. His media empire collapsed and he is not-so-fondly remembered in the UK as one of Britain's most notorious fraudsters.
** After Henk makes [[CorruptBureaucrat Robert Stein]] an offer for the handheld rights (which tips Stein off that something big is afoot) he tries to screw Henk by taking the handheld rights for himself and selling them to the highest bidder. By the end of the movie, he loses the [[LoopholeAbuse legal loophole]] that allowed him to sell the console rights to ''Tetris'', meaning he is '''stuck''' with the home computer and arcade rights, which he already sold and isn't getting any more money for. Even though he didn't go bankrupt after the events of the movie, the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue confirms [[MyGreatestFailure that he never got over losing the console rights]].
** Valentin Trifonov, the corrupt head of the KGB that hounds both Henk and Alexey throughout the movie and [[spoiler:beats up [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Nikolai Belikov]] ''for simply doing his job and trying to secure a good deal for Russia'', ends up getting arrest for treason by his former subordinates, after it turns out he was being bribed by Robert Maxwell and tried to force a deal that wasn't in Russia's best interests]].

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Sasha the translator is shown as a cooky and naïve girl [[AntiquatedLinguistics who uses obscure and unusual English vocabulary]] that catches Henk's attention and follows him around during his crazy ideas no matter how much danger they're both in, she becomes his confidante and even kisses him near the climax. [[spoiler: In reality it's all a front, and she's a KGB agent sent to spy on him and the kiss was only meant to give them blackmail material against him, something that [[TruthInTelevision the KGB did do]] in [[https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-cia-and-kgb-tried-to-blackmail-this-world-leader-with-sex-tapes-927fc7ddbd48 real life]].]]

* NothingPersonal: Kevin Maxwell screwing Henk Rogers over his promised Japanese arcade rights and giving them to Sega doesn't exactly kill him, but it very nearly ''destroys'' him financially (since he was counting on the quick cash the arcade would give him to make the initial payment on his bank) and forces him to look for alternative means to find immediate capital at the start of the movie.

* PointyHairedBoss: Both Robert and Kevin Maxwell are shining examples of this. Robert Maxwell, the head of the Mirror Group, is a CorruptCorporateExecutive who doesn't pay his due royalties, defrauds the pensions of his own employees and built his empire on lies, false promises, backdoor deals with the KGB and WhiteCollarCrime while Kevin Maxwell is an [[RichBitch an arrogant prick]] who [[BadBoss looks down on anyone not his father]], [[NothingPersonal cancels signed deals signed by his representatives just because a better one came later]] and became the head of Mirrorsoft through the merit of [[{{Nepotism}} being Robert Maxwell's son]]. Even [[CorruptBureaucrat Robert Stein]] eventually has enough dealing with them and cuts his ties after punching Kevin and delivering [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech quite a scathing speech]] before leaving.

* ReadTheFinePrint: Robert Stein fails to notice until it's too late that the new contract he has signed with ELORG has a more restrictive definition of the term "home computer," meaning that he can no longer sell them via LoopholeAbuse. To be fair to Stein, this is mostly due to the fact that Belikov [[BatmanGambit focused his attention on the increased royalties and the arcade rights]].
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG (the [=USSR's=] software licensing company) surprisingly. He seems to be an ObstructiveBureaucrat at first, but once Henk Rogers explains to him how the wording of the original contract allowed Robert Stein to sell him the console rights to ''Tetris'' and how this can be fixed in a new contract, he is more than willing to listen. In the end he is just someone ''doing his job'' and trying to secure the best deal possible for his country [[XanatosSpeedChess by keeping all sides away from each other, collecting bits of information and adjusting the deals accordingly]]. That being said, [[spoiler:he gets into a lot of trouble with the FascistButInefficient Soviet regime, even receiving a brutal beating by TheMenInBlack for doing so at the behest of Roger Maxwell. In the end, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain this only makes Belikov take Henk Rogers side]] and he recruits Alexey Pajitnov to send the Maxwell "contract" (which was actually an offer they couldn't pay on time) to Henk via fax, thereby allowing him to expose Maxwell's lies to Howard Lincoln and get Nintendo's support to finally beat the Maxwells]].

** {{Invoked}} by Alexey as he reveals to Henk [[spoiler:that his father lost his livelihood in the USSR simply for publishing a book abroad. Now that he is helping Hank, this is going to happen to him for creating ''Tetris''. This is thankfully averted by the end of the movie when [[BigDamnReunion Alexey migrates with his family to the US with Henk's help]], and the two become TrueCompanions]].
** Robert Maxwell's [[spoiler: behind-the-scenes dealings with the KGB, end up [[NiceJobFixingItVillain backfiring on his son Kevin in a big way]] when they push Nikolai Belikov over to Henk's side, eventually leading to Henk revealing to the Nintendo execs that Mirrorsoft, Maxwell's company, didn't actually have '''any''' rights over ''Tetris''. This ''instantly'' makes Nintendo cancel their deal with them and head to Russia to get the deal directly from ELORG. Furthermore, his fraudulent business practices end up leaving the Maxwells without any money to actually '''pay''' for the ''Tetris'' license, leading him to offer book royalties instead, something that [[EurekaMoment Henk sees right through]] when the crucial time comes for the deals to be compared and signed]]. All this leads to a humiliating defeat for Kevin Maxwell and him going bankrupt shortly after the film's end.
* ShownTheirWork: While a number of portrayed events are not correct, such as the climactic chase scene with the KGB, [[https://web.archive.org/web/20230401041224/https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/tetris-movie/ a lot of the details around the movie are actually true]]. In fact the [[https://web.archive.org/web/20230330223439/https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1752480/Robert-Maxwell-Tetris-movie-KGB-Kevin-Maxwell-Taron-Egerton-John-S-Baird-interview real Kevin Maxwell commented that]] his father and his backdoor dealings with the KGB where ''way worse'' than what is portrayed in the movie.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: [[{{Nepotism}} Kevin Maxwell]] is shown to be a competent, if somewhat arrogant and pushy, negotiator, managing to secure an initial offer for the Tetris rights from ELORG (though that was mostly due to [[CorruptCorporateExecutive his father]]'s deals with the KGB). As the [[https://youtu.be/_fQtxKmgJC8 Gaming Historian shows]], in reality his ignorance played a huge part in Stein and Mirrorsoft eventually losing the Tetris deal.

** As the [[https://youtu.be/_fQtxKmgJC8 Gaming Historian shows]], the real Robert Stein was more direct in his dealings and was, in fact, already negotiating handheld rights with Atari when Henk Rogers contacted him[[note]] In reality, the Game Boy had already been out in Japan, without any bundled games, for some time by then[[/note]], meaning he didn't go behind his back to screw him. Also, the movie severely underplays the fact that ''he was the man who discovered Tetris, recognised its huge potential and first bought it to a wider audience''. In general, he was a more sympathetic person than the CorruptBureaucrat with a ChronicBackstabbingDisorder portrayed in the movie.

* AirGuitar: Henk Rogers does this during an underground party he attends with Alexey to the theme of [[Music/{{Europe}} Europe's "Final Countdown"]].
* AllForNothing: Kevin Maxwell plays this straight. After going through all the trouble to make a deal with ELORG for Tetris it turns out [[spoiler: that due to his father's fraudulent activities, the Maxwells don't have the liquid assets necessary to keep their end of the deal in time for the Tetris rights to be secured. His father [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Robert Maxwell]] still congratulates him however, because Kevin's efforts means the Maxwells are now able to [[WhiteCollarCrime bluff Nintendo into signing a fraudulent contract]], something that [[EvenEvilHasStandards horrifies Kevin]]]]. After all of this, he understandably goes into a VillainousBSOD.

** In addition, it's claimed that ''Super Mario Land'' was programmed in C, which also happens to be the language Henk Rogers' version of Tetris is written in. C compilers in the 80s were not optimized enough to output efficient code to run on video game consoles of the era, and so most games were programmed in assembly. [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality This was likely done because assembly can look like random gibberish to the average layman, while C is much more human readable.]] It was also likely to HandWave the fact that Henk was able to rewrite ''Tetris'' to run on Game Boy so quickly, as C code can be compiled to run on multiple platforms, while code written in assembly would require complete rewrites to run on a new platform.
* ArtisticLicenseArt: During his conversation with Yamauchi, Henk talks about partnership, bringing up comparisons with Zelda and Link. The game footage that follows is taken from VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwords, a game made [[AnachronismStew long after the release of Tetris on the NES]], and the characters shown are the Green and Blue Links, with no Zelda present.

** While Henk really was the one that suggested Tetris to be bundled with the Game Boy, in reality it was already out in Japan without any bundled games at the time Henk went to Russia to negotiate the handheld rights.
** Belikov's BatmanGambit in reality only involved him roasting [[CorruptBureaucrat Robert Stein]] over not paying his due royalties and imposing increased rates and penalties (which he was actually prepared to lower if Stein complained) in order to prevent him from [[ReadTheFinePrint reading the fine print]]. The Tetris Arcade rights were not actually involved the negotiations.
** While Henk Rogers, Robert Stein and Kevin Maxwell really were in Russia at the same time for the Tetris rights, they never became aware of each other's presence while they were there. [[spoiler: Henk Rogers and Robert Stein]] never actually met as Belikov was in fact ''very careful'' in keeping all parties separate and arranging his meetings with them in such a way so that they '''wouldn't''' accidentally bump into each other. The ChanceMeetingBetweenAntagonists was just added to the movie to create tension.

** Henk was not blackmailed to abandon his pursuit for the rights to Tetris, nor did he miss his daughter's recital to secure the rights.

* ArtisticLicenceLaw: Normally, in the case of Robert Stein, where new circumstances arise in an already existing agreement that need to be taken into account (in this case, that he sold the Arcade rights illegally and he was able to sell Console rights due to a LoopholeAbuse), you wouldn't sign a new contract, you'd sign an ''amendment'' to the original contract (which is what Stein actually signed in RealLife). The term "new contract" is used because most people in the audience are not familiar with contract amendments.

** During the final scene [[spoiler: where Henk Rogers, Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln are being chased by Valentin, who wants to apprehend them in order to prevent the Tetris deal from going forward, he and his agents stop the plane to Tokyo and attempt to arrest the Nintendo team there. It turns out Henk, Minoru and Howard ''took a different plane just to get the hell out of Moscow'' and proceeded to go back to Japan after they landed safely out of KGB/Soviet jurisdiction]].
* AsYouKnow: Subverted. Since the film mostly focuses on Henk Roger’s involvement with licensing Tetris, quite a few events took place prior to Roger’s involvement, which he recounts to his AudienceSurrogate in the films opening scene.
* BasedOnATrueStory: The film is a dramatized account of Henk Rogers' attempts to obtain the Tetris licenses. While a number of details have been changed, the overall timeline of events has been compressed, and a character or two has been added, the broad strokes of the film are accurate, along with a number of the smaller details.
* BatmanGambit: Belikov performs a masterful one on [[CorruptBureaucrat Robert Stein]]. After he calls the latter out on illegally selling Arcade Rights to Atari he presents him a new LeonineContract for the "Home Computer" AND the "Arcade" rights that Stein stiffed the Russians on. The contract has much higher royalty rates and much stiffer penalties than the original. As Belikov expects, Stein is too focused on negotiating the increase in royalties to ReadTheFinePrint and realize that the new contract now has ''a more restrictive definition of the term "home computer"'' which means he ''is essentially signing his Video Game rights away''.

* BigDamnReunion: A non-romantic one at the end of the movie. [[spoiler: Henk Rogers and Alexey Pajitnov]]
* BirdsOfAFeather: Once Alexey and Henk manage to spend some time together away from the eyes of the corrupt Soviet Regime, they immediately bond over their mutual love of programming and Tetris, becoming fast friends. They end up becoming TrueCompanions by the time the credits roll.

* {{Blackmail}}: Henk is [[spoiler:kissed by a KGB agent posing as his translator, which he rebuffs. Once he returns home to Tokyo, the Soviets fax him a picture of the kiss with the veiled threat that they will show it to his wife if he doesn’t stand down.]]
* BrickJoke:

* ChangedMyMindKid: When Henk returns to Russia [[spoiler: with Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa]] to secure the rights to Tetris once and for all, Alexey tells Rogers that he has used him and asks him to leave Russia and leave him and his family alone. [[spoiler: As he is leaving his hotel, he overhears something from the TheMenInBlack. During the final stretch of the movie Henk Rogers, Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa are about to be detained by TheMenInBlack outside of the ELORG building (with the implication that they are going to be assassinated). Alexey drops in with his car at the last moment to save them and help them escape]].
* ChekhovsSkill:
** While unsuccessfully trying to get a taxi on his first day in Russian, Henk notices a Russian guy raising a pack of Russian cigarettes easily stopping a taxi. [[spoiler: After his ChanceMeetingBetweenAntagonists with Robert Stein, he uses the same trick to quickly get a cab]].
** Henk and Alexey's spatial arrangement skills, [[TheTetrisEffect developed through playing Tetris]] allows them to quickly calculate [[spoiler: that Alexey's small car is ''just small enough'' to slip through the space between the road and the big truck that's coming their way allowing them to significantly increase the distance between them and the KGB. There is even a SuddenVideoGameMoment before they doing so, displaying Alexey's car, the KGB vehicles and the road as "Tetris Blocks"]].

* ClosetShuffle: Alexey hides Henk in his storage room when he hears a loud bang on his door, since it's illegal for a foreigner to visit a Russian's home without the goverment's permission and supervision. [[spoiler: Thankfully, it's not the KGB but Alexey asks Henk to leave his house regardless]].

* ConsolationPrize: Robert Stein might have lost the Console and Handheld rights, but he still has the "Home Computer" and "Arcade" rights by the end of the movie. [[spoiler: Too bad he is not getting any more money out of the Arcades and his current computer publishers, Mirrorsoft, aren't going to give him anything because they are about to go bankrupt]][[note]]. The WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue in the [[https://youtu.be/_fQtxKmgJC8 Gaming Historian's Video on Tetris]], states that he eventually lost ''those'' rights due to not being able to pay, ''right before the PC-Boom of the [=mid-90s=]''. Even though he had already made more than 250K from Tetris [[MyGreatestFailure he never got over losing it.]][[/note]].
* CorruptBureaucrat: Robert Stein, the head of Andromeda software, essentially an IP leeching company, who makes his living "scouting for software" (i.e. exploiting the work of talented programmers who are on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain) and selling the rights to the highest bidder. He is the one who supposedly handles the worldwide rights to Tetris, and is only able to do so via doing a LoopholeAbuse of his original contract. He is loyal to nobody and has the [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder bad habit of going behind the back of anyone he interacts with]] including his employers.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Robert Maxwell ''embodies'' this trope. He defrauds his own employees out of their retirement funds, doesn't pay his due Tetris royalties, does backdoor dealings with corrupt KGB Agents to secure said rights, uses his connection with Gorbachev to attempt to steal the rights away and [[spoiler: lies about having gained Tetris' console and handheld rights to Nintendo in order to make the company sign a fraudulent contract]].
* CreativeClosingCredits: Naturally the end credits are set against a game of ''Tetris'', with the cast’s photos being incorporated into the Tetrominos.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Even though he is not stupid by any means, ''nobody'' expected Alexey [[spoiler: to be such a capable GetawayDriver]].
* CutApart: As Henk and Alexey are partying at secret nightclub in Moscow, the scene is intercut with two KGB agents are shown walking down a long corridor, leading the viewer to believe that they are about to be apprehended. [[spoiler: The two KGB agents then step through a set of double doors at the end of the corridor and into the offices of Bullet-Proof Software where they threaten Henk's wife. Henk continue to party with Alexey, blissfully unaware of what's happening back in Tokyo.]]
* DefrostingIceQueen: A platonic version with Hank and Alexey. Alexey has good reason, of course, to be icy as friendships with foreigners are illegal.
* DestroyTheEvidence: Near the end of the movie [[spoiler: Kevin bumps into his father shredding incriminating documents involving the [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140827093109/http://australian-guardians.org/?page_id=808 infamous Daily Mirror Pension Fraud Scandal]]. While this doesn't have anything to do with Tetris directly, it does explain why the Maxwells don't have enough money to properly pay the one million dollars needed to secure the Tetris License from ELORG in their initial offer and why they had to renege on it]].

* DissonantSerenity: [[spoiler: Once Sasha is outed as a KGB DoubleAgent, she completely ditches the ManicPixieDreamGirl act and appears in front of Henk in full KGB uniform, completely calm and remorseless. She does this on purpose to unnerve him and break his morale]].
* DoubleAgent: [[spoiler:Sasha, Henk’s translator, is actually a KGB agent spying on Henk and creating blackmail material to use against him.]]

** Henk Rogers is introduced becoming ''obsessed'' with Tetris after unsuccessfully trying to promote his "Go" game and accurately describing TheTetrisEffect.
** The first thing we see Kevin Maxwell do is screw Henk over the Tetris arcade rights, which puts Henk in dire financial straits, since he needed the capital generated by the Arcade to make the initial payment on his bank loan. It's NothingPersonal, however.
** Robert Maxwell is introduced casually mentioning [[WhiteCollarCrime "a small error in the retirement fund books"]] to his son Kevin (actually the infamous [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140827093109/http://australian-guardians.org/?page_id=808 Daily Mirror Pension Fund Scandal]]) right before turning his attention back to Tetris and [[{{Foreshadowing}} refusing to pay Robert Stein his due royalties for the home computer sales]].
** Robert Stein, after verbally agreeing with Henk to secure the Tetris Handheld rights for 25K (handhelds being something he didn't even know ''existed'' before Henk told him), [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder goes behind Henk's back and attempts to sell them to Atari for 100k]].

** Once Henk lays his eyes on the Game Boy, he ''just knows'' that it's '''made''' to be played with Tetris.

** A more significant one comes near the end. [[spoiler: When Henk sees that Robert Maxwell is paying in book licensing rights instead of money, he realizes that Maxwell is broke and doesn't have the money to actually buy Tetris]].
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** Kevin Maxwell might be an arrogant prick [[NothingPersonal who screwed over Henk Rogers over Tetris' arcade rights]] but [[spoiler: even he is disgusted by his father's corruption and behind-the-scenes deals with the corrupt Russian officials]].

* FascistButInefficient: The Communist Regime is shown to be full of corruption from the bottom-down to the higher echelons, with at least one ObstructiveBureaucrat present each step of the way, and even the occasional ReasonableAuthorityFigure being mistreated for not falling in line. Meanwhile people are starving in the streets and innovators like Alexey can't even make money out of their own creations. Most Russians know that this system is unsustainable and that it is eventually going to implode.

** Robert Maxwell holding back on paying Robert Stein his owed royalties for the Home Computer Tetris sales is a serious indicator [[spoiler: that his fraudulent activities left him without any liquid assets to actually pay for ''anything'', which plays a big part during the film's climax]].
** The line about Russia selling out to the West by selling the rights to Tetris, told from Valentin, the head of the KGB to Kevin Maxwell, is repeated almost verbatim from Sasha to Henk Rogers. [[spoiler: Guess who turns out to be a DoubleAgent for the KGB later on]].

* GetawayDriver: During the film's climax [[spoiler: Alexey becomes this for Henk Rogers, Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln as they attempt to escape the KGB and exit Moscow in a HotPursuit]].
* GetOut: After signing the Tetris rights to Nintendo and [[NasalTrauma headbutting Robert Maxwell on the nose]], Belikov makes a hand sign cueing both the CorruptCorporateExecutive and his [[{{Nepotism}} snotty son]] to get the hell out of his office. [[VillainExitStageLeft Kevin Maxwell wisely complies]].
* TheHeavy: Robert Maxwell may be the overall BigBad of the movie, but Trifonov is a fictional representation of the corruption of the KGB that was impeding the negotiations surrounding Tetris and is the one who comes into conflict with Henk the most.
* HiddenDepths: Henk Roger's might have a "Cowboy" reputation but it also turns out he is ''very good'' at reading contracts and finding potential loopholes. This is what eventually convinces [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG]] to listen to him.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Robert Stein screwing Henk Rogers over the handheld rights is what prompts the latter to go to Russia to get them directly. [[spoiler: Which leads to Henk pointing out to the Russians that Stein sold the Arcade rights to Atari illegally and that there was a [[LoopholeAbuse loophole in the original contract which allowed him to legally sell the Tetris Video Game rights to Nintendo]]. The loophole is fixed in the LeonineContract Stein is forced to sign for the Home-Computer '''and''' Arcade rights. Being blind-sided by being called out by Belikov for illegally selling Arcade rights moments before, who [[BatmanGambit also focuses Stein's attention on the increased royalty rates]], Stein doesn't notice the loophole got patched [[VillainousBreakdown and he is not happy when he eventually finds out]]]].

** The Nintendo executives look great in this movie. Their business practices are completely above board and they even end up sticking their necks out to help Henk finally secure the deal in Moscow. Even when it looks like Tetris is lost to Atari, they confirm they have no issues with Henk and promise to work together on another project.
* HotPursuit: One takes place during the film's climax.[[spoiler: Once Howard Lincoln, Minoru Arakawa and Henk Rogers collectively sign the contract with ELORG over Tetris Video Game and Handheld Rights to Nintendo in front of the film's BigBad Robert Maxwell, [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG]] calmly informs them that [[ExactWords they won't be safe until they leave Moscow]]. Robert Maxwell, in a final desperate bid to acquire the rights, makes a deal with the corrupt head of the KGB to apprehend them and cancel the deal (with the implication that he is allowed to torture them or worse in order to do so). The KGB is about to arrest Henk, Howard and Minoru but then [[ChangedMyMindKid Alexey crashes the scene, puts them in his car]] and becomes their GetawayDriver for the rest of the scene]].

** Valentin, the corrupt head of the KGB who hounds Alexey and Henk throughout the movie. He might make a big speech to Kevin Maxwell about [[SeriousBusiness Russia selling out to the west by selling Tetris to foreigners]] but at the end of the day, all he cares about is getting paid, something that [[EvenEvilHasStandards Kevin Maxwell picks up right away and is thoroughly against]]. He also has no problem making backdoor deals with CorruptCorporateExecutive Robert Maxwell in order to make a profit out of Tetris.
** Howard Lincoln tries to dissuade Henk from going to Moscow since they will see an American like him as a threat (despite the fact that he's Dutch). And once he gets to Moscow, Howard's concerns are proven true when the KGB immediately threatens to put him in jail for conducting business while under a Tourist Visa. Later in the film Lincoln does exactly that, despite being an American himself and in much more danger than Henk or Minoru Arakawa (a Dutch national who runs his business in Japan and a Japanese national and executive for a Japanese owned company).

* TheIdealist: Surprisingly, [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure the head of ELORG, Nikolai Belikov]] is shown to be one. He truly embraces Soviet Communist ideals and does his best to XanatosSpeedChess his way into securing the best possible Tetris deal, ''not for him but for his country''. [[spoiler: It gets beaten out of him by the corrupt leader of the KGB [[DragonWithAnAgenda Valentin Trifonov]], forcing him to face the reality that Communist Ideals are in fact dead, which makes him decide to do his best [[NiceJobFixingItVillain to help Henk Rogers expose the corrupt Maxwells]]]].

* KarmicJackpot: For helping Henk Rogers out in his time of need, facing disastrous consequences in doing so and [[spoiler: being his GetawayDriver]] Alexey gains a [[TrueCompanions great friend]], one that helps him settle in the US and start the "Tetris Company" to ''finally'' gain some royalties from his creation.

** Kevin Maxwell nearly drives Henk Rogers to bankruptcy at the start of the movie by screwing him over the Japanese Tetris Arcade rights and handing them over to Sega (though it was NothingPersonal). By the end of the movie he suffers a humiliating defeat over the Tetris Handheld and Console rights and the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue reveals that he went bankrupt himself shortly after the events of the movie took place.
** For arranging to have the KGB beat up [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Nikolai Belikov]], the head of ELORG [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Robert Maxwell]], gets [[NasalTrauma his nose smashed in]], when he attempts to attack Belikov after signing the Tetris deal with Nintendo. The WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue reveals that Robert Maxwell died while being ''over 5 billion pounds in debt''. His Media-Empire collapsed and he is not-so-fondly remembered in the UK as one of Britain's most notorious fraudsters.
** After Henk makes [[CorruptBureaucrat Robert Stein]] an offer for the handheld rights (which tips Stein off that something big is afoot) he tries to screw Henk by taking the handheld rights for himself and selling them to the highest bidder. By the end of the movie, he loses the [[LoopholeAbuse legal loophole that allowed him to sell Tetris Console Rights]], meaning he is '''stuck''' with the Tetris Home Computer and Arcade rights, that he already sold and isn't getting any more money for. Even though he didn't go bankrupt after the events of the movie, the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue confirms [[MyGreatestFailure that he never got over losing the Tetris Console Rights]].
** Valentin Trifonov, the corrupt head of the KGB that hounds both Henk and Alexey throughout the movie and [[spoiler: beats up [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Nikolai Belikov]] ''for simply doing his job and trying to secure a good deal for Russia'', ends up getting arrest for treason by his former subordinates, after it turns out he was being bribed by Robert Maxwell and tried to force a deal that wasn't in Russia's best interests]].
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In the context of the trailer. After showing a shot of Rogers getting in a car accident during a high-speed chase, it smashes to black and fades into him in a meeting room, calling someone “the kings of cliffhangers”.
* LeonineContract: {{Subverted}} The new contract Stein has to sign is ''presented'' to him this way by Belikov, since it also includes along with the original's Home Computer rights, the Arcade rights which Stein sold to Mirrorsoft illegally. It includes much higher royalty rates and much stiffer penalties than the original contract Stein signed previously. The subversion is that in reality, it's mostly a BatmanGambit made to make Stein negotiate the rates and divert his attention [[ReadTheFinePrint from the fine print]].
* LoopholeAbuse: As Henk Rogers explains to Belikov, after the latter accuses the former's NES version of Tetris to be illegal, [[CorruptBureaucrat Robert Stein]] is indeed able to legally sell Tetris Video Game rights to Rogers and Atari, even though he was only supposed to get only "Home Computer Rights" because the original contract he signed with ELORG has a ''very loose'' definition of what a "Home Computer" actually '''is''', meaning it can also apply to consoles.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Sasha the translator is shown as a cooky and naive girl [[AntiquatedLinguistics who uses obscure and unusual English vocabulary]] that catches Henk's attention and follows him around during his crazy ideas no matter how much danger they're both in, she becomes his confidante and even kisses him near the climax. [[spoiler: In reality it's all a front, and she's a KGB agent sent to spy on him and the kiss was only meant to give them blackmail material against him, something that [[TruthInTelevision the KGB did do]] in [[https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-cia-and-kgb-tried-to-blackmail-this-world-leader-with-sex-tapes-927fc7ddbd48 real life]].]]

* MoodyTrailerCoverSong: An ominous, synth version of the game’s theme - the Russian folk song “Korobeiniki” - plays over the trailer, mixed with “[[Music/{{Europe}} The Final Countdown]]”.
* NasalTrauma: Robert Maxwell gains a well-deserved one, when he attempts to physically attack [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Belikov]], after the latter signs over the Tetris Console and Handheld rights to Nintendo.
* {{Nepotism}}: Played with. It's heavily implied that Kevin Maxwell, got the job as president of Mirrorsoft due to his father's company owning it and throughout the movie he is portrayed as an arrogant {{Jerkass}}. He is also not a CorruptCorporateExecutive like his father, and while he did indeed screw Henk over the Tetris arcade rights, at the start of the movie, [[EvenEvilHasStandards he draws the line when it comes to using illegal means to achieve his goals]]. [[spoiler: When he finds out that his father went behind his back and bribed the head of the KGB to secure the rights of Tetris by any means necessary, [[BrokenPedestal he is both disgusted and horrified]] but at this point he has no choice but to go along with it]].
* NearVillainVictory: At the halfway mark of the movie, [[spoiler: on Robert Maxwell's orders the KGB beats up Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG and it seems that they have successfully intimidated him into signing over the Tetris Video Game Rights to Mirrorsoft, Maxwell's company. Nintendo exec Howard Lincoln calls Henk Rogers to inform him that he has failed to secure the rights and that they will try to secure them from Mirrorsoft. Henk stands defeated facing bankruptcy. And then it turns out that [[NiceJobFixingItVillain the beating actually convinced Belikov to help Rogers and defy the KGB]]. He hands over a copy of the Mirrorsoft "contract" (actually an offer that expired) to Alexey Pajitnov and instructs him to send it over to Henk. This allows Henk to finally turn the tables on the Maxwells by revealing to Nintendo that ''Mirrorsoft never had a deal with ELORG in the first place'']].
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler: The Head KGB Agent brutally beating up [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG]], at the behest of Robert Maxwell is what eventually convinces Belikov to side with Rogers and do everything in his power to help Henk reveal the Maxwells' lies to Nintendo execs Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa thereby securing the Tetris Rights deal]].
* NoHonorAmongThieves: The movie's three main antagonists, Robert Stein, Robert Maxwell and Kevin Maxwell end up '''royally''' screwing over each other with their antics. [[spoiler: Robert Stein goes behind the Maxwells' backs selling video game and handheld rights to the highest bidder (the latter of which he doesn't actually have) which is what causes Henk Rogers to go to the USSR to get the rights directly. This eventually leads Rogers [[HoistByHisOwnPetard to point out to Nikolai Belikov the head of ELORG the loophole in the original contract that allowed Stein to sell the former, and the loophole getting fixed costing Stein, and consequently Mirrorsoft, the Console Rights]]. Robert Maxwell refuses to pay Stein his owed royalties for Tetris computer sales (forcing Stein to look for money elsewhere) and does some behind-the-scenes dealings with the KGB, without Stein or his son knowing, which backfires in a '''big''' way, when his attempts to intimidate Belikov by having the KGB beat him up [[NiceJobFixingItVillain end up making him side with Rogers instead]]. He also hides the fact his fraudulent dealings left his company without any money from his own son who is attempting to secure the rights in Russia, thereby resulting in him making an offer to ELORG that the Maxwells can't actually pay and has to be eventually withdrawn. It all ends up with a grand ''triple VillainousBreakdown'' with every one of them going for each other's throats]].
* NothingPersonal: Kevin Maxwell screwing Henk Rogers over his promised Japanese arcade rights and giving them to Sega doesn't exactly kill him, but it very nearly ''destroys'' him financially (since he was counting on the quick cash the Arcade would give him to make the initial payment on his bank) and forces him to look for alternative means to find immediate capital at the start of the movie.

* PaperTiger: Robert Maxwell turns out to be one. [[spoiler: He is broke and doesn't actually have any money left to buy Tetris attempting to pay in book royalties instead. He makes one last desperate bribe to Valentin the head KGB agent to apprehend Henk and stop the deal, but he fails to do so and the Tetris deal falls through]].
* PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure: [[spoiler: After losing his job and getting evicted from his home for helping Henk, Alexey thinks Henk Rogers used him and tells him to stay away from him and his family when Henk comes back to Russia for the second time with Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa to secure the Tetris Rights once and for all. [[ChangedMyMindKid When Alexey overhears the KGB planning to detain Henk, he changes his mind and decides to come back to help him]]]].
* PointyHairedBoss: Both Robert and Kevin Maxwell are shining examples of this. Robert Maxwell, the head of the "Mirror Group" is a CorruptCorporateExecutive who doesn't pay his due royalties, defrauds the pensions of his own employees and built his empire on lies, false promises, backdoor deals with the KGB and WhiteCollarCrime while Kevin Maxwell is an [[RichBitch an arrogant prick]] who [[BadBoss looks down on anyone not his father]], [[NothingPersonal cancels signed deals signed by his representatives just because a better one came later]] and became the head of Mirrorsoft through the merit of [[{{Nepotism}} being Robert Maxwell's son]]. Even [[CorruptBureaucrat Robert Stein]] eventually has enough dealing with them and cuts his ties after punching Kevin and delivering [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech quite a scathing speech]] before leaving.

* ReadTheFinePrint: Robert Stein fails to notice until it's too late that the new contract he has signed with ELORG has a more restrictive definition of the term "Home Computer" -meaning he can't sell Console rights due to a LoopholeAbuse anymore. To be fair to Stein this is mostly due to the fact that Belikov [[BatmanGambit focused his attention on the increased Royalties and the Arcade rights]].
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG (the [=USSR's=] software licensing company) surprisingly. He seems to be an ObstructiveBureaucrat at first, but once Henk Rogers explains to him how the wording of the original contract allowed Robert Stein to sell him the Console Rights to Tetris and how this can be fixed in a new contract, he is more than willing to listen. In the end he is just someone ''doing his job'' and trying to secure the best deal possible for his country [[XanatosSpeedChess by keeping all sides away from each other, collecting bits of information and adjusting the deals accordingly]]. That being said, [[spoiler: he gets into a lot of trouble with the FascistButInefficient Soviet regime, even receiving a brutal beating by TheMenInBlack for doing so at the behest of Roger Maxwell. In the end, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain this only makes Belikov take Henk Rogers side]] and he recruits Alexey Pajitnov to send the Maxwell "contract" (which was actually an offer they couldn't pay on time) to Henk via fax, thereby allowing him to expose Maxwell's lies to Howard Lincoln and get Nintendo's support to finally beat the Maxwells]].

* RichBitch: Kevin Maxwell is a male example of this trope, being assigned the position of being president of Mirrorsoft, [[{{Nepotism}} purely through the merit of being Robert Maxwell's son]] and looking down arrogantly on anyone that is not [[CorruptCorporateExecutive his father]]. [[spoiler: He does get ''somewhat'' better when he witnesses first-hand [[BrokenPedestal what sort of person his father is]]]].
* RogueAgent: Valentin Trifonov is a KGB agent that is supposed to look after his country's best interests. He instead makes a deal with [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Robert Maxwell]] to give him a piece of the Tetris profits, once Mirrorsoft signs a deal.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Robert Maxwell frequently uses his friendship with Gorbachev as an excuse to circumvent Russian bureaucracy when it comes to the game rights. [[spoiler:However, those connections mean squat as the Soviet officials know that the USSR is on their way out and they intend on making a major profit on ''Tetris'' one way or another. So when they demand a large sum for the rights that Mirrorsoft doesn’t have…]]
* SeriousBusiness: The Russians view Henk’s efforts to license ''Tetris'' as a crime. They believe it is a slippery slope from licensing a game to selling away the USSR to the highest bidder.[[spoiler: The line, however, is delivered by [[DoubleAgent Valentin]], a person who is well aware that the USSR is halfway to collapse anyways. It's also repeated by Sasha to Henk Rogers {{foreshadowing}} the fact that she is also a DoubleAgent for the KGB. Additionally, once Mikhail Gorbachev himself learns of the licensing battle from Robert Maxwell, it turns out he has no problem with it]].

** {{Invoked}} by Alexey as he reveals to Henk [[spoiler: that his father lost his livelihood in the USSR simply for publishing a book abroad. Now that he is helping Hank, this is going to happen to him for creating Tetris. This is thankfully averted by the end of the movie when [[BigDamnReunion Alexey migrates with his family to the US with Hank's help]], and the two become TrueCompanions]].
** Robert Maxwell's [[spoiler: behind-the-scenes dealings with the KGB, end up [[NiceJobFixingItVillain backfiring on his son Kevin in a big way]] when they push Nikolai Belikov over to Henk's side, eventually leading to Henk revealing to the Nintendo execs that Mirrorsoft, Maxwell's company, didn't actually have '''any''' rights over Tetris. This ''instantly'' makes Nintendo cancel their deal with them and head to Russia to get the deal directly from ELORG. Furthermore, his fraudulent business practices end up leaving the Maxwells without any money to actually '''pay''' for the Tetris license, leading him to offer book royalties instead, something that [[EurekaMoment Henk sees right through]] when the crucial time comes for the deals to be compared and signed]]. All this leads to a humiliating defeat for Kevin Maxwell and him going bankrupt shortly after the film's end.
* ShownTheirWork: While a number of portrayed events are not correct, such as the climactic chase scene with the KGB, [[https://web.archive.org/web/20230401041224/https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/tetris-movie/ a lot of the details around the movie are actually true]]. In fact the [[https://web.archive.org/web/20230330223439/https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1752480/Robert-Maxwell-Tetris-movie-KGB-Kevin-Maxwell-Taron-Egerton-John-S-Baird-interview real Kevin Maxwell commented that]] his father and his backdoor dealings with the KGB where ''way worse'' than what is portrayed in the movie.
* SuddenVideoGameMoment: Sprinkled throughout the film are moments when video game graphics are imposed upon the real world - Rogers describing his experience with the game as Tetrominos descend behind him and a car crash suddenly being rendered as a pixilated image - as well as moments portrayed as video game pixel art such as travel montages, car chases, and establishing shots.
* TheTetrisEffect: Henk Rogers describes it pretty accurately during the film's trailer and the opening scene. It's a film involving the TropeNamer after all. It's one of the main reasons he falls in love with the game. [[spoiler: It comes back as a ChekhovsSkill during the film's final ChaseScene]].

** Robert Maxwell, Robert Stein and Kevin Maxwell all have a ''collective one'' near the end of the movie when it turns out that they are about to lose the Tetris Video Game and Handheld rights to Nintendo.
** Valentin also has one [[spoiler: when he gets arrested for treason by Sasha, his former subordinate]].
* VillainousBSOD: Kevin Maxwell has one when he realizes [[spoiler: his father's fraudulent business dealings left their company, Mirrorsoft, without any money to pay ELORG on time in order to properly secure the Tetris Video Game and Handheld rights]].
* WhatTheHellHero: Henk's wife Akemi is none too happy about him missing Maya's concert, and his prioritization of the Tetris deal over it.
* WhenYouComingHomeDad: Henk’s daughter Maya expresses her disappointment of her father’s absence while he chases the game rights and wishes for him to attend a school concert. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he just misses it. He makes up for it by watching it with his wife in private at the end of the movie.]]
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: One is shown at the end of the movie showcasing what happened with Tetris and its major players interspersed with news clips.

** Robert Stein continued licensing and selling software. [[MyGreatestFailure He never got over losing the Tetris Video Game Rights]].
** Tetris is currently one of the most popular video games ever made, selling over 500 million official units.
* WhiteCollarCrime: [[spoiler: Robert Maxwell attempts to have Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa of Nintendo sign a fraudulent contract for the Tetris Handheld and Console rights, ''rights that he doesn't have since he failed to pay ELORG the necessary money to secure them'']]. If the [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140827093109/http://australian-guardians.org/?page_id=808 infamous Daily Mirror Pension Fraud Scandal]] (which is also mentioned in the movie) is any indication, he has done such deals plenty of times in the past.

* XanatosSpeedChess: Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG, is shown to be '''very''' good at it, keeping Henk Rogers, Robert Stein and Kevin Maxwell separated, collecting bits and pieces of information from them and adjusting contracts as well as approaches accordingly as he tries to secure the best possible deal from Tetris for his country. [[spoiler: When the KGB gets on his case, however, and brutally beats him up to force him to take up the Maxwells' deal no matter how ridiculously bad it might be for Russia [[NiceJobFixingItVillain he decides to stop playing chess and just help Henk Rogers expose the Maxwells in order to secure the Tetris deal]]]].

** As the [[https://youtu.be/_fQtxKmgJC8 Gaming Historian shows]], the real Robert Stein was more direct in his dealings and was, in fact, already negotiating handheld rights with Atari when Henk Rogers contacted him[[note]] In reality, the Gameboy had already been out in Japan, without any bundled games, for some time by then[[/note]], meaning he didn't go behind his back to screw him. Also, the movie severely underplays the fact that ''he was the man who discovered Tetris, recognised its huge potential and first bought it to a wider audience''. In general, he was a more sympathetic person than the CorruptBureaucrat with a ChronicBackstabbingDisorder portrayed in the movie.

** While Henk really was the one that suggested Tetris to be bundled with the Gameboy, in reality it was already out in Japan without any bundled games at the time Henk went to Russia to negotiate the handheld rights.

** Once Henk lays his eyes on the Gameboy, he ''just knows'' that it's '''made''' to be played with Tetris.
--->'''Henk:''' If you want ten-year-olds to buy the Gameboy, pack in Mario. If you want ''everyone'' to buy the Gameboy, pack in Tetris.

** The Gameboy became one of Nintendo's biggest sellers, thanks in no small part to Tetris.

* DirtyCop: Valentin Trifonov is a KGB agent that is supposed to look after his country's best interests. He instead makes a deal with [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Robert Maxwell]] to give him a piece of the Tetris profits, once Mirrorsoft signs a deal.

* PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure: [[spoiler: After losing his job and getting evicted from his home for helping Henk, Alexey thinks Henk Rogers used him and tells him to stay away from him and his family when Henk comes back to Russia for the second time with Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa to secure the Tetris Rights once and for all.]]
[[ChangedMyMindKid When Alexey overhears the KGB planning to detain Henk, he changes his mind and decides to come back to help him]]].

* PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure: [[spoiler: After losing his job and getting evicted from his home for helping Henk, Alexey thinks Henk Rogers used him and tells him to stay away from him and his family when Henk comes back to Russia for the second time with Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa to secure the Tetris Rights once and for all. [[ChangedMyMindKid When Alexey overhears the KGB planning to detain Henk, he changes his mind and decides to come back to help him]]].

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Robert Stein betrays everyone he comes across including his main employers, the Maxwells (though this is {{justified}} because they don't pay him his due royalties). When Henk Rogers offers to pay him 25K to get the handheld rights to Tetris (handhelds being something Stein didn't even know ''existed'' at the time), he realizes that something big is afoot and goes behind Henk's back to attempt to sell them to Atari for '''100K'''. Henk realizes Stein can't be trusted and heads to Russia to secure the rights himself kickstarting the plot.

** During the final big chase when Henk Rogers, Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln are making their getaway in the airport, Henk attempts to give Alexey a goodbye ManHug for being his friend and GetawayDriver. Alexey refuses, telling him that this not the time for "American Sentiment" before telling him to move quickly into the airplane and not look back. [[spoiler: Those words come back in the BigDamnReunion]].
-->'''Henk:''' Is ''now'' the time for "American Sentiment"?

** Even though he doesn't receive any direct comeuppance for his back-handed dealings throughout the movie, the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue reveals that [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Robert Maxwell]] dies while being ''over 5 billion pounds in debt''. His Media-Empire collapsed and he is not-so-fondly remembered in the UK as one of Britain's most notorious fraudsters.

** "Good ideas have no borders"

* ArtisticLicenceArt: During his conversation with Yamauchi, Henk talks about partnership, bringing up comparisons with Zelda and Link. The game footage that follows is taken from VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwords, a game made [[AnachronismStew long after the release of Tetris on the NES]], and characters shown are the Green and Blue Links, with no Zelda appearing.

** Sasha [[spoiler: who is a DoubleAgent for the KGB is disgusted by her boss' backdoor dealings with Robert Maxwell, realizing that he is a {{hypocrite}} who only cares about making money and doesn't give a flying crap about Communist ideals]].

* PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure: [[spoiler: After losing his job and getting evicted from his home for helping Henk, Alexey thinks Henk Rogers used him and tells him to stay away from him and his family when Henk comes back to Russia for the second time with Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa to secure the Tetris Rights once and for all. [[ChangedMyMindKid He changes his mind and decides to come back to help him, when he overhears the KGB planning to detain him]]]].

** Maya, Henk's daughter eventually became the company's president.

** Kevin Maxwell nearly drives Henk Rogers to bankruptcy at the start of the movie by screwing him over the Tetris Arcade rights and handing them over to Atari (though it was NothingPersonal). By the end of the movie he suffers a humiliating defeat over the Tetris Handheld and Console rights and the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue reveals that he went bankrupt himself shortly after the events of the movie took place.

* NothingPersonal: Kevin Maxwell screwing Henk Rogers over his promised arcade rights and giving them to Atari doesn't exactly kill him, but it very nearly ''destroys'' him financially (since he was counting on the quick cash the Arcade would give him to make the initial payment on his bank) and forces him to look for alternative means to find immediate capital at the start of the movie.

* TheIdealist: Surprisingly [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Nikolai Belikov]] is shown to be one. He truly embraces Soviet Communist ideals and does his best to XanatosSpeedChess his way into securing the best possible Tetris deal, ''not for him but for his country''. [[spoiler: It gets beaten out of him by the corrupt leader of the KGB [[DragonWithAnAgenda Valentin Trifonov]], forcing him to face the reality that Communist Ideals are in fact dead, which makes him decide to do his best [[NiceJobFixingItVillain to help Henk Rogers expose the corrupt Maxwells]]]].

* PointyHairedBoss: Both Robert and Kevin Maxwell are shining examples of this. Robert Maxwell, the head of the "Mirror Group" is a CorruptCorporateExecutive who doesn't pay his due royalties, defrauds the pensions of his own employees and built his empire on lies, false promises, backdoor deals with the KGB and WhiteCollarCrime while Kevil Maxwell is an [[RichBitch an arrogant prick]] who [[BadBoss looks down on anyone not his father]], [[NothingPersonal cancels signed deals signed by his representatives just because a better one came later]] and became the head of Mirrorsoft through the merit of [[{{Nepotism}} being Robert Maxwell's son]]. Even [[CorruptBureaucrat Robert Stein]] has had enough dealing with them and ends up delivering [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech quite a speech]] before completely cutting ties.

** Henk and Alexey's spatial arrangement skills, [[TheTetrisEffect developed through playing Tetris]] allows them to quickly calculate [[spoiler: that Alexey's small car is ''just small enough'' to slip through the space between the road and the big truck that's coming their way allowing them to significantly increase the distance between them and the KGB. There is even a SuddenVideoGameMoment as they are doing so]].

** Robert Maxwell is introduced casually mentioning "a small error in the retirement fund books" to his son Kevin (actually the infamous [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140827093109/http://australian-guardians.org/?page_id=808 Daily Mirror Pension Fund Scandal]]) right before turning his attention back to Tetris and [[{{Foreshadowing}} refusing to pay Robert Stein his due royalties for the home computer sales]].

* PointyHairedBoss: Both Robert and Kevin Maxwell are shining examples of this. Robert Maxwell, the head of the "Mirror Group" is a CorruptCorporateExecutive who doesn't pay his due royalties, defrauds the pensions of his own employees and built his empire on lies, backdoor deals the KGB and WhiteCollarCrime while Kevil Maxwell is an [[RichBitch an arrogant prick]] who [[BadBoss looks down on anyone not his father]], [[NothingPersonal cancels signed deals signed by his representatives just because a better one came later]] and became the head of Mirrorsoft through the merit of [[{{Nepotism}} being Robert Maxwell's son]]. Even [[CorruptBureaucrat Robert Stein]] has had enough dealing with them and ends up delivering [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech quite a speech]] before completely cutting ties.

* ChaseScene: One takes place during the film's climax.[[spoiler: Once Howard Lincoln, Minoru Arakawa and Henk Rogers collectively sign the contract with ELORG over Tetris Video Game and Handheld Rights to Nintendo in front of the film's BigBad Robert Maxwell, [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG]] calmly informs them that [[ExactWords they won't be safe until they leave Moscow]]. Robert Maxwell, in a final desperate bid to acquire the rights, makes a deal with the corrupt head of the KGB to apprehend them and cancel the deal (with the implication that he is allowed to torture them or worse in order to do so). The KGB is about to arrest Henk, Howard and Minoru but then [[ChangedMyMindKid Alexey crashes the scene, puts them in his car]] and becomes their GetawayDriver for the rest of the scene]].

* GetawayDriver: During the film's climax [[spoiler: Alexey becomes this for Henk Rogers, Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln as they attempt to escape the KGB and exit Moscow]].

* ReadTheFinePrint: Robert Stein fails to notice until it's too late that the new contract he has signed with ELORG has a more clear definition of what a "Home Computer" -meaning he can't sell Console rights due to a LoopholeAbuse anymore. To be fair to Stein this is mostly due to the fact that Belikov [[BatmanGambit focused his attention on the increased Royalties and the Arcade rights]].