The name of Uwe Boll once haunted the minds of gaming fans throughout the 2000s. Every year seemed to bring a new video game adaptation from him, which would be roundly panned, mocked, and flop at the box office, generating endless rage through gaming forums the world over. Theories spun about Boll using these films as tax write-offs, funding them through Loophole Abuse. By any cinematic standards, Alone In The Dark is a terrible film. Cliched and shockingly amateurish in all regards, poorly imitating moments from The Matrix and Aliens, filled with awkward dialogue and poor direction and production values that would be more befitting of direct-to-video fare over a feature film, with only the names of certain characters to vaguely suggest a connection to the video game. I would have question its value even as part of a 'Bad Movie' night.
Even if one fundamentally disagrees with Boll that video games are inherently shallow, derivative, and artistically bankrupt, you may be surprised at what you gain when you appraise his films from the eyes of a director with nothing but contempt for the material he is adopting. Only now, as the video game industry continues to be rocked by news of systemic abuse and exploitation, does the punchline Boll hid within his adaptations become apparent. Uwe Boll may not quite be a secret genius, but he was never the fool everyone took him for.
Film A reappraisal of Uwe Boll.
The name of Uwe Boll once haunted the minds of gaming fans throughout the 2000s. Every year seemed to bring a new video game adaptation from him, which would be roundly panned, mocked, and flop at the box office, generating endless rage through gaming forums the world over. Theories spun about Boll using these films as tax write-offs, funding them through Loophole Abuse. By any cinematic standards, Alone In The Dark is a terrible film. Cliched and shockingly amateurish in all regards, poorly imitating moments from The Matrix and Aliens, filled with awkward dialogue and poor direction and production values that would be more befitting of direct-to-video fare over a feature film, with only the names of certain characters to vaguely suggest a connection to the video game. I would have question its value even as part of a 'Bad Movie' night.
But having looked at remarks from Boll over the years, combined with surprisingly decent original works like Rampage (2009), Tunnel Rats, and Assault on Wall Street, Boll had a point beneath what seemed a cinematic disaster. A joke that he refused to explain. Alone In The Dark was never a sincere attempt at film-making, it is a Take That! of epic proportions toward video gaming. It is Boll gleefully demolishing a video game property to display his seething hatred of a creative medium he views as lacking any shred of creative merit, and displaying his contempt for any person who dare defend its artistic integrity. It is Boll knowing spending millions for a vicious inside joke, regardless of any damage done to his or any other careers involved. Rather than Stealth Parody ala Starship Troopers, Boll opted for Deconstruction in the truest sense, deliberately reducing a video game narrative to cinematic cliché out of his contempt for the works of a creative medium he views as beneath consideration.
Even if one fundamentally disagrees with Boll that video games are inherently shallow, derivative, and artistically bankrupt, you may be surprised at what you gain when you appraise his films from the eyes of a director with nothing but contempt for the material he is adopting. Only now, as the video game industry continues to be rocked by news of systemic abuse and exploitation, does the punchline Boll hid within his adaptations become apparent. Uwe Boll may not quite be a secret genius, but he was never the fool everyone took him for.