Richard Roeper started his review by saying, “You’ve
probably heard something about a movie that goes back to the 1980s to tell the
incredible but true story of a smart, scrappy, energetic wheeler-dealer who
went to great lengths to woo a genius and secure the rights to a phenomenon
that to this day is a globally famous and wildly successful brand name.”
That’s right, we’re talking about “Tetris,” the movie!
Roeper said, “This Apple TV+ original film, directed
by Jon S. Baird, doesn’t attempt to replicate the entertainingly addictive
block-stacking puzzle game because I don’t know how you’d make a movie out of
that; it’s a fictionalized and creatively stylized origins story that plays
like a Cold War thriller version of “The Social Network.””
Coming off of the famous Apple TV+ limited series “Black
Bird,” the Welsh actor Taron Egerton sets his standing as one of our most useful
talents as he once again disappears into a role, as he did with “Rocketman” a
few years prior. Wearing a classic 80s mustache and filling the screen with
energy and charisma, Egerton is great as Henk Rogers, a Dutch-Indonesian video
game designer, entrepreneur and dealmaker who lives in Japan with his wife (Ayane
Nagabuchi) and child (Kanon Narumi) but is almost constantly going, flying
around the world to sell video games to everyone from skeptical bankers to the late
and shamed billionaire media tycoon Robert Maxwell (Roger Allam) to different
Soviet Union officials and KGB types to the inventor of Tetris himself.
With director Baird and his production team
occasionally using 1980s-sytle video game graphics and 8-bit retro-style
visuals to showcase Henk’s flights and a car chase, “Tetris” has a great look,
but sometimes gets stuck in the middle. Even Henk expresses his frustration at
how often meetings are interrupted and rescheduled. Roeper said, “ On balance,
though, this is a nifty, breezy gem filled with wonderful performances from a
stellar cast that includes the great Toby Jones as Henk’s chief competitor for
the various rights to Tetris (PC, handheld, arcade); Roger Allam, doing a
wonderfully booming and suitably pompous take on Maxwell; Anthony Boyle as
Maxwell’s son, Kevin, who insists that everyone call him “Mr. Maxwell” even as
almost no one truly respects the little bleep, and Togo Igawa as Nintendo
president Hiroshi Yamauchi.”
“Tetris” is as much about the moods of Cold War
politics in the declining years of the Soviet Union as it is about the fight
for Tetris rights. Henk goes in and out of Russia trying to secure the
licensing to the game, which had been invented in 1984 by Soviet government
employee Alexey Pajitnov, played by Nikita Efremov) and distributed underground
through floppy disks. With a local named Sasha (Sofia Lebedeva) acting as his
interpreter and his tour guide through the streets and the politics of the
Soviet Union, Henk runs into all types of problems (so to speak) as he learns the
rights may have already been secured by Andromeda Software’s Robert Stein (Toby
Jones), who has made a licensing deal with the Maxwells – or has he? Roeper
said, “It’s beyond complicated, and there are times when we get lost in the
weeds, but that’s OK, because Henk is nearly as lost as we are from time to
time.”
There’s also a nice little buddy movie inside “Tetris,”
as Henk wins over the at first skeptical Alexey, eventually working his way
into Alexey’s good graces, mainly because they’re both devoted family men who
would do anything to protect their closed ones. As it becomes more apparent
that the licensing rights to Tetris will not only be just a few million, but
tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars, the fight for ownership rights becomes
even more difficult, with Alexey’s boss (Oleg Stefan) and an evil and corrupt
KGB officer (Igor Grabuzov) trying to get their hands on those rights. As you’d
guess, “Tetris” ends with one of the credit scenes that tells us what happened
to all the main real-life people in this story – set perfectly to Opportunities
(Let’s Make Lots of Money) by the Pet Shop Boys – and it’s pretty great
that just about everybody got what they deserved.
While I was scrolling through Apple TV+, I saw this
and was curious about what was it about. When I read the description, I was
curious to know about Tetris, since I’m not familiar with video game history,
but I know about this game, so I thought of seeing it. After I saw it, I can
safely say that if anyone knows about video game history or not and are just
fans of Tetris, like everyone should be, you should see this if you have Apple
TV+. You will be at the edge of your seat to know who will get their hands on
the licensing rights of the game. Check it out and see how we got one of the
most famous games in history.
Thank you for joining in on this review. Stay tuned
this Friday for the continuation of “Terry Gilliam Month.”
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