TETRIS – Review

Okay, so we’re mere days away from the release of an animated CGI feature based on one of the biggest video game properties. Y’know about the two plumber siblings? Perhaps you’re needing another big “game” dive, but don’t want to try and stream the recent Sonic flicks, or any of a dozen movies lifted from the very successful gaming franchises. Well. we’ve got a new film all about that late 80s game where you try to fill in a wall at the bottom of your screen with a series of four brightly colored blocks. Really, a flick of those downward-floating bricks? They couldn’t grab the rights to Pong? Oh no, this is all about the creation and marketing of that game, and it’s almost a cold war thriller. Don’t roll your eyes, because there was a lot of high-stakes intrigue in the story of TETRIS.

After a nifty 8-bit graphic intro, we’re transported to the “go-go” days of 1988, specifically Vegas, baby, for the big Consumer Electronics Show. Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) isn’t seeing much traffic for the game he created for his own Bullet Proof software firm, “Go”. BTW, his name really is Henk, no typo, as he was born in Holland, raised in the USA, and now has his own family in Japan. Seems everybody is checking out Tetris, a computer game born in the Soviet Union. After trying it, Henk understands. Back in Japan, he tells his bank loan officer he needs more cash because he scooped up the right to distribute Tetris there. But Henk has bigger plans, and after securing another risky loan, he flies to Seattle to try to interest Nintendo. But they have a surprise for him. After Henk signs an NDA, the execs give him a test plan on a “hand-held’ video gaming system dubbed the “Gameboy”. And nobody’s nabbed the hand-held rights to Tetris. Since another “agent”, Robert Stein (Toby Jones), has wrapped up most of the rights for Britain’s Mirrorsoft owned by media magnate Robert maxwell (Roger Allam) and his son Kevin (Anthony Boyle), Henk has to get over to the USSR and strike a deal with the game’s creator Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Yefremov). The trouble is, Laexey created the game while working for the government computer division, Elorg, so Henk has to get around his greedy supervisor Nikolai (Oleg Stefan) while evading sinister KGB enforcers, since he lied to get into the country, stating to officials that he’s a tourist. As he’s put everything on the line, can Henk strike a deal…with someone. But more importantly, can he get out of Mother Russia and back to his wife and kids in Japan in one piece? Or just …alive?

Though the title refers to the “object of desire”, the tale’s real focus is Rogers who is imbued by an almost foolhardy determination by the compelling Egerton, sporting a pin-point trimmed mustache. Henk will not let anything, not even the still ferocious Russian “bear”, deny him his “brass ring”. Through his expressive eyes Egerton shows us how this hard-charging software hustler, is always trying to stay two steps ahead of his rivals, and looking for the nearest exit. He’s always “in over his head”, but we can almost hear the gears clicking in his noggin in order to try another angle. But Egerton conveys his softer side as he regrets the broken promises made to his daughter. Oh, the main rival is the terrific Jones as Stein, who he portrays with a “Willy Loman-eque” pathos until his suppressed rage explodes. The “big boom” happens when dealing with the Maxwells. Allam as Maxwell senior is a “profit whale” looking to gobble up any item to satisfy his greed, while deflecting chaos by expert “record-juggling”, and never loosening that tight near-choking bowtie. His son Kevin, played with his own anger issues by Boyle, yearns to prove his worth and get the respect he thinks he deserves (“You will call me, sir!!”). Efremov as inventor Pajitnov may be the most sympathetic and tragic character in the saga as the mastermind behind the game who is denied any of his labor’s fruits, yet still, believes in his homeland’s original goals. Unfortunately, they’re now twisted by sadistic goons like the black-suited Valentin, whose constant caustic sneer is provided by the intimidating Igor Grabuzov. Happily the film showcases two great actresses: Sofya Lebedeva as Henk’s frazzled but supportive interpreter Sasha and Ayane Nagabuchi as Henk’s equally supportive but very frustrated wife and company partner Akemi.

Consider this quirky true (pretty much) tale an unexpected gem. Much of its impact comes from the tight confident directing of Jom S Baird, who also gave us a very different but equally excellent true tale a couple of years ago in the criminally underrated STAN & OLLIE. Who’d have thought that a story involving a video game could be a nail-biting cold war thriller? Really, instead of a micro file exposing double agents or a chemical weapon formula, the big goal is grabbing signatures to obtain usage rights to the wall-building “time-waster” (one supervisor bemoans all the work hours lost by his staff). The first act is fluffy fun, playing with 1980s fashions and excesses with treks to London, Seattle, Vegas, and Tokyo, but the tone quickly shifts in the USSR. Though we observe its slow crumble (long market lines), there’s still danger around every dark dreary corner (the color desaturation really works). We also see how the younger generation is straining to break out of their elder’s oppressive shadows. Hey, there’s even an engaging sequence involving the big May Day parade and then-leader Gorbachev. And somehow all the contract wrangling never gets confusing or dull, thanks in part to the cleaver screenplay by Noah Pink. Throw in the aforementioned fun 8-bit animated graphic establishing shots and “scene-bridgers’ with the appropriate techno-synth score, and we’ve got a surprisingly compelling pop culture thrill-ride that is just as engaging as any video game, including the original TETRIS.

3 Out of 4

TETRIS streams exclusively on AppleTV+ on Friday, March 31, 2023