‘Tetris’ Film Review: A Fun Yet Clichéd Ride Starring Taron Egerton
Apple TV Plus’ new film Tetris directed by Jon S. Baird and written by Noah Pink, starring Taron Egerton, releases on March 31.
Have you ever wondered how Tetris, arguably one of the most popular video games of all time, was created? Well, that is definitely not what Jon S. Baird had in mind for his latest Apple TV Plus movie (it’s essentially a footnote in the overall story), but if you are interested in its place inside the economic landscape of the late 20th century, with capitalism trying to buy the worldwide distribution rights for the revolutionary game from communism, then this is just for you.
Tetris hits the ground running, with a 2-minute voice-over prologue that catches audiences up with a quick history lesson of where and how Tetris was created, and how Taron Egerton’s Henk Rogers came across it and literally bet his house on it. He became instantly obsessed with it and was convinced everyone else would once they got their hands on it — in fact, every person he shows it to, also becomes addicted to it. The problem here is that when Rogers starts to show interest and starts bidding seriously for the distribution rights on multiple platforms (computer, console, arcade, and handheld), heads start to turn, and more people are instantly curious about this new game.
What makes this story more interesting than the average bidding war is that the game’s creator, Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov) is a citizen of the Soviet Union, which means that it’s actually the USSR that owns the rights to the game. The conflict is directly embedded into 1988 politics — how will a communist country react to multiple capitalist contenders submitting their offers and arguing over the phrasing of previously-signed contracts? It is essentially a foreshadowing of the fall of the Berlin Wall the year after and the crumbling of the USSR in the early 90s, when communist government officials started playing the capitalist game.
Nikita Efremov and Taron Egerton in the new film Tetris, premiering March 31, 2023, on Apple TV Plus.
Henk, a New York-raised, Dutch-born Japanese citizen, proud father and husband, sees the future, and it’s called a Game Boy. Nintendo’s revolutionary console is about to hit the market, and Henk believes that the ultimate key to its success will be to sell it with Tetris. Soon, other competitors will start digging around and pursuing the acquisition of the handheld distribution rights of the game; if you want an idea of what Tetris is like, try to imagine a bidding mediated by the KGB where the parties interested don’t know about each other. Also, Toby Jones is one of them.
Above all else, Tetris is a fun movie. It’s inspired by real events, but some bits were clearly fictionalized or rather Hollywoodized. The film is quite literally all over the map, but somehow writer Noah Pink and director Jon S. Baird managed to keep the story focused and were able to make sense of all the players involved and the intricacies of the many contract negotiations that take place.
The movie lives and dies on the premise of inserting a capitalist conflict in a communist country; this is both the biggest source of tension and also what originates some of its clichés, from the stereotypical depiction of the communists to the more by-the-numbers character arc for Taron Egerton’s Henk. Another fine line that Tetris is able to walk successfully is the integration of various genres into a single movie, from a corporate dispute to a family drama to a spy dramedy to a buddy comedy. It is constantly reinventing itself, but the mashing of tones feels surprisingly coherent and helps the movie feel like a breath of fresh air, even when it’s a “been here, done that” kind of story.
Taron Egerton and Nikita Efremov in the new film Tetris, premiering March 31, 2023, on Apple TV Plus.
Tetris will not stand out as the biopic of the year, and if you are looking for a layered performance by Taron Egerton on Apple TV Plus, I would redirect you to last year’s Black Bird. But if you are interested in a fun time this weekend, you might wanna consider checking it out. It could also benefit from positive word-of-mouth around Ben Affleck’s Air, as both movies tackle similar themes and coincide in their approach to a historic moment in late 20th-century capitalism.
Tetris releases on Apple TV Plus on March 31.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
