I can’t remember a time in my life without Tetris. As far as my memory is concerned, the game has always existed. And I can’t even begin to estimate how many hours I’ve spent playing it. Many, many hours. Whatever that number is, it’s a big one. But in all those hours, trying to get those simple blocks to line up just right, I never once thought about how the game came to be. Or, perhaps more apt, I never considered what it took to make this simple block stacking game so incredibly popular. And honestly, why would I? A game studio releases a new game and, to break it down to the most base level, it’s either popular or it’s not.
Never in my wildest ideas would it have ever occurred to me that the rise of Tetris would play out like a real-life espionage movie. It’s the definition of the phrase “stranger than fiction.” But that’s what happened. Of course, some bits of Tetris have to be embellished. But even if only a fraction of what the movie portrays is accurate, it still remains a wild tale.
It’s 1988 and video game entrepreneur Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) is on his never-ending quest for “the next big thing.” He’s certain he’s found it when he comes across Tetris at the annual Consumer Electronics Show. The game is simple to play, but difficult to master. Rogers sees the massive global potential and immediately gets to work trying to secure distribution rights.
And that’s pretty much the crux of the movie. Rogers isn’t the only one vying for distribution rights for Tetris. From Japan to the UK to the Soviet Union – the game’s creator was Russian computer engineer Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov) – Rogers has his work cut out for him. Complicating matters is the fact that nobody really knows who has which distributions right in which countries. Sketchy businessmen, murky contracts, double-dipping salesmen, there are countless obstacles for Rogers to overcome.
That’s both part of the fun and a big problem with Tetris. I knew nothing about its origins before watching this movie. So seeing it play out like a political conspiracy theory thriller was an absolute treat. The story went in all sorts of unexpected directions that kept me on my toes the entire time.
But at the same time, there were so many threads to follow. Trying to keep up with which companies owned which rights felt like a chore. And it felt like it was changing so frequently. Or if not actually changing, some characters thought they had changed, only to realize they were mistaken. It made the story surprisingly difficult to follow.
When Tetris is in a groove and you’re keeping up with all the intersecting characters and plot threads, it’s a great time. But those stretches are a bit sporadic, so it’s hard for the movie to find consistent pacing. Luckily, though, there is one consistent piece that is always there to anchor the story: Taron Egerton. He’s great from start to finish. He’s an actor with charisma to spare, and that’s put to phenomenal use here.
Rogers is at times a frenzied dreamer who won’t hesitate to put his family’s life savings into making Tetris’s success a reality. He can be short-sighted, acting on giddy instinct. But he also proves himself to be a smart, measured businessman, apt at negotiating and quick on his feet. The role requires an actor with considerable range, and one who can shift from one mode to the next at the drop of a hat.
When the story feels like it’s just about to careen off a cliff, Egerton is there to get it back on track. And that’s all well and good. But he’s tasked with doing that too often. It feels like the script didn’t have all the fun, interesting ideas quite fully fleshed out, so these twisty, caper-esque additions were made to fill in the gaps.
The story by itself is entertaining enough. Add in the fact that it’s about a simple Game Boy game, and it becomes even more so. But Tetris relishes too much in the absurdity, leaving most of the storylines and characters underdeveloped. However, with how good Egerton is, and with how outrageous the story is, Tetris manages to almost always be entertaining. I’m not sure how well this would play on a rewatch, with the surprise factor being so strong. But on a first watch, even with the obvious issues, Tetris mostly manages to fall into place, just like those pesky little blocks.
Tetris premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday, March 31st.
Score: 81/100
