You may recall my article from almost two months ago when I argued the exact opposite point, a point which whilst I still mildly agree with, perhaps I was too harsh on some aspects from the in production movie adaption.
Earlier today, I watched Dawn of The Planet of the Apes – an outstanding movie which explores the effects and suffering from a post-apocalyptic attack from a virus. The once beloved San Francisco has been overturned with marshlands and greenery growing across the abandoned city, people isolated into small camps where they cannot rely on others and are precocious on every move – sound familiar? Of course it will, it’s a trope which post-apocalyptic films will never tire off; but in this specific instance, I’m using the description of San Francisco in reference to the setting in Naughty Dog’s PS3 classic (and soon to be remastered on the PS4), The Last of Us.
My ultimate concern in my previous article was about the movie being too similar/dissimilar to the original game. If we see another film with Joel and Ellie having similar adventures as they did in the game, we’d feel unsatisfied as we already know the outcome. However avoiding a storyline with Joel and Ellie and using other characters in the same universe can risk becoming too dissimilar and no longer being true to the ‘Last of Us’ title. However that doesn’t entirely have to be the case! Without spoiling Dawn of the Planet of the Apes to those who haven’t watched it, part of their plot is a small colony of survivors looking to gain electrical power via the use of hydroelectricity – however things aren’t that simple and there’s a tribal clash with another colony (of apes).
Can’t you see it? When watching the movie I just pictured the land of ‘The Last of Us’, I pictured characters such as the fireflies versing groups such as Bill’s group or Tommy’s group, let’s imagine Fireflies are the humans and perhaps Tommy’s group are the apes. The Fireflies are aiming to go through any means possible to regain control of a functioning city with good electrical supplies and such, a small group of people (or maybe just a pair similar to Joel/Ellie) are sent to perhaps gain supplies, start up a generator in a distant area or such – the movie explores the idea of the journey of the characters as they venture out to fulfil their set tasks – it sounds perfect so far!
Then there’s the trouble – because let’s face it there just has to be trouble! Other than the various infected, clickers, and small scavenger groups that they bump into on their way, the main characters on their journey would bump into a ‘big bad’ group similar to the Lakeside resort mission in the game. From here the characters feel trapped and having the need to escape; conflict wars would arise, violence, stealth and more could set an amazing action sequence which would be needed during the near end of the movie. Yes, this is just a extremely brief summary of a hypothetical plot; yes there’s much more needed to be clarified in order to see if this movie could be successful, but yes – I do believe that a film with similar action sequences and plot development such as Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (with perhaps a bit more conversation time similar to Rise of the Planet of the Apes), a Last of Us movie could actually work!
Of course there are still other valid conditions from my previous article which still need to be addressed in order for the film to be successful such as how genuine the characters spark feels, how much depth will there be to emotion similar to the game, will the storyline be original & also the need to have an engaging cast selection.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a sequel to the rebooted adaption Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), the sequel is available in cinemas now! Whereas the Last of Us Movie has just been described as an “adaptation of the game” (which indicates that my suggestion for a plot is most likely not going to happen, supporting my previous article instead), with more news to come!
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