Tetris
"Tetris" is an entertaining, nostalgic thriller that celebrates capitalism and condemns communism.
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“Tetris” was everywhere in the late 1980s and early 1990s. My mother developed a debilitating … I’m exaggerating … addiction to it for a handful of weeks during that era. I’d be like, “Mom, I’m hungry. When’s dinner?” And she’d respond, “Get a snack or something. Lemme play for another hour.” According to my wife her father had a badass, two-player bootleg of “Tetris” back in the day … color me jealous.
When I heard about the “Tetris” movie (now playing in select theaters and available to stream on Apple TV+ beginning Friday, March 31) I was certainly curious. My curiosity was further piqued when I learned the film starred Taron Egerton and was produced by Matthew Vaughn.
Egerton stars as Henk Rogers, a Dutch-American video game designer and distributor who lived and worked in Tokyo in the late ‘80s alongside his wife and business partner Akemi (Ayane Nagabuchi) and their children. Henk’s company, Bullet-Proof Software, is in financial dire straits after his most recent game has flopped. While at a gaming convention Henk discovers, plays and falls in love with Russian import “Tetris.” As a Hail Mary to save Bullet-Proof and give his family financial stability, Henk seeks the backing of a banker (Rick Yune, best known for playing baddies in “The Fast and the Furious,” “Die Another Day” and “Olympus Has Fallen”) to obtain home and portable console rights to “Tetris,” which he’s hoping to sell to Nintendo.
Unfortunately for Henk, rival businessman Robert Stein (Toby Jones) in conjunction with British media mogul Robert Maxwell (Roger Allam) and his son Kevin (Anthony Boyle) own “Tetris” rights for arcade and personal computers … and they’re hungry for a bigger slice of the pie.
Henk and his competition converge on Moscow in order to negotiate their deals with Russian officials both noble (Oleg Stefan as Nikolai Belikov) and self-serving (Igor Grabuzov as Valentin Trifonov). While there Henk develops a tentative friendship with “Tetris” creator Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov), enlists the services of translator Sasha (Sofya Lebedeva) and gets trailed by Trifonov’s KGB enforcer Boris (Greg Kolpakchi).
“Tetris” as helmed by Scottish filmmaker Jon S. Baird (“Stan & Ollie”) and scripted by Noah Pink (creator of National Geographic’s Albert Einstein series “Genius”) is by no means a masterpiece, but it’s an entertaining thriller with a strong nostalgia streak. It’s Ron Howard’s “Gung Ho” by way of Ben Affleck’s “Argo” for the nerdy set. It’s a celebration of capitalism and a condemnation of communism. The story is broken into “levels” with accompanying graphics. There’s a car chase set to ReN’s rocking, Japanese rendition of Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero.” Quite simply, this flick is fun.
Egerton, whose big break came via Vaughn’s “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” ably anchors the proceedings by imbuing Henk with all sorts of heart. (He’s strongly supported by the likes of Efremov, Lebedeva and Stefan.) “Tetris” marks the third biographical collaboration between Egerton and Vaughn following winning offerings such as “Eddie the Eagle” and “Rocketman.” I can’t wait to see which figure these creatives tackle next … this burgeoning subgenre could quite possibly give this critic a debilitating addiction.