Tetris (2023) – Review

If you’re like me and was a bit confused when you heard that a Tetris movie was in the works, then the first question that may have come to mind was, “how much story could possibly be built around such a simple 80s game like Tetris?”. Well, apparently there’s a whole lot – and I mean a lot. What may come as a surprise to you (as it certainly did for me) is that the movie is actually based on a true story about one American video game salesman, Henk Rogers, and his difficult journey in obtaining rights to sell Tetris. Centered around this game that we all know and love, Tetris proved to be a surprisingly suspenseful and fast-paced biographical thriller that kept me on my toes till the very end. Now, I know what you’re all thinking – a thriller movie about Tetris? Huh? Trust me, it’ll make sense when you watch it. And thanks to fantastic performances by Taron Egerton, Toby Jones, Nikita Yefremov, Roger Allam, and Anthony Boyle, they help to make the film an even more engaging experience. While this may have been a movie you were looking to pass on, after seeing it myself today, I highly suggest you give it a try.

I often find that with movies based on a true story, I automatically gain an extra level of interest when I’m watching it. Now of course you should always be wary of Hollywood magic because movies tend to over embellish stories to make them feel more “cinematic”, so no, you shouldn’t exactly be treating biographical films as if they’re written in stone. Tetris is no exception and I definitely noticed the movie had its fair share of creative freedom in the form of extreme car chases and other nonsensical moments. But for the most part, movies based on true stories are always fun to watch because it’s interesting learning about things we never knew or heard about. And with something like Tetris, it’s just one of those things I never cared to look into how it was made or how it came into popularity. I absolutely love the game itself, I just never wondered about its history. So despite the plot probably having an issue with historical accuracy, I really did appreciate the storytelling in Tetris and how it explored the political and moral issues that affected the game’s course into worldwide discovery.

Yeah, you read that right. I said there were political and moral issues in this movie because no, it’s not some movie about a gamer trying to beat the high score or some animated movie featuring all the Tetris pieces. The more I think about it, the more I realize how complex the story really is. There’s A LOT going on in this film, and despite all the fun shaped pieces, bright colours, and funky music of the actual game, the movie itself is not enitrely reflective of that. In fact, Tetris is arguably quite an intense and nerve-wracking story set mainly in the bleak environment of Soviet Russia. While the movie does have moments of levity and fun little tidbits about the rise of Nintendo, you’ll mainly find yourself in a position of concern for the protagonist’s wellbeing.

The first thing you’ll notice when you start watching is how you’re just immediately thrown into the story without too much context on what’s happening. You’re given a pretty solid introductory monologue that introduces you to the protagonist, Henk Rogers (played by Taron Egerton), and his plan to buy Tetris, but other than that, the rest of the movie is just go go go. Things just start happening one after another and soon you’ll find yourself in Soviet Russia. The events of the story really do happen rather quickly, so here’s a warning because if you’re not paying attention, you may miss out on something crucial.

I personally really liked the way the movie was so quick to navigate through the plot though because to me, it helped create a lot of extra suspense and thrill. Like I said, there’s so much going on, a lot of which will feel pretty ominous, but that’s what will keep you so engrossed in the story (like it did for me). You really ride a wave of emotions as you follow Rogers in his journey of fighting against lies and corruption, and by the end of it, you can’t help but realize just how terrible greed can be. Egerton did a splendid job in his performance as Rogers and I thought he was rather convincing as a good-willed, dedicated businessman. He made it easy to cheer for the character and he led the film with this spark of motivation and drive that was so exciting to watch. Thanks to him, I found myself intensely rooting for Rogers and his allies throughout the movie. But when it comes to heroes, it all comes down to how well written the antagonists were.

If there’s one thing Tetris did really well in that deserves a lot of praise, it was how well they created extraordinarily unlikeable characters. It’s definitely a weird thing to congratulate the filmmakers on, but without these horrible characters, the film would not have been as thrilling and engaging as it was. And there were plenty of them! The father and son billionaire duo, Robert and Kevin Maxwell (played by Roger Allam and Anthony Boyle) were despicable, greedy rats who cared only about profit, Valentin Trifonov (played by Igor Grabuzov) was a terribly selfish and corrupted politician who acted treasonously, and lastly Robert Stein (played by Toby Jones) was a businessman who was just plain unlikeable. While there were plenty of underdogs such as Rogers himself and Alexey Pajitnov (played by Nikita Yefremov) who was the creator of Tetris, these antagonists really are the ones that build the intensity of the film. Nothing against the actors themselves of course, they just put on tremendous performances that made them so damn unlikeable.

But to end off this review, I just want to say that it’s not all just doom and gloom! I mean, yes, while the story itself captures a much more serious tone than the happy vibes of the game, the moviemakers did try and find other ways to capture and incorporate the essence of Tetris into the film. I did say there were moments of levity and fun right? For example, Tetris made use of a lot of cool, retro video game style transition clips which helped give the film some more personality. It was a nice touch and even though they were on screen for a split second, I did find that they helped break down the more tense moments of the movie. My personal favourite addition though was the music – not only did they use the actual theme song, they also somehow managed to mix ominous with funky retro 8bit music and hey, it really worked! While these fun add ins were certainly not the heart and focus of the film, they felt like great little tidbits that gave the movie more character and provided an entertaining touch which I personally really enjoyed and appreciated.

At the end of the day, what I’m trying to tell you is to watch this Tetris movie – I know it will surprise you! I think the biggest appeal is that it’s a story based on real events that you’ve probably never even heard about. While you’re likely familiar with the immensely popular game of Tetris, I’m going to guess you never knew about the wild history behind bringing the game to the public eye. And with great performances by everyone in the cast, a compelling script, and well developed suspense, Tetris was just such a pleasant surprise. I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it as much as I did, but here I am. For all the praise that I’ve given it, I’ve decided to give Tetris an 7.5/10. It’s a solid film that will definitely keep you interested in the story, and hey, you get to learn more about Nintendo and Tetris while you’re at it. If I’ve managed to convince you to give this one a try, you can find this movie now streaming on AppleTV+!