Tetris

Available on Apple TV+

John S. Baird and writer Noah Pink, bring us this movie adaptation of the true story of the battle to own the rights of one of the most successful games of all time, Tetris. Taron Egerton is Henk Rogers who finds Tetris at a Las Vegas technology show. Initially he believes he has bought the rights to distribute the game in Japan. But when he finds that Robert Stein’s (Toby Jones) software company alongside Robert and Kevin Maxwell’s (Roger Allam & Anthony Boyle) Mirrorsoft all claim to own rights he finds himself heading to Moscow and gambling everything to try and secure rights. Here he finds a country unraveling and a race to secure the rights so his gamble pays off.

It’s a bit of an odd film in reality, the story itself seems crazy but is set at a time of great upheaval as the Soviet Union heads towards collapse. But the film struggles to fully capture the anarchy and energy of the time.

But it is fun, occasionally tense and often intriguing. It looks great, recreating 80’s Moscow and is accompanied by a soundtrack packed with 80’s classics. There is a good mix of heroes to cheer along and some slimey bad guys who get their comeuppance.

Taron Egerton is as watchable as ever. It is the stories of the Soviets, expecially that of the games writer Alexy Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov) and his boss Nikolai Belikov (Oleg Shtefanko), that steal the film. Taking incredible risks for Rogers after been won over by his risk taking and desire.

The story is hugely uneven and is never quite sure whether it wants to be a dramatic retelling of a complex story or an action adventure set in late 80’s Moscow and it’s never quite either.

Tetris is by no means a classic but it’s a fun telling of the incredible story of one of the most successful games of all time. It has fun with its 80’s look and soundtrack, but it’s also very uneven and unsure of what it’s trying to do. Not as entertaining or memorable as the game but fun enough.