The Sci-Fi Video Game Movie With A Genre Legend You Never Knew Existed
Video game movies have traditionally been disappointing, both at the box office and for fans, until Hollywood started to figure out the correct formula. In between the rise of Millia Jovovoich’s Resident Evil series and Tom Holland’s Uncharted, SyFy took a gamble on a significantly less famous franchise: Red Faction.
Released as a made-for-TV movie, Red Faction: Origin was intended to launch an ongoing series, and since today, you’ve probably forgotten all about the franchise, it’s not surprising to learn that this plan failed.
Red Faction Is An Underrated Franchise
I have spent an awful lot of time playing Red Faction, in particular, the best game in the franchise, Red Faction: Guerrilla, an open-world game set on Mars that lets you destroy everything. Not only is the destruction fun, but I even earned a large chunk of the multiplayer achievements, including “Topher Would Be Proud,” so if Red Faction: Origins would appeal to anyone, I am the target audience. Much like the fourth game in the series, Armaggedon, the movie was a massive disappointment.
Takes Place Between Games
Set in between Guerrilla and Armaggedon, Red Faction: Origins follows the son of Alec Mason and Samanya, Jake, as he works salvaging the wreckage of the Hydra, a massive Earth Defense Force vessel still in orbit that was destroyed by Alec at the end of the third game. Jake, working alongside tech expert Tess, stumbles across a group of Marauders onboard and, in the fight, reveals one of them to be his long-lost sister, Lyra. The Marauders are really White Soldiers aiming to start a war, but when Jake gets back to the surface, no one believes him.
Needs More Explosions
After escaping from their holding cell, Jake, Tess, and Alec head back toward the slowly falling dreadnought, reunite with Lyra, take down the White Faction, and blow up the ship. The colonists and Marauders unite under one banner, Red Faction, which explains the Origins subtitle, and everything is set up to continue for the rest of the series.
Too bad it’s incredibly boring.
Tries To Do Too Much
The Red Faction franchise was never known for deep storytelling, but if Origins had leaned more into the bombast of driving across the EDF Free Fire Zone, or the shelling of Dust, it could have been more memorable. On the other hand, if the movie embraced the television budget and approached it as a character-driven piece instead, similar to Deep Space Nine or even Defiance, it could have worked. By splitting the difference, we’re left with a wholly unsatisfying film that stands as a relic of a dormant video game franchise.
An Up And Coming Cast
While they’re under-served by the story, the rest of the main cast have all gone on to do other shows. Brian J. Smith left Jake behind and went on to star in Sense8, while Tess is portrayed by The Flash star Danielle Nicolet. Tamzin Merchant plays Lyra, but you know her best now from Carnivale. Had Red Faction: Origins leaned into the character-driven side of sci-fi shows, it had the raw talent among the cast to succeed.
Available Only Through Video On Demand
REVIEW SCORE
Red Faction: Origins stands at an impressive 25 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes out of over 100 ratings. I have to agree, as I gave the film a shot, and there’s some good bits for fans of the franchise, but on the whole, it’s a failed experiment that tried to be everything to everyone. You can watch the film yourself through video on demand using Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, AppleTV, or Vudu.
