Tetris

Directed by John S. Baird

★★½

Taron Egerton and Nikita Efremov in "Tetris," premiering March 31, 2023 on Apple TV+.

Like the video game that it depicts, Tetris is an interesting conceit that wears off its welcome the longer you stick around. While it is by no means bad, John S. Baird’s latest film tends to be a mis-mash of ideas with a through-line that tends to be more shaky than rock solid.

Tetris is based on the fascinating real-life story of how the insanely popular 8-bit video game became a divisive worldwide legal nightmare. The film bounces around vantage points but insists that Taron Egerton’s Henk Rogers is the one the audience should root for as he navigates getting distribution rights from the failing USSR in the late 1980s.

This may sound like a boring litigation drama, but the mechanisms of the video games’ rights and legal standing are the film’s most fascinating part. Baird adds little 8-bit transition flares that are unique and fun but denies the transition’s consistent use throughout, therefore causing it to become confusing rather than expected.

Tonally, the film becomes a sort of Weeble Wobble, constantly keeping you guessing whether we should be taking what we see seriously. This type of tone works in more refined films like The Big Short or The Disaster Artist, but where those films have either strong heart or commentary, Baird’s film lacks depth and is somewhat surface level, most definitely needing a few more drafts of the script.

Egerton is likable as always, as are some of the other key players, but they are intermingled with buffoonish, cartoon-like characters that undercut the fascinating true story by which the film is inspired. Ultimately, the film winds up being comparable to the game that sits in the corner of the arcade without much playtime due to an utter lack of ingenuity and inspiration.