Mass Effect Movie Discussion

So hey, I used to go on here a lot but this is my last post in like 2 years... So yeah, just thought that was important to state. I've missed you Comicvine.

Anyways, I recently got into mass effect and started hypothesizing as to how a Mass Effect movie series could be made. The series is, after all, incredibly cinematic. The difficulty lies in the massive amount of storytelling and the huge world that would have to be compressed. I feel like each game should be split into two movies to fully capture the character interactions and immersive world in an unrushed fashion.

Then there's the bigE: what Shepard will this be? Will he be an impulsive Renegade "get to the point" soldier, or a considerate, inspiring "by the book" type? I think when it all comes down to it, you need a mix of the two. Every person's Shepard is different and overall, a movie incarnation should embody a little bit of each side of him, fluctuating with the story.

So, assuming this, Feel free to share your:

-Dreamcasts (don't worry I'm not demanding your old sega consoles)

-Movie focus points (you know, the parts of the game that HAVE to be in there that maybe aren't "core plot" but are good for character etc)

-Dream Directors

-What choices you would have for the movie and how that would impact the plot

-2 Romantic Interests (2 to make it interesting)

Also how would you include Femshep or would you?

-

BUMP

Don't center it on Shepard at all. Make a movie about any of the following:

• Morning War
• First Contact War
• Thane Prequel (focusing on his life before ME2)

Or I'm open to other ideas other than these three. But it shouldn't be based off the games or involve Shepard at all.

No ideas for casting or directors, just what I gave above.

@thecannon:

I'm not in any way opposed to that idea, but just wondering... why not Shepard?

Oh and an Idea: movie staring a young David Anderson that goes from First Contact War to his Spectre candidacy and his relationship with Saren, the climax being that mission that went sour where Saren stopped Anderson from becoming a Spectre.

It would probably be more effective as an extremely well funded tv series like Battlestar Galactica or Lost.

But if they were doing a movie, starting from the beginning works. @spidermanwins: has a great idea. Also, at the end of the movie you could do some foreshadowing by showing a woman giving birth and then the camera pans out and shows the patient's name as "Shepard".

I'm actually in favor of the idea of a movie centering around the First Contact War.

Why? What would distinguish it from another bland alien invasion/space war cgi spectacle? The appeal of Mass Effect lies in the choices and character of one man, his crew, and how he affects the galaxy around him. Shepard is the Forrest Gump of the ME Universe. The First Contact War, assuming it was somewhat accurate to in-universe portrayal, was small, fairly straightforward, and didn't carry much long standing consequence.

In any case, Mass Effect would work much better as a TV series, like Star Trek, or the aforementioned Battlestar Galactica.

Which wouldn't translate as well to film, which is a non-interactive medium.

It is also something new-ish, and wouldn't be a retelling of Mass Effect.

First Contact War wasn't really anything special and only had about one notable battle. Not to say it couldn't work, but I'd rather see something unrelated to game events.

An animated movie should be made before any type of live action.

@immortal777: They already made one, recently. It wasn't really all that good IMO.

Blasto film, make it happen Bioware.

Well, it was about James Vega, after all - the least interesting party member in the series.

@zaied: It must not have been too good since I've never heard of it or I did and just completely forgot.

It was about Vega's mission when he attacked the Collectors.

@jedixman: Man it looks so much like Halo it's ridiculous.

If a studio adapted ME for a film, they'd go with the choices that have the broadest appeal --- so you'd get a male Shepard, most likely with Liara as the love interest, mostly Paragon with some Renegade added for edge. The first game doesn't seem like it would be too hard to adapt for a film, but after that I don't know what they'd do; the second game in particular has a mountain of different stories, most of which would get lost in translation.