If HBO’sThe Last Of Usdidn’t exist, I’d feel pretty comfortable declaring Amazon Prime’s new live-actionFalloutto be the greatest video game to screen adaptation of all time. It really isthatgood. As it stands, second-best is nothing to sniff at.
The decision to tell a brand-new story rather than adapt any of theFalloutgames immediately establishes itself as the right move. Rather than retread old ground, we’re thrown into a fascinating new corner of the beloved universe filled with original characters and, more importantly, new surprises.
This post-apocalyptic California is a bold new chapter for the franchise, one that slots right into the world of the games effortlessly. This is a show that justgetswhat makes Fallout work: black humour and a crap-ton of violence.
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I was won over within the first 10 minutes of the show’s first episode. An explosive opening sequence - a terrifyingly tense flashback to the day the nukes dropped on America - shows us exactly where those Amazon Benjamins went. This is an epic, cinematic experience with a Deathclaw-sized budget that’s been wisely spent on perfectly recreating the retrofuturistic beauty of the Fallout games.
Executive producers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy (ofWestworldfame) wisely made the decision to give us three leads who each represent separate corners of the irradiated wasteland. There’s Lucy (Ella Purnell), The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), and Maximus (Aaron Moten).
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The Ghoul gets the least amount of screentime, but he makes every second count. Goggins nails the role, all Clint Eastwood cool and barely concealed rage. It’s clear some truly awful things happened to this man (aside from having nukes dropped on him), and I suspect we’ll have our hearts broken as we learn more about his past.
I get the fact they’re incredibly self serious isthe point, and I’m sure it’ll be more interesting to see the Brotherhood and their rigid ideology come into contact with other characters later in the series, but when it’sjust them? The show very quickly grinds to a halt. It’s like being trapped in an elevator with a man whose favourite film isJarhead.
Overall,Falloutis… well, it’s Fallout. And that really is the best compliment I can pay the show. This is a rare adaptation that not only recognises what works about the source material, but extrapolates it to offer us something completely new.Fallout 5may be years away, but with a show this good, that wait suddenly feels a lot shorter.
Topics:Fallout,Amazon,TV And Film
