Another attempt to plant a flag on the video game adaptation mountain is underway. Sleeping Dogs, the acclaimed Hong Kong-set open world action-adventure game is set to be adapted into a film, and Rogue One and Ip Man star, Donnie Yen, is signed on to headline the film.
The game, released by Square Enix, was a hit among gamers, and followed an undercover cop on a mission to take down the powerful Sun On Yee organisation.
Yen is a Chinese martial artist and seems well suited to the role, which will likely be an action/thriller hybrid similar to Johnnie To‘s Drug War with plenty of Raid influences too, no doubt. He’s a huge star in China, where posters for xXx: Return Of Xander Cage placed him front and center ahead of Vin Diesel and led the film to the second highest IMAX February debut in China.
As noted many times, video game adaptations have spurned countless opportunities to make a mark on the mainstream public. While Sleeping Dogs the game was acclaimed, it’s not the most widely known game, so perhaps the film will have to hang its hat on its no doubt superbly choreographed violence and escapism setpieces to win audiences over.
Production company Original Film (The Fate Of The Furious) are behind the project. Will this turn out to be the first truly great direct video game adaptation, a trashy no-brained actioner, or something in between?
#Peace.Love.SleepingDogs
