When you say The Last of Us game series, everyone says it's a very successful game. It's a console-only game from Sony, and several installments have been released over the years. Mostly it's successful. This year, a series went to pay TV on HBO that shows how a game adaptation can be handled.
After the first episode went out last week, I'm watching episode two and finding it to be a really good adaptation. In the opening scene, we learn the important elements of the epidemic, how and where it originated, and immediately after the credits we jump in to see the main trio of survivors. Joel and his girlfriend, and the mysterious teenage Ellie, who has a secret of her own.
The writer and lead creator isn't just a who. Craig Mazin is the new star screenwriter. The series can. He rose to fame with a film about the USSR's most famous nuclear power plant, Chernobyl. You can tell it's a series by Mazin because it contains signature elements and shoots as realistically as possible. The story and the actors' performances are true to life.
All fans of the play have been "hating" on the new child star Bella Ramsey, who first appeared in Game of Thrones and despite the remake of the British series by a German writer, who knows??? ,yeah... clearly The Worst Witch (a school-going witch) has once again risen to the limelight in a successful and, most importantly, expensive series. I've gotten quite used to her after two hours as Ellie.
The real star this show is based on is Pedro Pascal (also Game of Thrones), who bounced back from making The Mandalorian and Boba Fett under HBO. I don't think a normal person could do that many episodes and series at once in a year. But as we know, the Star Wars shows usually have stuntmen instead and Petro only records his character's voice. That's how he has time for HBO.
The story is based on Joel and Ellie, and it's good to see how the creator, writer and even the director can instruct them to play their characters well and realistically.
You can also see a lot of money spent on the series, on the stunts, but mostly on the whole production. Most importantly, you can see that you're actually seeing real sets on screen, not just three characters behind LCD screens, as has become the fashion lately.
I think the adaptation of the "zombie" action-adventure game has gotten to the right filmmakers. It feels like a prequel, and gradually getting to know the plague as it originated, as it progresses is good for learning about the post-apocalyptic future.
My rating: 80%
Original release of this article January 23, 2023 – Kritiky.cz
