Tetris: From Russia with Love (2004)

Excellent but underrated film

Boring

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

You may have played it on a game console before (like me, to be honest), or for the older generation, on the home computer. Blocks of different shapes and sizes falling from the top of the screen and after they settle, if there is a whole line, it will disappear. What only remains is if you cannot make a whole line. That is when it keeps building up until there is no more room left and it is game over.The world knows it as Tetris. But for every success story and a global phenomenon like Tetris, its success is not straightforward. It has its origins in the former Soviet Union in Russia. From the Russian Academy of Sciences's Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre, how the popular game would find its way to millions around the world beyond the Soviet borders, the documentary puts the spotlight on the people who were involved at the various stages of the deal. The dealings and the negotiations.The documentary comes alive with the people who were involved in the dealings and the negotiations to make what Tetris would be in the world of gaming, telling their side of the story of the phenomenon. Easy to follow and understand, it is an hour's journey (the duration of the documentary originally from BBC Four) of a fascinating story which happens towards the end of the Cold War and beyond.

Blocks of different sizes fall from the top of the screen. At the bottom of the screen they settle and, if you can make a whole line then they vanish – of course if you don't then they keep building up until you run out of room and the game ends. It is incredibly simple but fiendishly addictive and once you played it, you were pretty much owned by Tetris. This documentary takes us back to the origins of the game in Russia as systems at the Moscow Computing School were being developed and pushed as to what they could do and one programme starts experimenting with falling shapes based on a famous jigsaw puzzle.Computer games are made every week in the world and although Tetris was a phenomenon, a documentary that looks at the business dealings and negotiations that took it from a Moscow computer into homes and hands around the world on the NES and the Gameboy didn't immediately jump out of the TV guide at me. However the story behind the business moves, political complications and such is a fascinating one that is delivered in an accessible and succinct manner in this documentary. The talking heads approach works really well because the contributions are focused and interesting – presenting the history while also managing to bring their characters out well.The presentation is professional and respectful while the whole thing is very easy to follow and understand. Overall an enjoyable and interesting documentary that despite sounding a bit dull and corporate, will easily engage those who are familiar with the game.