Fallout Review: An Outdated, Underwhelming & Bloody Mess
- A decent post-apocalyptic atmosphere
- Walton Goggins as The Ghoul
- Gory violence
- Two-dimensional characters
- Lackluster plot
- Outdated approach
After the gigantic success that HBO's "The Last of Us" found last year, it was inevitable that we were going to see more video games adapted to the big and small screen in due time. Unfortunately, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin's series was a rare example of these adaptations hitting the jackpot. Several factors played a vital role in why the show has found the perfect formula — one of them being how cinematic and character-driven the source material was in the first place — to work in a different medium. A formula that couldn't just be copied and applied to another story with the same results.
Amazon Prime's post-apocalyptic and retro-futuristic new show, "Fallout" (based on the long-running videogame series), is likely one of the first casualties in the line of many we'll see in the coming years. Despite an evidently high budget, a prestigious ensemble cast, and a shamelessly violent approach, Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan's creation misses the point of what makes a game work on television.
But frankly, they can hardly be blamed when the source material was quite unbalanced in the first place. With such a fluctuating level of quality the series delivered over the last two and a half decades, "Fallout" couldn't have been farther from the right choice for adaptation. It wasn't made for that (obviously), and it would've taken a lot of reshaping, rewriting, and changing its fundamentals to turn it into one — which the series didn't do.
Nothing new to see here
At the end of the '90s and early aughts (when the first few "Fallout" titles were released), the premise of an alternate future after a nuclear war that entirely changed history might have been alluringly fresh and visionary, but it certainly isn't nearly 30 years later. It's an outdated narrative with outdated characters that we saw so much of in the last few decades that there's barely any unique perspective left to view them from. Especially not after such shows like "The Last of Us," "Silo," or "Station Eleven," which took the genre to another level. "Fallout" is so basic and old-fashioned that it's not even in the same category as those mentioned above.
That lack of freshness is immediately palpable as we are introduced to the three main characters and their status quo. Lucy ("Yellowjackets" alumni Ella Purnell) is a Vault Dweller living under the surface in Vault 33 since she was born, currently waiting to get married to another dweller she has never seen or met before. But right after the ceremony, things go awry when the other Vault's members start massacring her people and then kidnap her father. Seeing no alternative, Lucy decides to take the risk and emerge from underground, embarking on a journey in the Wasteland to find and rescue her dad.
Then there's Maximus (Aaron Moten), an orphan squire serving the paramilitary called Brotherhood of Steel, with a vague motivation to become a knight and "better this fallen world." When an opportunity presents itself on a mission, he takes it without hesitation and puts on the robot gear to help people in need. And finally, there's the coolest character (thanks to Walton Goggins' badass cowboy charisma), The Ghoul, aka Cooper Howard, an over 200-year-old bounty hunter with questionable morals and a past that constantly haunts him. Inevitably, the three will cross paths throughout their journey as they try to achieve their individual goals.
Shallow characters in an all-too-familiar world
The main issue here is that none of these characters are complex or engaging enough to root for. They're two-dimensional, empty avatars that someone would choose at the start of a game — which, ironically, could be a backhanded compliment given this is a videogame adaptation — but while you can get over shallow characteristics and vague backstories when playing (if the gameplay is diverse and challenging enough), the same doesn't fly when you're watching a story unfold on the screen. Based on its first four episodes (which were provided for review), there's nothing in "Fallout" that feels original or impressive.
Even though there is plenty of action to keep the plot moving without letting it sink into complete boredom, they're unimaginative and average at best, filled with generic gun and fistfights between robots, humans, and other creatures. That could work if the series' target audience were solely children under 14, but given that the "Fallout" fanbase is likely an older generation who played the games in the last two decades, that's hardly the case here. Plus, the creators didn't go easy on the explicit violence — the most surprising aspect of it — that often shows limbs tear and blood splatter as characters die horrific deaths, which may be a little much for younger viewers. It's all a bit over-the-top, but that actually works in favor of the series.
And then there's the bleak, threatening, and retro-futuristic wasteland of a world that evokes a Westernish vibe with plenty of sci-fi elements brought over from the games. If I had to name one selling point, it would be the atmosphere and grandiose look "Fallout" manages to capture and prove that all the money that went into it wasn't for nothing. Even so, it's a world that doesn't differ from anything we've seen before — in fact, it's kind of a mixture of different elements and set pieces used from other, better post-apocalyptic movies and TV shows. It just doesn't have an identity that would make it stand out in any way.
Overall, "Fallout" is another underwhelming example of why most video game adaptations continue to lack that essential quality that very few can produce and turn into success. But it's also hard to ignore the evident signs that this adaptation might've been doomed from the get-go due to a material that barely had any aspects to grip onto from a narrative standpoint. The truth is, some games should stay games.
"Fallout" hits Prime Video on April 11.