Photo Courtesy of AllTheClassics
Written by Jaden Shniderman
I should maybe preface this by saying I have never played The Last of Us video game. But any gamer such as myself understands the influence The Last of Us left on storytelling. Additionally any gamer knows that video game adaptations aren’t always the greatest. However I have always believed that a successful video game adaptation could be possible and was hoping that this newest series would show everybody this was true. I couldn’t be more happy to tell you that The Last of Us series is a fantastic reimagining of the original video game, appealing to both fans and general viewers.
There are three guidelines you need to successfully adapt any source material. Firstly, you need to find people who are passionate about making the story come to life. Secondly, you need to understand and confirm your demographic and medium. Lastly,
you need to remain faithful to the IP while further adding your own interpretations into the story itself. It is extremely clear to viewers how much Craig Mazin genuinely cares about The Last of Us. Before the series even came out, I thought it was a very good sign that he was creating this series along with original creator Neil Druckmann. The series very clearly understands the demographic they’re trying to reach out to. While anybody can enjoy the series, The Last of Us makes the genius decision of making the fans their top demographic.
What Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann did with the writing was spectacular. Remaining loyal to the original story, especially when it matters most, but unafraid to break away when necessary. The separation from source material enriches the story. In fact most of my favorite aspects of this show were completely original from the game such as Bill and Frank’s story, or the explanation of how the fungi works.
The most important task of the series would be to get the audiences to care about Joel and Ellie. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey have amazing chemistry in this series, and watching their bond blossom in the show was such a rewarding experience. As Joel, Pascal has this pain in his eyes that just keeps you captivated from beginning to end of each episode. Though his morals may be questionable at times, Pedro Pascal brilliantly gives us a Joel that you want to root for. However to me the best performance of this show was Bella Ramsey as Ellie. Ramsey’s greatest talent in this show is making her emotions come to life. Whether she’s a hopeful child or a hardened survivor, her emotions are so palpable they manifest into a character of their own. Other performances such as Gabriel Luna’s Tommy, Nick Offerman’s Bill, Murray Bartlett’s Frank, and Anna Torv’s Tess never treat their roles as supporting parts, always shining in the moments they appear.
The Last of Us contains some masterful cinematography, championing visual storytelling. Not only are the shots stunning, it’s filmed almost like we’re playing the original video game, as if I were going on this journey with Joel and Ellie. There really isn’t a moment that is lazily shot. Fingers crossed that when awards season comes around the corner, The Last of Us is acknowledged for their stellar cinematography.
I really can’t think of too many things that I didn’t like about this series. Perhaps my biggest issue was as the series went on, the flashbacks appeared less and less. I really did enjoy seeing the global response to this cordyceps outbreak through the flashbacks, and wish we could’ve seen more. While I did love seeing the clickers, it would have been great to see more of them pop up throughout the series. Yes the cordyceps monsters were frightening but because we didn’t see much of them, I wasn’t as sold on them being as big of a threat as the writers intended.
Overall this series is absolutely outstanding! With amazing performances, stunning visuals, and remarkable storytelling, The Last of Us will no doubt serve as the blueprint for video game adaptations in the future.
Score: 9/10
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