An adaptation of the immensely popular Fallout series of video games has been hotly requested by franchise fans for maybe more than 20 years – but in that time filming gamers have largely learned that video game adaptations are usually… quite bad. Admittedly, this is a trend that’s changing, likely due to the number of people actually familiar with these games actually being involved with the productions; plus the tendency of modern games to try and be closer to a film-style cinematic experience. Recent examples have been both well-liked and successful, such as the just-fine The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the quite-good The Last of Us adaptation. However Fallout is an entirely different beast to these other two IPs – compare it to the clear family-oriented simplicity of the former example or the aforementioned lust to be a film of the latter, Fallout is a world that is designed from the ground up to function as a massive immersive world that can only exist as a game, so adapting it was always going to be quite the challenge.
Enter Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, fresh off the heels of Westworld, one of the most celebrated TV programs of the last decade, and itself an adaptation. That show even took a lot of cues from video games in order to bring its simulated virtual world to life, and made a strong commentary about violence within that medium. For my money, Season 1 of Westworld is still one of the best seasons of television you can watch – and with a clear interest in adaptations and video games, and a stated interest in mixing those two things, Nolan and Joy were the best possible choice to lead this adaptation on paper – but did the end up ringing true? Having now watched the entire show, including some episodes multiple times, I can confirm that the answer is yes! At least, mostly…
I went into this show expecting very little, the trailers hadn’t blown me away – in fact I was quite underwhelmed by the seemingly overlit production, poorly written jokes and total lack of atmosphere, suffice to say, I was not exactly excited to see how this turned out. Imagine my surprise, then, when I finished the second episode of this show, not only disappointed I couldn’t watch more right then, but excited to see where it goes! The most surprising part of this decidedly pleasant surprise was that these feelings were in spite of all of the issues I’d been worried about from the trailers still being present, though not as bad as I had worried. There are a lot of overlit scenes but it’s largely only in the outdoor scenes in the desert-like wasteland, and I can’t say it doesn’t make sense – though it would have been nice to have seen some more interesting lighting or shot composition, and preferably both, at any point in the show. The bad humor was still there but did not outweigh the interesting and morelly varied characters that wonderfully translate the ethical options available in the games to screen by showing characters on different paths through their story.
Lucy, the goodie-two-shoes, The Ghoul (who I will talk more about later) representing the worst of the wasteland and Maximus, a morally-gray BoS squire who is mostly just bouncing from one catastrophe to another. These three, plus the vault-bound brother of Lucy with his own entirely separate storyline, should give us a great overview of everything the wasteland has to offer! The thing is, at times, they kind-of don’t. In fact, with how many times they near-randomly come across each other on the road to their shared destination makes you wonder if the nuclear war reduced America to one straight road that everyone has to take. This is, though, a small qualm, and can mostly be attributed to the annoying reasoning of ‘because the show would be worse otherwise’ – in fact, many of my qualms with the show boil down to that. The constant distracting off-screen unexplained costume changes, character’s longevity despite never seeming to eat or sleep – they’re all just there because the show works better that way, but they’re distracting nonetheless.
One thing fans of Fallout have always been clamoring for throughout the series, especially after its acquisition by Bethesda Game Studios, is to see more of the pre-war world – as that’s just as interesting as the post-apocalyptic wasteland players explore during the game’s runtime. Well, I was worried from the first episode, as it begins pre-war, and not only cuts away from it after just one scene without returning, but the pre-war world we’re presented could be mistaken for a regular 60s home (if you ignore the flat-screen TV and flying robot visible in one shot) – it’s a far cry from the highly designed retro-futuristic culturally stagnant world that makes the fallout franchise what it is, and whilst this becomes somewhat remedied in later episodes, it never truly reaches the level of alternate timeline different-ness and visual spectacle that even the worst of the mainline series of video games does – and honestly it’s the highest disappointment of the show. To somewhat remedy this, though, in later episodes we do, in fact, get to see more of the pre-war world. This is done mostly through the eyes of the suspiciously-named Howard, who later in the timeline becomes The Ghoul; and yes, that does mean that we’re not only seeing the stories of four different characters, but we’re seeing one of those characters across two different timeframes hundreds of years apart. It sounds messy, but somehow it really works – and I’ll take it, as frankly the pre-war segments are some of the best parts of the show, especially as they’re where the writers drop the majority of the series’ all-too-familiar disdain for capitalist corporate America. In fact, these pre-war sections contrast heavily with the story of Lucy, which dwindles in its ability to keep you interested in whether she can save her father as the series goes on. In a way, though, that’s fitting to the series – any Fallout or even Elder Scrolls player will tell you that the best parts of any of their games are the exploration and side content, and that’s so true here. Uncovering the secrets of one of the first ever vaults, taking down an organ harvesting operation and hunting down a gulper all end up being a lot more interesting than the escort mission that initially hooked me to the series, and there’s nothing a fallout adaptation could have done more accurately than that.
Perhaps this comes down to the characters, they’re enjoyable but it’s so hard to get invested in them when the show refuses to have all but one of them have any kind of character arc – likely being saved for future seasons, as this show ends on a somewhat frustrating cliffhanger, but is there any other kind? The Ghoul is an interesting character who undergoes changes 200 years in the past, but in the present day of the show he is just an evil bounty hunter who cares only about survival, and that does not change. Similarly with Norm, the vault-bound brother of Lucy – he starts off suspicious and frustrated and ends by finding the truth but no vindication. Even Lucy, who does change during the course of the show, going from a naive vault escapee to grizzled wasteland we, still feels half-formed emotionally, much like her relationship with the much maligned Maximus. It’s a shame too, as these are all genuinely engaging characters brought to life by great performers, but by the end you’ll struggle to really care about any of them meaningfully.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before – the protagonist of the latest release in the fallout franchise is a vault dweller who has been forced to leave their isolated home in order to save a direct family member from the hands of the wasteland. It’s tried and true, and the deftness with which the show’s creators weave this story into the show without it feeling out of place is indicative of how they treat the world in general – there’s only one moment in the snow that is a direct callback to the games, and it feels not only earned but justified more than it ever has been in the games. I was deeply anxious about the Fallout show on Prime Video, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by engaging stories, characters and a genuine appreciation for the series on display here. Despite its flaws, I can readily recommend Fallout, and I’m looking forward to whatever may come in future!
Fallout releases on Prime Video on April 11.
