Its over there! So one more time: It exists! Critics have already had the opportunity to see all the episodes of the new series The Last of Us, and the reviews have been enthusiastic. Critics hailed HBO’s new film as the best video game adaptation ever, which is not just a flip on the original, but an expansion of it with a powerful emotional punch to the groin.

10/1/2023 10:40 | Movie news

Already on January 16 (January 15 in the US), fans of the game series The Last of Us will finally see the long-awaited adaptation of the series from HBO. Behind the series is Chernobyl series creator Craig Mazin and father of game design Neil Druckmann, while outstanding directorial talent like Kantemir Balagov, Jasmila Žbanić or Ali Abbasi stand behind the camera. And according to the first review, it looks like we already have a total home run here in the first days of the new year. After watching all nine episodes, critics literally seethed in their texts and talked about the best video game adaptation of all time (which wasn’t too hard) and one of the best series in recent years (which was pretty hard).

Best Pedro Pascal in his career so far

By far the least enthusiastic text was published by The Verge magazine, which praised the character’s complexity, faithfulness to the original, and courage to go her own way from time to time, but oddly criticized the series for not having a very strong vision of post-war reality. -apocalyptic, which is more or less mundane in the genre. Other reviews were less squeamish and, instead, praised the emphasis on world realism, which in the fictional world of The Last of Us series ceased in 2003. The action of most of the series’ later picks up takes place in 2023, so it is an alternate reality and a departure from the games. which takes place in 2033. In addition, the creators revealed in interviews that they were not afraid of a number of changes, be it the removal of infectious spores, breathing masks and a lot of action, and instead added an emphasis on the characters and the interactions between them. Reviews especially praised Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, who are said to have perfectly morphed into the roles of survivors Joel and Ellie, who together embark on a long journey to find a cure for the deadly fungal pandemic.

According to many critics, Pascal is absolutely phenomenal and has never played better. Just like in his play, his Joel is a complex and life-tested character who carries an inner trauma that ultimately forces him to commit horrific and immoral acts against humanity itself. But it turns out that his friend Bill is also getting the expansion, who gets the entire third episode all to himself and continues to expand the fictional universe. After all, the review highly praised Mazin and Druckmann’s ability to create an immersive and vibrant apocalyptic environment where danger is evident at every turn. At the same time, they don’t spare the avalanche of deadly infected Clickers, aka Clickers, which we often only hear about from afar, to threaten the heroes only at key moments. The Last of Us was intended to be an emotional, harrowing, and psychologically dense journey through America, much like a video game, in which the creative team could unravel the intricacies of a video game blueprint and change what needed to be changed to be effective. storytelling.

In terms of tricks and settings, it should be – as you might expect – a completely professional job, while maintaining the style of the original video game. We’ll even look at some of the blinks in detail, so players don’t have to worry about missing out on favorite moments that are so deeply imprinted on the brain when traversing virtual worlds. In short, according to the reviews so far, The Last of Us is a big event and one of the major titles of the year, not just on HBO, but across television entertainment. HBO will air a nearly 90-minute pilot episode on January 16, after which we’ll expect new episodes every week. Additionally, the creators promised that they would not extend the series beyond the boundaries of video games. Hence, if the series did manage to get airplay, the adaptation would see a second part, which, however, Druckmann and Mazin wanted to adapt due to the complexity of the plots in at least two series. In addition, there is more and more talk about the upcoming third part from the game studio Naughty Dog, which is also actively working on a multiplayer game from the same world.

Resource: Kingdom / Threshold / Color Geeks / ign

Petr Semecký

A stressed out workaholic who analyzes festival art with one hand, prepares previews of the hottest blockbusters with the other, and uses his feet to write lists of movies and series that he eventually has to “eat” in his free time. Good food lover, half marathon runner, tech enthusiast and collector of everything.