Over the last decade plus, it’s increasingly more difficult—and, frankly, more embarrassing—to ignore the rise of video games as not just a massive cultural entertainment behemoth, but an undisputed one. Consequently, there’s been an uptick in successful projects that focus on capturing gaming audience, from near-direct adaptations like HBO’s The Last of Us to brand-new storylines based on games not always known for them like A Minecraft Movie. There’s even animated fare in the form of Netflix’s Arcane or the Super Mario Bros. Movie.
With so much gaming history to tell and so many different possible directions to take, there’s room for documentary filmmaking. And with a property as massive as Tetris—which, as a franchise, perhaps only trails behind GTA and Super Mario—the possibilities are even greater than limitless. And yet, Blue Scuti: Tetris Crasher seems perfectly fine with taking as safe a route as possible,. This is something that works both to its benefit and detriment.
The film tells the story of Willis Gibson, a Tetris child-prodigy that becomes the first person in human history to “beat” the original Tetris in 2023. Considering how old the game is, and its premise of trying to get the highest score, such an undertaking is truly remarkable. The film tries to emphasize that very point. Right from the get-go, the film hits you with an electronic montage that puts your brain into overdrive.
There’s the frenetic pace of those silly blocks, and a symphony similar to what you’d hear from an Anamanaguchi track. And it’s appropriate. You simply can’t deny the universality of Tetrisso the prospect of seeing such a young soul accomplish something that was once deemed impossible is an easy sell. You’re in. You’re ready to break some d*mn bricks!
But then very quickly things come to a halt, understandably, to tell us about Willis’ upbringing and testimonies from many in the Tetris gaming community. It’s a special delight in this world to learn new things about something that’s already such a major part of popular culture for so long. And Blue Scuti: Tetris Crasher does deliver in some respects.
You’ll hear not just from Gibson and his family, but also commentators and other professional players. And perhaps most welcomingly, it’s all taken very seriously. This isn’t a group of subjects, even those that aren’t actual players, that use any of their screen time to diminish or belittle gaming culture. The movie, and its interviewees, aren’t trying to be cute.
And there’s little factoids you’ll learn, like how after a certain level is reached the game starts to glitch out and create new colors. (All of which the community has given official names.) There’s even an explanation into how injuries happen to the players by way of flicking the controller from behind to get greater input. That’s so ridiculous in the best way possible! There’s something so endearing about the commitment of any craft, even one like Tetris that seems on the surface-level quite silly.
But unfortunately, the depth only goes so far. I couldn’t help feeling by the end of this film’s pretty short 76-minute runtime just how much more I wanted. I wanted more lore about the game, the community, and its main subject, Willis. The latter is understandable given he is, in fact, a young fellow. And there is time spent on the loss of his father and why the game became a sort of refuge. Still, I couldn’t help but feel the documentary was a bit rushed.
One moment in particular, after Willis makes history, in which he acknowledges how the media coverage really made things get a bit of control, felt like a moment the documentary was about to touch on something deeper pertaining to fame. But instead, and again understandably, it only does so in a cursory way. But by the end of it all, I couldn’t help but feel like this was a project that was originally meant to be a lot grander until it was expedited following the attention for Willis’ historical achievement.
It almost feels like a cop-out to say you’ll enjoy it if you’re a fan of games. Films can be so much more than just one specific audience. This feels more like, for all its strengths, that it was just trying to capitalize off a viral moment.
But perhaps that’s being too harsh. I don’t wan this to come off as judging Blue Scuti: Tetris Crasher for not being The Last Dance of gaming documentaries. I still enjoyed what was here. And, strangely, felt genuinely stressed watching Willis compete in tournaments much to the film’s credit. But I wish it had more time to cook. And while its ending analogy between the game’s unpredictability and life are nice, I can’t help but feel the vehicle carrying it could’ve made such a sentiment so much more powerful.
Blue Scuti: Tetris Crasher premiered at Tribeca Film Festival on June 11. It does not have a wider release date at this time.
Editor’s Note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks. The author of this review is a freelance contractor and not an employee of Legendary Digital Networks.
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