When you take a proven hit and adapt it into a TV series, high expectations are part of the package. And so, the most talked about series this winter on HBO is "The Last of Us", which aired yesterday also in Israel, and breathes life into a successful PlayStation game from a decade ago. On the occasion of the occasion, I downloaded the game "The Last of Us" to the game console, and tried to understand what the commotion was about.
With the help of the joystick I traveled in a dystopian world, which takes place 20 years after an apocalypse that happened after a mysterious epidemic broke out.
I fought soldiers, zombies and rebels, climbed ladders and dived into trenches, until suddenly I was assigned a mission: to safely transport a privileged girl to the other side of the USA. A heavy responsibility, isn't it?
War on soldiers, zombies and rebels.
"The Last of Us" joystick version, photo: ThinkstockPhotos
witty dialogues
Listen, that ended my night.
I learned to make molotov cocktails and smoke grenades, to snipe characters with a shotgun and to walk stealthily so that zombies wouldn't notice me.
After all, it is very irresponsible to wake up the house at three in the morning with the screams of dozens of noisy zombies.
A few days ago I received the episodes of the new series.
Thus, a strange situation arose where the series provided spoilers for the continuation of the game's plot, and the game revealed to me all the major twists in the series.
Indeed, there is a definite connection between the two.
The cast took an active part in the production of "The Last of Us", including the developer and original screenwriter Neil Druckman (a former Israeli, who was born in a settlement in Samaria and immigrated to America in his youth), who wrote and created the series together with director Craig Mazin ("Chernobyl").
In fact, the series bases entire scenes on the original game, reproduces witty dialogues and maintains the main plot lines and the appearance.
The acting team took part in the adaptation for the screen.
Actors Bela Ramsay (second from left) and Pedro Pascal (second from right) with creators Craig Mazin (left) and Neil Druckman (center) at the premiere of the series held in Los Angeles last week, photo: AFP
The camera angles sometimes resemble a computer game, the script combines plots from the sequels and builds a round, broad and effective story.
The cinematography is stunning, the destruction looks impressive, the attention to detail is amazing, and there is a feeling that each scene creates the next task for the characters, whether it is about getting a car or whether it is about finding medicine, locating people or overcoming zombies.
The viewer is drawn in
In fact, the "The Last of Us" team managed to preserve the strengths in the screen adaptation process.
For example, the special relationship that develops along the journey between Joel, the older hero (Pedro Pascal, "Narcos") and Ellie, the girl who accompanies him (Bella Ramsay, Lyanna Mormont from "Game of Thrones").
She is 14 years old, born into the dystopian reality and raised in an isolation camp until something happened.
Now, she may be carrying an epidemic vaccine in her blood.
Good casting.
Pascal and Ramsay at the premiere of "The Last of Us", photo: AP
Some enthusiastic critics have claimed that The Last of Us is the most successful video game adaptation ever made.
On the other hand, it is not the best zombie series you will see.
To her credit, she is brutal and gloomy but also empathetic and moving, and knows how to draw in the simple viewer - just as the game does to the gamer who sits down in front of him.
If there is a statement that stands out in the nine episodes of the first season, it must have to do with dealing with loss.
Loss of life, of friends and family, materiality, human image, civilization or hope.
In all the human misery that "The Last of Us" talks about, you won't find anything that hasn't been said before in other apocalypse series, and here it loses its uniqueness.
After all, when you take a blockbuster hit and turn it into a TV series, expectations are part of the package.
"The last among us" - HOT, yes and Cellcom TV
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