A couple weeks ago I was bored in Chemistry class and decided to play one of my favorite games in the world: Tetris on my Chromebook.

And as I stacked and cleared line after line my eyes wandered away from the colorful blocks to the side of the website advertising the “Tetris Movie”. I had never heard of this production in my life but from the second I saw the ad I knew that this movie was for me. 

Like Prometheus bringing fire to the Greeks from Mount Olympus, Tetris follows American businessman Hank Rodgers, living in Japan during the 1980s and his expedition to Communist Russia to find the creator of Tetris, the game he fell in love with and bring back the licensing rights and sell it to the whole world.

As he said in the first scene, to him Tetris was “the perfect game”.

This movie started streaming on Apple TV this year and was directed by Jon S. Baird, written by Noah Pink and stars Taron Egerton who is most well-known for playing Elton John in the biographical movie “Rocketman” and also for playing the animated gorilla “Johnny” in the movie “Sing”.

Before you watch this film I have to warn you it is R-Rated but that rating is only because of bad language. Tetris is mostly about the drama associated with the most exciting topic… video game licensing agreements. 

It starts out in Japan with a lighter more comedic tone and then as more of Hank’s life is put on the line for Tetris it gradually becomes more dire and dramatic. 

Even as Hank goes into the belly of the Communist Russian beast there are comedic gags and fun animation to lighten the mood. 

One negative aspect of this movie is that being based on the true story of Tetris, the real life plot points often came across as boring. 

I felt myself zoning out during the parts when distribution rights were negotiated. But if you are interested in corporate drama then this is the perfect film for you. 

One of my favorite parts was when characters would discuss private information with each other over the phone and then it would cut to the KGB offices with a nosy wire-tapper laughing at what was just said. 

Those kinds of gags really add on to the oppressive feeling of the movie while in Russia, things like a shot panning out and slowly fading into a secret photograph taken of the characters by a KGB agent really drove home how you could never keep a secret from the KGB in the USSR. 

Overall I found myself enjoying Egerton’s performance as the admirable Hank Rodgers. The friendship that he finds in this film was quite heartwarming especially towards the end with the dramatic backdrop of the collapse of the Soviet Union. If you love history, complicated business dealings with Russians, action, adventure and of course Tetris I recommend this movie to you.