With an earnest, can-do attitude, Taron Egerton stars as Henk Rogers, the video game designer and producer who helped bring the ‘80s video game Tetris out of the Soviet Union and into the hands of the world via the GameBoy. Following the beats of a heist thriller, Apple’s Tetris recreates a historic series of events with a kind of flair and drama usually reserved for a spy films.
Look, I’m sold. Egerton delivers his lines with a kind of manic sincerity, the subtle video game touches are light and funny, and the friendship between inventor Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov) and Rogers is the kind of “dudes rock” underdog story that I’m here for. The synth production of Europe’s “The Final Countdown”? Genius.
Though there are clearly some embellishments here, this is based on a true story; video games were serious business in the ‘80s and ‘90s (as they are today), and some of the power struggles were as global as the fight for Tetris. The film is directed by Jon S. Baird and written by Noah Pink. Both Henk Rogers and Alexy Pajitnov, who currently work as stewards of the Tetris brand via the Tetris Company, which they co-founded in 1996, are producers on the film.
Tetris will premiere globally on Apple TV+ on March 30.