Sony has announced the start of work on a film adapted from the Helldivers video games. Only problem? They are too inspired by Starship Troopers to avoid repetition.
During CES 2025, Sony revealed its plans regarding the adaptations of its numerous licenses into films and series. The plebiscite around The Last of Usseason 2 of which will soon be broadcast, and the encouraging success ofUncharted (more than 400 million dollars at the worldwide box office) give ideas to the multinational. She can thus draw on her numerous creations to iterate at will and conquer screens, large and small, around the world.
This is how we will end up with a feature film based on the Horizon video games or even an animated series in the colors of Ghost of Tsushima. Another project revealed: a film based on Helldiversthe second episode of which, released in 2024, continues to fascinate thousands of players around a global conflict facing enemy factions. However, we see a problem with it.
Do we really need a Helldivers movie?
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Since its launch in early 2024, Helldivers 2 keeps its community active and attentive with updates that serve as storytelling pieces. The objectives of the missions, shared by everyone, advance a somewhat meta story, which captivates and evolves the balance of power between the human army – which is in reality the big bad – and the threats hovering over Democracy controlled.
In film, it appears difficult to adapt this less direct narration, nourished by the dynamism of battles and collective effort. Above all, Helldivers 2 is openly inspired by a cinema masterpiece: Starship Trooperssatirical SF story by Paul Verhoeven. We already find the second degree articulated around a militarist and totalitarian nation, and the propaganda that results from it. In this sense, a Helldivers film would only appear as a repeat of a major film, which continues to inspire many years after its release.
Helldivers 2 also draws on other major works of the Seventh Art. So, robot enemies are reminiscent of Terminators, while war films — The Red Line, Apocalypse Now — are found in the production and the different atmospheres of the game. In short, the screenwriters and the director, unknown at the moment, will have to redouble their imagination so as not to suffer from the difficult comparison with their peers.
We can always give the project the benefit of the doubt, but this announcement is accompanied by some legitimate reluctance. And it is not impossible to think that Sony has many other more relevant things to adapt before thinking of Helldivers. The success of the second game motivates, but be careful not to pull the rope too much.
