The Last Of Us Lands Perfect 100 Rotten Tomatoes Debut

Video game adaptations are perhaps one of the hardest genres to make a success of, but The Last of Us has bucked the trend in a huge way. The Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey-led series arrives on HBO on January 15, and the first critic reviews hit Rotten Tomatoes today leading to the series landing a 100% approval rate. While later in the day a couple of the first reviews were not impressed by the opening episodes, there was an undeniable majority that were happy to hail The Last of Us as the greatest video game adaptation ever.

How has The Last of Us been such a hit with the critics? It seems to be a simple, but often overlooked principle of sticking firmly to the source material and not attempting to change what made the game so popular. While shows like Resident Evil struggled to gain viewership thanks to major changes to the world of the game, The Last of Us looks like it will not have any such issues once audiences get the chance to give their opinion on the story.

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The biggest test for the series is being able to hold the attention of those unfamiliar with the game, however with the main praise being on the lead performances from Pascal and Ramsey as Joel and Ellie, it does seem that The Last of Us could be about to turn what is considered one of the greatest video games of all time, into one of the greatest shows of all time.

The Last of Us Has Been Helped By The Involvement of The Game’s Creator

     Warner Bros  

One thing that can help keep a TV or movie adaptation on track is the heavy involvement of the source material’s creator. To that end, Neil Druckmann has been part of The Last of Us every step of the way, and that has ensured that, in his own words, show will be “the best, most authentic game adaptation.”

It currently looks like Druckmann has been true to his word, and in the sense of everything happens for a reason, suggests that the collapse of a movie version from Sam Raimi was the best thing that could have happened. In previous interviews, Druckmann has said that the main reason for Raimi’s movie falling apart was a difference of opinion with studio executives wanting to make the adaptation “bigger and sexier” than the game. Additionally, Druckmann was under the belief that a single two hour movie had no chance of adapting a video game narrative that runs for 15 hours of gameplay.

Thankfully for fans, it seems that The Last of Us is coming to HBO in the best form it possibly can, and unlike many such shows there are no plans to stretch the story beyond the boundaries of the two video games it is based on. That means, with a bit of luck, The Last of Us will manage to maintain its high approval rating once audiences get to have their say.