The reviews for the highly anticipated adaptation of the hugely popular video game, The Last of Us, are now in. So, is The Last of Us series the video game adaptation that fans have been waiting oh so long for? Thankfully, yes. Yes, it is.
Beginning with John Nugent of Empire, who awards The Last of Us a perfect score of 5/5, the leap from pixel to live action has been done expertly by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, resulting in the best video game adaptation to ever grace the screen.
The perfect scores continue with David Opie of Digital Spy, who praised The Last of Us for its genuine scares and deep, detailed characterization.
“Comfortably the best adaptation of a video-game ever made: one that deepens the game’s dystopian lore, while staying true to its emotional core. Like the game, it’s a masterpiece, too.”
Collider’s Ross Bonaime meanwhile awards The Last of Us a stellar A+, commending Mazin and Druckmann for their creative choices as they bring the video game to the screen, including maintaining the same score and the core of the story.
“The Last of Us is genuinely scary, but it’s the quiet moments intertwined throughout that will grab you most, like fungal tendrils wrapping their way around your brain stem. By episode 3, it’s already a contender for best show of the year.”
Simon Cardy of IGN gives The Last of Us a near-perfect 9/10, calling it a “breathtaking adaptation of one of the most impactful stories told in video games” which “rilliantly brings Joel and Ellie’s journey to a whole new audience.”
“The Last of Us is a phenomenal retelling of a story that was already one of the best narratives ever told in a video game, and this version highlights the importance of varying perspectives in a way that will only become more important if the series gets a second season.”
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“Taking the essence of what made the original tale so enduring, it builds out the world of the game while also switching up some aspects to almost entirely stunning effect. Anchored by two outstanding lead performances from Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal, it delivers an enriching show for fans of the PlayStation hit, while also managing to stay welcomingly thrilling to newcomers.”
The Last of Us Could Become One of the Best Shows of All Time
HBO
THR’s Daniel Fienberg meanwhile does criticize the series, specifically the pacing and lack of breathing room for some of the characters and plot points, but concludes that this is far from enough to bury the show. Thanks in large part to the performances from leads Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.
Lastly, Variety’s Daniel D’Addario can already see a future in which The Last of Us is considered not only the best video game adaptation ever made, but one of the best television series.
“If those, however, are my biggest complaints about your blockbuster video game adaptation? Well, you’ve done pretty well indeed, The Last of Us.”
From the Emmy award-winning creator of Chernobyl, Craig Mazin, and the creator of the acclaimed video game on which the series is based, Neil Druckmann, The Last of Us is a new HBO Original series and follows Joel, a grizzled survivor of a dangerous post pandemic world, who has slowly lost his sense of morality after the loss of his daughter, and Ellie, a young girl with her own struggle to find real human connection, are forced together and must travel across the U.S. in search of a feint hope for the future of humanity.
“That isn’t intended as faint praise — but what works about “The Last of Us” works well enough that one sees the near future in which the show winds up among television’s best. The raw material, including a poignant and thoughtful curiosity about what it might be like to live through catastrophe, is there. But for all that the fall was not the fault of humanity in this telling of our demise, I hope, in seasons to come, to see still more of the world beyond our heroes’ relationship. “The Last of Us,” at its core, argues that the world is worth fighting for; showing us more of it will only strengthen that case.”
Starring Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Merle Dandridge, Anna Torv, Nick Offerman, Keivonn Woodard, and Lamar Johnson, The Last of Us is set to debut on January 15, 2023.
