Is a new wave of non-terrible video game movies on the way?

The obvious answer is: no, you stupid child. Decades of absolute horseshit constitutes a preponderence of evidence against the idea of a competent, let alone compelling, film based on a video game.

But, in the past few weeks, we’ve gotten news that two of the world’s most compelling and intense young actors have signed up for game movies. First, we learned that a planned Assassin’s Creed movie starrting Michael Fassbender, he of the Shame wang-waggling and X-Men First Class villainy, has been financed. Then, just yesterday, came word that Tom Hardy, terrific in The Dark Knight Rises as Bane, will play Sam Fisher in a Splinter Cell flick.

That two actors of this caliber will star in these movies is a good sign, although just how good remains to be seen. The highest rated film based on a video game, EVER, is the Final Fantasy movie from 2001 (The Spirits Within), which has a 43% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. Also, it’s technically not based on a game, but a series. Next highest? 2010’s Jake Gyllenhal vehicle, Prince of Persia, at 35%. I watched the first thirty minutes of that and 35% is generous.

What say you Kill Screeners? Should we be cautiously encouraged, or are game movies always a bad idea?