Tetris (2023)

Tetris takes the unlikely story of a simple puzzle game and turns it into a slick, propulsive Cold War thriller where boardrooms and bureaucracy feel as perilous as back alleys. Jon S. Baird directs with a crowd-pleasing snap, keeping the legal knots and corporate gamesmanship clear and exciting, while Taron Egerton gives Henk Rogers the kind of restless conviction that makes you lean in and root for him. The film’s vibe is part nostalgia rush, part espionage-adjacent tension, with Moscow’s gray pressure contrasting sharply against the neon optimism of late-’80s gaming dreams. If you’re allergic to business talk you may not love how much hinges on contracts and rights, but the movie’s energy and pacing make those details feel like the ticking gears inside a great heist.

Tetris is clearly trying to turn a famously nerdy licensing saga into a Cold War thriller, and on that level it’s energetic, stylish, and easy to watch thanks to Taron Egerton’s likable drive and a genuinely warm rapport with Nikita Efremov’s Pajitnov. The catch is that it often feels more like a slick caper than a grounded true-story drama, leaning on flashy editing, heightened peril, and some hokey, cliché suspense beats that can make the real legal/political complexity feel simplified or even glib. If you’re coming for a serious, detailed history lesson about contracts and Soviet-era realities, you may find it shallow and occasionally convoluted in how it juggles all the players. But if you just want a brisk, popcorn-friendly “based on” thriller with some charm and a great central friendship, it’ll likely do the job.