
Release Date: June 24, 2016
This is essentially a remake to King of Kong with different people and a different game. The story follows a similar path, but a major difference here is that one of the gamers isn’t a villain. The person they try to make out to be a “bad boy” is really just a weird punk rock guy and kind of likable in the end. Being similar to King of Kong isn’t a bad thing though. I loved King of Kong and this scratched that itch for wanting to see more of it. In this movie the players are competing on a much lessor known game, Nibbler, and that also adds some interesting new depth to the narrative.
The main focus of the documentary here was Tim McVey (not the terrorist) and by his own admission he is just a normal boring guy and that makes him far easier to root for and I honestly wanted him to succeed. I truly felt for him when he struggled in some of his attempts and even though I can’t identify with his struggle physically I can empathize and understand how though it must be.
Despite the intriguing story, subject matter, and characters, this movie had 2 major flaws. Billy Mitchell and Walter Day. I grew up in the heyday of arcades and dumped countless quarters into Tempest and Dig Dug so I am a sucker for this subject matter, but I know every time I watch a documentary about classic arcades I have to see these two idiots. Walter Day showed his true colors in this film when he refused to acknowledge the Italian guy’s record but as soon as it wasn’t a record anymore he accepted the score.
Rating: 7
Rewatchability: Moderate-Low