HBO’s The Last of Us review – the first brilliant live-action adaptation

It’s official. HBO’s The Last of Us is the best live-action adaptation of a videogame to date. There can be no argument on this one. Just watch it. Before that, the title belonged to…

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children? Wow. The bar really was low, huh? Nevertheless, it wouldn’t have taken much for The Last of Us to be considered the best of a bad bunch. Just throw in the basic plot, get an alright performance from the two leads and call it a day. HBO didn’t do that. Instead, it went a step further, not just making The Last of Us a decent adaptation, but a brilliant series altogether.

You can’t hand all the praise to HBO. The story – as brilliant as it is in both videogame and live-action adaptation, wouldn’t exist without Neil Druckmann, the game’s original creator. Druckmann returned to help write and run the show, though most of that work went to Craig Mazin – whose presence is as apparent here as it was in Chernobyl, his last big-budget project.

Throw in the spectacular performances from Pedro Pascal (Joel) and Bella Ramsey (Ellie) as the show’s leads, and you’ve got what the industry calls ‘a hit’. Why? Mainly because The Last of Us’ best feature is the fact that it can be loved by anyone.  That means fans of the original source material and people who have never touched a controller in their lives.

In need of a binge

First, the show needs to give us an idea of the story and the world we’ll be exploring over the coming nine episodes. The Last of Us centres on Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal), a gruff and violent character – twenty years after the world is plagued by a pandemic that turns people into – you guessed it – zombies. Joel and Tess (Anna Torv) are smugglers in this post-apocalyptic world, just trying to earn enough to keep them alive in the day-to-day. That is, until the Fireflies – a rebellious group going against the government – force Joel and Tess to take Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the country. Why? We don’t know – at least not at first. It’ll make sense soon, however – don’t worry.

Right from the get-go, fans are treated to a scene that’s pulled almost entirely from the first game. We get a little more backstory for Joel and Tommy (Gabriel Luna) in the beginning – with a few extra minutes devoted to letting audiences attach themselves to Joel’s daughter – Sarah (Nico Parker). If you’ve played the game, you’ll understand the implications. If you haven’t, maybe keep some tissue close by, just in case.

And that theme of pulling directly from the game continues throughout the entire run of nine episodes. There are some episodes that deviate from the main plot – like the show’s third episode – but those sub-plots never overstay their welcome. The game barely pulls you out of the driving seat that is Joel, not leaving much of his story to imagination. That just… wouldn’t work in a live-action adaptation. That’s why we get a little extra here. The show does a great job of adding content from other side characters’ POVs – giving us some time away from the show’s two leads – and allowing the creators of the show to do some pretty enthralling world-building.

Our one issue is that the series feels like it would benefit greatly from being a binge-able beast, rather than the weekly episodic adventure it is. We at Stuff had the benefit of watching the entire season all at once. This helped us accept the slower episodes where the focal point is on world-building, rather than the characters at hand. Don’t fret too much, those episodes are few and far between. Our main concern is that a weekly release might draw the pace out too much for some viewers.

A dynamic duo

For reasons that we’d rather let viewers new to the IP discover, the series eventually settles the focus on Joel and Ellie – alone together as they travel across the country in search of the Firefly base mentioned in the first episode. This is where the show is at its absolute best. The dynamic of a charismatic, energy-filled 14-year-old girl accompanying the old, hardened veteran of the apocalypse is as brilliant here as it is in the game.

The two travel cross-country, fending off both human and zombie foes, though the show tends to give us more of the former rather than the latter. Which works perfectly, but we’ll get to that later. As we’ve already said – the two leads give their all in these performances. Pedro Pascal as Joel may have caused some discourse at first, though is there ever any casting that isn’t met with outrage by the vocal minority on Twitter? After seeing the entirety of the show, it’s clear that he was perfect for the role. Pascal may not have had many opportunities to give it his all up to this point but that should change as more people see his performance here. It’s a brilliant casting choice that shines under a brilliant script.

Ellie, on the other hand, is the life and soul of this series. While Pascal is pulling from years of experience (which, incidentally, is the same for his character), Bella Ramsey hasn’t had as much time leading shows (again matching the theme of the cast’s dynamic). It doesn’t show though, as you’ll feel like Ramsey has been doing this for years. Ellie is an oftentimes unserious 14-year-old girl that has struggled to find her place in this apocalyptic world – until she meets Joel. She bounces off Joel exceptionally well, bringing with her some comic relief when needed. But that doesn’t mean she can’t be serious. Sometimes the tables turn and she has to take the lead in some situations. This is where Ramsey’s nuanced portrayal is most apparent.

Each of the two leads are great in their roles. But their chemistry together is just… perfect. There aren’t many times we find a need for that word. It fits here, though.

Fewer zombies = better writing? 

You already know the basic story of The Last of Us – whether you’ve read this review as a newcomer or as an avid fan of the games. So, we won’t spoil much more than that, because The Last of Us is certainly at its best when the player (or now, the watcher) doesn’t know what’s coming next.

The world, luckily, is still very much up for discussion. It’s a stellar lesson in cinematography. Not just because some of the sets are pulled from the game, down to the very last detail – though that’s apparent for much of the show. No, it’s how showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann managed to create a world that somehow feels devoid of anything meaningful, yet at the same time feels like it’s teeming with possibility. Part of the reason why the show does this so well is that it does away with plenty of the game’s repetitive zombie fights. But rather than hinder the show, the lack of zombies is what makes this live-action adaptation that much better than its counterpart.

Where the game needs to give the player something to do (ie, fighting as many zombie and human henchmen as possible), the show just doesn’t. It would rather spend more time on the writing and interactions between the main cast (and some of the cast that only stick around for an episode or two). It still manages to achieve the threat of zombies – not by having our main cast constantly fighting them off – but by showing us the fallout of the pandemic. As Joel and Ellie continue their venture, we get to see cities and settlements left behind. Sure, the zombies haven’t been left out of the story entirely, far from it. But it helps build a sense of fear — the things that caused this damage could appear at any time. And sometimes they do.

The Last of Us is definitely worth the watch (until the end)

If you’ve skipped right to the end of the review – you’re probably wondering if HBO’s The Last of Us is an adaptation worthy of its name and your time. The answer is a resounding ‘yes’ to both. HBO threw enough money at production and hired exactly the right people for the series, both in front of and behind the camera. The writing from Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin certainly makes the show a must-watch, whether you’ve played the game or not. Chuck in the brilliant performances from the series’ two main leads and you’ve got yourself the best live-action videogame adaptation put on screen yet.

Fans of the game needn’t worry about some of the original game’s best scenes going missing here. The final twenty minutes aren’t just some of the best of the entire series, but of TV in general. Oh, and the giraffe scene is there – you just have to get to it.

The show premieres in South Africa on Showmax today, 16 January at 22:00 – set a reminder for yourself on your account right here. Showmax will do the rest and notify you when the first episode drops. Unfortunately, you’ll be stuck waiting until next Monday for the second episode after the longer-than-usual first episode ends. Rinse. Repeat.