# Portal live action movie **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 24, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901 "2011-08-24T15:20:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/1 "2011-08-24T15:20:18Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/4drucg1A6Xk/maxresdefault.jpg "Portal: No Escape (Live Action Short Film by Dan Trachtenberg)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4drucg1A6Xk) Holy crap. Love the usage of portals as weapons, and the Combine guards. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/2 "2011-08-24T15:34:50Z")
Just watched that this morning. Very cool. Actress fits the role well too. Was kinda hoping GLaDOS would have made an appearance though. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/3 "2011-08-24T15:35:38Z")
I liked it far more than I thought I would - the actress has precisely the right “look” for the role, and does a fine job of conveying a range of emotions without speaking. Nicely done. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/4 "2011-08-25T00:38:47Z")
Really well done. You couldn’t do the “series of tests, each one building upon a skill previously learned” thing that the game does in this short amount of time - but I also think it’d be hard to do a full-length feature that includes a “training” of sorts. Except via a montage - montages are cool. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/5 "2011-08-25T00:56:58Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Just watched that this morning. > > Very cool. > > Actress fits the role well too. > > Was kinda hoping GLaDOS would have made an appearance though. If you want a GLaDOS cameo, there’s a guy who made some custom levels to propose to his GF that’s showing up on Engadget and suchlike, and Valve put him in touch with Ellen McLain and she did some voice work for the project _gratis_. Kinda nifty levels, too. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/6 "2011-08-25T06:34:21Z")
I didn’t quite understand the introduction of the portal gun. She’s locked up in this cell for days and days, and all of sudden, she opens a secret door and there’s a weapon in it? How did she know it was there? Why didn’t she grab it earlier? Why is it even there in the first place? Other than that, very cool. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/7 "2011-08-25T11:02:30Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I didn’t quite understand the introduction of the portal gun. She’s locked up in this cell for days and days, and all of sudden, she opens a secret door and there’s a weapon in it? How did she know it was there? Why didn’t she grab it earlier? Why is it even there in the first place? I assumed the chicken-scratches on the wall were some sort of coded message that said “There’s a panel up on the wall behind you, you should open it”, since they’re too irregular to be the previous inmate keeping track of the days. The marks, like the presence of the gun itself, would be part of the test. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/8 "2011-08-25T13:53:28Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I didn’t quite understand the introduction of the portal gun. She’s locked up in this cell for days and days, and all of sudden, she opens a secret door and there’s a weapon in it? How did she know it was there? Why didn’t she grab it earlier? Why is it even there in the first place? > > Other than that, very cool. I was bit confused by that too. I thought maybe she noticed a crease in the wall that I didn’t see. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/9 "2011-08-25T15:30:31Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I assumed the chicken-scratches on the wall were some sort of coded message that said “There’s a panel up on the wall behind you, you should open it”, since they’re too irregular to be the previous inmate keeping track of the days. The marks, like the presence of the gun itself, would be part of the test. This was my interpretation as well. I had to watch it 3 times before I figured out how she killed the first Combine guard though - opened a blue portal over his head, then shoved the bed through the existing orange portal. That’s something I always missed from the Portal games - mobile enemies. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/10 "2011-08-25T16:35:21Z")
Make a Half Life movie first. ---
**Author:** ![Private\_Bin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@Private\_Bin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Private_Bin)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/11 "2011-08-31T14:11:04Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Make a Half Life movie first. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IU_reTt7Hj4/hqdefault.jpg "What's in the Box? - Test Film 2009") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU_reTt7Hj4) I think this was for a half-life ARG that never got off the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/12 "2012-08-08T13:57:54Z")
I know this is a year old and I apologize to anyone getting excited by seeing this pop up again, but given that the original thread is relevant and very short I thought it better to zombify this one. In my usual timely fashion I’ve just discovered the short film linked to in the OP which is pretty darned awesome (the film, not the OP. Although the OP is okay too). What I was wondering is whether there has been any further movement towards an actual Portal feature (or indeed two). Given the large number of horrible video game-based movies (from the kitsch _Super Mario Brothers_ to the steaming piles of excrement produced by Uwe Boll), and given that the game itself is fabulously scripted, surely this is entirely doable? Sure, Chell doesn’t say anything but then we’ve just had an entire multi-award winning film where no one said anything out loud for the entire film, and GLaDOS has got to more than make up for it. Get a decent actress (heck, get Danielle Rayne), make the story less about solving tests and more about solving the mystery of the building and escaping from it, refrain from dumbing it down too much so that the audience (who, let’s face it, are more likely to be the sort who like puzzles) can actually enjoy thinking about what’s going on and can solve the mystery with the protagonist, add lots of GLaDOSisms and you’ve got a decent 90-minute film there. With a ready-made sequel, and possibly a tie-in to some _Half Life_ movies. Marvel is already championing [sic] the cross-sequel franchise movie cluster o’ blockbusters, so it’s just (just!) a matter of whether Valve (or whoever owns these properties) wants to go into the movie business. It’s money on the table, people. Money on the table. P.S. The Portal marriage proposal mentioned by **Gorsnak** is [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8SdYz7cq04). Very sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/13 "2012-08-08T17:21:11Z")
Thanks for bumping it. Cool movie. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/14 "2012-08-08T18:07:35Z")
This reminds me of something I’ve been wondering forever: if I loved Half-Life 2, will I love Portal? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/15 "2012-08-08T19:08:43Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > This reminds me of something I’ve been wondering forever: if I loved Half-Life 2, will I love Portal? I’ll just quote Yahtzee’s Orange Box [review](http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/10-The-Orange-Box), which has always summed up my feelings about the game pretty well: “Portal is great, and if you don’t think so, you must be stupid!” ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/16 "2012-08-09T00:26:27Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > This reminds me of something I’ve been wondering forever: if I loved Half-Life 2, will I love Portal? Portal is awesome, and the only reason I started using Steam. Portal 2 is a flawed game - parts of it drag in ways the original did not (but maybe that’s deliberate to make you want to get back), and the co-op does not work well\*. \* The puzzles themselves are nice, but the “co-operative” play is like two people trying to read the same book. Spoilers are death in a puzzle game, and the co-op levels have a “spoil this puzzle for my partner” button in case you think they’re taking too long. ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/17 "2012-08-09T00:58:26Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Portal is awesome, and the only reason I started using Steam. Portal 2 is a flawed game - parts of it drag in ways the original did not (but maybe that’s deliberate to make you want to get back), and the co-op does not work well\*. > > \* The puzzles themselves are nice, but the “co-operative” play is like two people trying to read the same book. Spoilers are death in a puzzle game, and the co-op levels have a “spoil this puzzle for my partner” button in case you think they’re taking too long. Wow - could not disagree more regarding the co-op. I played it with my girlfriend and it may have been the most fun I’ve ever had playing a video game. It takes all the puzzle-solving highs the single-player mode elicits and turns them into a shared experience. It sounds, based on your mention of “spoilers,” like you were purposely not executing solutions to puzzles until both players had come up with the solution independently. I guess this makes sense if one player consistently solves puzzles faster (to allow the slower partner some of that puzzle-solving high), but my girlfriend and I were splitting the solutions pretty evenly, and just shouting them out as we came up with them. For us, half the fun was in communicating with your partner and sharing in the exhilaration of executing the solutions. It becomes a competition to see who can figure out the puzzle first - which is quickly transformed into the dizzying joy of synchronized portal leaps, box hurling, and gel launches. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/18 "2012-08-09T02:38:11Z")
Portal is awesome and Portal 2 is even better. Portal 2 is not a flawed game in any sense; nay, it is one of the greatest ever made. Ok, that’s enough of that hijack! Very cool movie. I don’t know if I’d like to see a full feature length film, since Portal/Portal 2 did such an amazing job telling the story. How could a movie reasonably be a better story telling medium for the Portal story? I don’t think it could. ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/19 "2012-08-09T02:40:49Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Very cool movie. I don’t know if I’d like to see a full feature length film, since Portal/Portal 2 did such an amazing job telling the story. How could a movie reasonably be a better story telling medium for the Portal story? I don’t think it could. Yeah, I agree. I think little short films like the one in the OP would be as far as I’d be willing to go. Portal’s just one of those stories that only works as a game, wherein the only voices you ever hear are those of the warped AIs talking to you as you sweat their their mad designs. ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901/20 "2012-08-09T06:33:24Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > This was my interpretation as well. > > I had to watch it 3 times before I figured out how she killed the first Combine guard though - opened a blue portal over his head, then shoved the bed through the existing orange portal. That’s something I always missed from the Portal games - mobile enemies. In the “varying mileage” category, I loved Portal because there were no enemies. Yay a game I didn’t have to hack just so I could play it! Thanks for bumping this, **Gyrate**. I’d never seen that short before. **Really Not All That Bright** , see if you can get a demo of either game. They’re logic puzzle type games, unlike HL2. No enemies and generally no time limit, just getting from point A to B. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/portal-live-action-movie/593901.md?page=2)