Film / Tetris (2023)

"It's poetry, art, and math, all working in magical synchronicity! It's...it's the perfect game!"

— Henk Rogers

Tetris is a 2023 biographical drama thriller film based around the iconic video game and the legal battles for its licensing. It is directed by Jon S. Baird (Stan & Ollie), produced by Matthew Vaughn, and stars Taron Egerton, Nikita Yefremov, Roger Allam, and Toby Jones.

Egerton plays Henk Rogers, a video game producer who discovers the game created by Russian designer Alexey Pajitnov (Yefremov) and sets out to secure the rights to bundle the game with the upcoming Game Boy. His quest is complicated however, when he finds the rights to the game are controlled by the Soviet government, who hold a tight grip on the IP. With enemies on both sides of the Iron Curtain, Rogers and Pajitnov must work together to bring the beloved game to the world.

The film premiered on Apple TV+ March 31, 2023.

Previews: Trailer 1

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Tetris provides examples of:

• Adaptational Intelligence: Kevin Maxwell is shown to be a competent, if somewhat arrogant and pushy, negotiator, managing to secure an initial offer for the Tetris rights from ELORG (though that was mostly due to his father's deals with the KGB). As the Gaming Historian shows, in reality his ignorance played a huge part in Stein and Mirrorsoft eventually losing the Tetris deal.
• Adaptational Villainy: The real Robert Stein was more direct in his dealings and was, in fact, already negotiating handheld rights with Atari when Henk Rogers contacted him^note  In reality, the Game Boy had already been out in Japan, without any bundled games, for some time by then, meaning he didn't go behind his back to screw him. His company, Andromeda Software, was also much more than a simple IP leecher; it had, in fact, developed over 70 titles by the time Tetris came along, and Stein is known in his home country as "The Father of Hungarian Video Game Development". Also, the movie severely underplays the fact that he was the man who discovered Tetris, recognised its huge potential and first bought it to a wider audience. In general, he was a much more complicated and sympathetic person than the Corrupt Bureaucrat with a Chronic Backstabbing Disorder portrayed in the movie.
• Air Guitar: Henk Rogers does this during an underground party he attends with Alexey to the theme of Europe's "The Final Countdown".
• All for Nothing: Kevin Maxwell plays this straight. After going through all the trouble to make a deal with ELORG for Tetris, it turns out that due to his father's fraudulent activities, the Maxwells don't have the liquid assets necessary to keep their end of the deal in time for the Tetris rights to be secured. His father Robert Maxwell still congratulates him however, because Kevin's efforts means the Maxwells are now able to bluff Nintendo into signing a fraudulent contract, something that horrifies Kevin. After all of this, he understandably goes into a Villainous BSoD.
• Anachronism Stew: When Henk mentions Zelda and Link, we see footage of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, which was made in 2002 while the movie is set in the 80s.
• An Aesop:
  • "Good ideas have no borders".
  • Friendship has no borders.
  • Unfortunately, corruption has no borders too.
• Artistic License: In regards to computer science: When convincing Nintendo to pack Tetris with the Game Boy instead of Super Mario Land, he is able to rewrite his source code for the game to run on the Game Boy simply by changing a few lines of code, and it looks exactly like the commercial release of the game. In reality this would've required major modifications to the source code.
  • In addition, it's claimed that Super Mario Land was programmed in C, which also happens to be the language Henk Rogers' version of Tetris is written in. C compilers in the 80s were not optimized enough to output efficient code to run on video game consoles of the era, and so most games were programmed in assembly. This was likely done because assembly can look like random gibberish to the average layman, while C is much more human readable. It was also likely to Hand Wave the fact that Henk was able to rewrite Tetris to run on Game Boy so quickly, as C code can be compiled to run on multiple platforms, while code written in assembly would require complete rewrites to run on a new platform.
• Artistic License – Art: During his conversation with Yamauchi, Henk talks about partnership, bringing up comparisons with Zelda and Link. The game footage that follows is taken from The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, a game made long after the release of Tetris on the NES, and the characters shown are the Green and Blue Links, with no Zelda present.
• Artistic License – History: While roughly based on an account of real-life events, some events were either embellished or introduced to make for a more compelling story:
  • While Henk really was the one that suggested Tetris to be bundled with the Game Boy, in reality it was already out in Japan without any bundled games at the time Henk went to Russia to negotiate the handheld rights.
  • Belikov's Batman Gambit in reality only involved him roasting Robert Stein over not paying his due royalties and imposing increased rates and penalties (which he was actually prepared to lower if Stein complained) in order to prevent him from reading the fine print. The Tetris arcade rights were not actually involved the negotiations.
  • While Henk Rogers, Robert Stein and Kevin Maxwell really were in Russia at the same time for the Tetris rights, they never became aware of each other's presence while they were there. Henk Rogers and Robert Stein never actually met as Belikov was in fact very careful in keeping all parties separate and arranging his meetings with them in such a way so that they wouldn't accidentally bump into each other. The Chance Meeting Between Antagonists was just added to the movie to create tension.
  • The ending car chase was invented purely to give the film an exciting climax. However, the idea didn't come out of nowhere: while it's true that Robert Maxwell attempted to sic the KGB on Henk and co. in retaliation for obtaining the rights to Tetris, in reality the KGB told him that there was nothing they could do since their hands were tied trying to deal with their collapsing government and to just give up.
  • Henk was not blackmailed to abandon his pursuit for the rights to Tetris, nor did he miss his daughter's recital to secure the rights.
  • The Russian government never threatened Henk's wife.
  • Apparently, Robert Maxwell wasn't as bad in real life as the film made him out to be. In real life, he was even worse. In fact, while the fraudulent contract he offered Nintendo didn't actually happen, Robert Maxwell built his empire with these sort of deals.
  • Valentin Trifonov is an original character made specifically for the film, based on all of corrupt officials in the USSR's ranks.
  • A minor factual error presented in the ending: Alexey and his family are shown immigrating to San Francisco. They actually immigrated to Seattle.
• Artistic Licence – Law: Normally, in the case of Robert Stein, where new circumstances arise in an already existing agreement that need to be taken into account (in this case, that he sold the arcade rights illegally and he was able to sell console rights due to a Loophole Abuse), you wouldn't sign a new contract, you'd sign an amendment to the original contract (which is what Stein actually signed in Real Life). The term "new contract" is used because most people in the audience are not familiar with contract amendments.
• Ascended Meme: While talking with a banker about how lucrative his plan to publish Tetris for Nintendo can be, Henk states that teaming up with Nintendo is "[...]a license to print money", a nod at memes of Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata bragging about the Nintendo DS: "IT PRINTS MONEY".
• As You Know: Subverted. Since the film mostly focuses on Henk Roger's involvement with licensing Tetris, quite a few events took place prior to Roger's involvement, which he recounts to his Audience Surrogate in the films opening scene.
• Avoid the Dreaded G Rating: Screenwriter Noah Pink introduced profanity into the script to prevent the movie from being perceived as a children's film, possibly due to the lack of on-screen violence and blood. The f-bomb alone is dropped a whopping 31 times in the film, while other swears only see usage in the single digits.
• Bait-and-Switch: Multiple.
  • The movie opens with Henk Rogers at an electronics convention in Las Vegas, trying to demo and show off his "revolutionary" new computer game... Go for the PC.
  • While Henk and Alexey are out partying, The Men in Black are seen getting into a car and entering an industrial building, presumably to crash the party. They're actually from the Soviet Embassy in Tokyo, arriving at Henk's software company to threaten his wife and family directly.
  • During the final scene where Henk Rogers, Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln are being chased by Valentin, who wants to apprehend them in order to prevent the Tetris deal from going forward, he and his agents stop the plane to Tokyo and attempt to arrest the Nintendo team there. It turns out Henk, Minoru and Howard took a different plane just to get the hell out of Moscow and proceeded to go back to Japan after they landed safely out of KGB/Soviet jurisdiction.
• Based on a True Story: The film is a dramatized account of Henk Rogers' attempts to obtain the Tetris licenses. While a number of details have been changed, the overall timeline of events has been compressed, and a character or two has been added, the broad strokes of the film are accurate, along with a number of the smaller details.
• Batman Gambit: Belikov performs a masterful one on Robert Stein. After he calls the latter out on illegally selling arcade Rights to Atari he presents him a new Leonine Contract for the "Home Computer" AND the "Arcade" rights that Stein stiffed the Russians on. The contract has much higher royalty rates and much stiffer penalties than the original. As Belikov expects, Stein is too focused on negotiating the increase in royalties to Read the Fine Print and realize that the new contract now has a more restrictive definition of the term "home computer" which means he is essentially signing his video game rights away.
• Big Bad: Robert Maxwell. The film takes many liberties to create a presentable on-screen retelling of events, but Maxwell was every bit the scummy fraudster he is portrayed in the movie. If anything, his own son Kevin Maxwell says the film is a little too charitable with how it portrays him. However, since it would make little sense to have him actively chase down Henk and his partners, he remains a Non-Action Big Bad.
• Big Damn Reunion: A non-romantic one at the end of the movie. Henk Rogers and Alexey Pajitnov.
• Birds of a Feather: Once Alexey and Henk manage to spend some time together away from the eyes of the corrupt Soviet Regime, they immediately bond over their mutual love of programming and Tetris, becoming fast friends. They end up becoming True Companions by the time the credits roll.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Sasha presents herself as a friendly, perhaps even scatterbrained, translator, when in actuality she is a competent KGB agent spying on Henk, and facilitating the Soviets' attempt to blackmail him.
• Blackmail: Henk is kissed by a KGB agent posing as his translator, which he rebuffs. Once he returns home to Tokyo, the Soviets fax him a picture of the kiss with the veiled threat that they will show it to his wife if he doesn't stand down.
• Brick Joke:
  • A really dark one. Alexey takes Henk to an underground Russian party, where one makes a Rousing Speech about Russians wanting freedom of expression and "Levi's Jeans". Later when Henk is ambushed and beaten up by the head of the KGB he is told "thanks for the Levi's" and his jeans are taken away, thereby forcing Henk to walk back to his hotel in his underwear.
  • During the final big chase when Henk Rogers, Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln are making their getaway in the airport, Henk attempts to give Alexey a goodbye Man Hug for being his friend and Getaway Driver. Alexey refuses, telling him that this not the time for "American Emotion" before telling him to move quickly into the airplane and not look back. Those words come back in the Big Damn Reunion.
  Henk: Is now the time for "American Emotion"? (Man Hug ensues)
• Broken Pedestal: Kevin Maxwell starts the movie proud of being Robert Maxwell's son, even insisting on being called "Mr. Maxwell", by anyone besides his father. By the end of it he is so completely disgusted by his father's immoral (not to mention illegal) actions, that he wants nothing more to do with him.
• Cardboard Box of Unemployment: Alexey is shown carrying one, after he loses his job for pulling a Fire Alarm Distraction in order to send Henk Rogers the crucial fax that ends up saving his business.
• Chance Meeting Between Antagonists: Henk Rogers and Robert Stein accidentally bump into each other outside of the hotel they were staying at on their way to ELORG. After staring at each other for a few seconds, they can only muster a single response.
  Both: YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!
• Changed My Mind, Kid: When Henk returns to Russia with Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa to secure the rights to Tetris once and for all, Alexey tells Rogers that he has used him and asks him to leave Russia and leave him and his family alone. As he is leaving his hotel, he overhears something from the The Men in Black. During the final stretch of the movie Henk Rogers, Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa are about to be detained by The Men in Black outside of the ELORG building (with the implication that they are going to be assassinated). Alexey drops in with his car at the last moment to save them and help them escape.
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • While unsuccessfully trying to get a taxi on his first day in Russian, Henk notices a Russian guy raising a pack of Russian cigarettes easily stopping a taxi. After his Chance Meeting Between Antagonists with Robert Stein, he uses the same trick to quickly get a cab.
  • Henk and Alexey's spatial arrangement skills, developed through playing Tetris allows them to quickly calculate that Alexey's small car is just small enough to slip through the space beside a big truck that's coming their way allowing them to significantly increase the distance between them and the KGB. There is even a Sudden Video-Game Moment before they doing so, displaying Alexey's car, the KGB vehicles and the road as "Tetris Blocks".
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Robert Stein betrays everyone he comes across including his main employers, the Maxwells (though this is justified because they don't pay him his due royalties). When Henk Rogers offers to pay him 25K to get the handheld rights to Tetris (handhelds being something Stein didn't even know existed at the time), he realizes that something big is afoot and goes behind Henk's back to attempt to sell them to Atari for 100K. Henk realizes Stein can't be trusted and heads to Russia to secure the rights himself kickstarting the plot.
• Closet Shuffle: Alexey hides Henk in his storage room when he hears a loud bang on his door, since it's illegal for a foreigner to visit a Russian's home without the government's permission and supervision. Thankfully, it's not the KGB but Alexey asks Henk to leave his house regardless.
• Completely Unnecessary Translator: At their first encounter Belikov completely ignores Rogers until Henk brings in his translator. Later, Belikov is accompanied to the meetings by a translator of his own. It's not until he slips and answers Henk directly that his ability to speak English is revealed. Justified example, as the translator was probably required both by Soviet protocols and by KGB to keep a constant eye on him.
• Composite Character: Valentin Trifonov, the corrupt head of the KGB is not a real person. Instead he is meant to represent all the corrupt officers that led to the USSR's downfall.
• Consolation Prize: Robert Stein might have lost the console and handheld rights, but he still has the home computer and arcade rights by the end of the movie. Too bad he is not getting any more money out of the arcades and his current computer publishers, Mirrorsoft, aren't going to give him anything because they are about to go bankrupt^note  The "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue in the Gaming Historian's video on Tetris states that he eventually lost those rights due to not being able to pay, right before the PC boom of the mid-90s. Even though he had already made more than 250K from Tetris he never got over losing it..
• Corrupt Bureaucrat: Robert Stein, the head of Andromeda software, essentially an IP leeching company, who makes his living "scouting for software" (i.e. exploiting the work of talented programmers who are on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain) and selling the rights to the highest bidder. He is the one who supposedly handles the worldwide rights to Tetris, and is only able to do so via doing a Loophole Abuse of his original contract. He is loyal to nobody and has the bad habit of going behind the back of anyone he interacts with including his employers.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Robert Maxwell embodies this trope. He defrauds his own employees out of their retirement funds, doesn't pay his due Tetris royalties, does backdoor dealings with corrupt KGB agents to secure said rights, uses his connection with Gorbachev to attempt to steal the rights away and lies about having gained Tetris' console and handheld rights to Nintendo in order to make the company sign a fraudulent contract.
• Creative Closing Credits: Naturally the end credits are set against a game of Tetris, with the cast's photos being incorporated into the Tetrominos.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Even though he is not stupid by any means, nobody expected Alexey to be such a capable Getaway Driver.
• Cut Apart: As Henk and Alexey are partying at secret nightclub in Moscow, the scene is intercut with two KGB agents walking down a long corridor, leading the viewer to believe that they are about to be apprehended. The two KGB agents then step through a set of double doors at the end of the corridor and into the offices of Bullet-Proof Software where they threaten Henk's wife. Henk continues to party with Alexey, blissfully unaware of what's happening back in Tokyo.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: A platonic version with Hank and Alexey. Alexey has good reason, of course, to be icy as friendships with foreigners are illegal.
• Destroy the Evidence: Near the end of the movie Kevin bumps into his father shredding incriminating documents involving the infamous Daily Mirror Pension Fraud Scandal. While this doesn't have anything to do with Tetris directly, it does explain why the Maxwells don't have enough money to properly pay the one million dollars needed to secure the Tetris license from ELORG in their initial offer and why they had to renege on it.
• Dirty Communists: Not played for laughs, but characters like Trifonov were added to the story to represent the problems with the Soviet Union during its waning days.
• Dissonant Serenity: Once Sasha is outed as a KGB Double Agent, she completely ditches the Manic Pixie Dream Girl act and appears in front of Henk in full KGB uniform, completely calm and remorseless. She does this on purpose to unnerve him and break his morale.
• Double Agent: Sasha, Henk's translator, is actually a KGB agent spying on Henk and creating blackmail material to use against him.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Trifonov has no actual love for the USSR, and foresees its downfall within a matter of years. What he really wants is a nice little nest egg to live off comfortably, and does everything in his power to get the rights to the game to Mirrorsoft, up to and including treason.
• Dying Town: Dying nation actually, very much Truth in Television. The Soviet Union was on its last gasp at the time, everybody is well aware of that and is trying to position themselves to be in the right place when the nation inevitably fails
• Epic Fail: During their collective Villainous Breakdown Kevin Maxwell attempts to throw a punch at Robert Stein. Stein easily dodges it and starts beating up Kevin instead.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Henk Rogers is introduced becoming obsessed with Tetris after unsuccessfully trying to promote his Go game and accurately describing The Tetris Effect.
  • The first thing we see Kevin Maxwell do is screw Henk over the Tetris arcade rights, which puts Henk in dire financial straits, since he needed the capital generated by the arcade to make the initial payment on his bank loan. It's Nothing Personal, however.
  • Robert Maxwell is introduced casually mentioning "a small error in the retirement fund books" to his son Kevin (actually the infamous Daily Mirror Pension Fund Scandal) right before turning his attention back to Tetris and refusing to pay Robert Stein his due royalties for the home computer sales.
  • Robert Stein, after verbally agreeing with Henk to secure the Tetris handheld rights for 25K (handhelds being something he didn't even know existed before Henk told him), goes behind Henk's back and attempts to sell them to Atari for 100k.
  • Alexey Pajitnov offers his hard-earned food to a starving woman waiting in line outside the food-store, thus estalishing his Humble Hero status.
• "Eureka!" Moment:
  • Once Henk lays his eyes on the Game Boy, he just knows that it's made to be played with Tetris.
    Henk: If you want ten-year-olds to buy the Game Boy, pack in Mario. If you want everyone to buy the Game Boy, pack in Tetris.
  • A more significant one comes near the end. When Henk sees that Robert Maxwell is paying in book licensing rights instead of money, he realizes that Maxwell is broke and doesn't have the money to actually buy Tetris.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Kevin Maxwell might be an arrogant prick who screwed over Henk Rogers over ''Tetris''' arcade rights but even he is disgusted by his father's corruption and behind-the-scenes deals with the corrupt Russian officials.
  • KGB Double Agent Sasha is disgusted by her boss' backdoor dealings with Robert Maxwell, realizing that he is a hypocrite who only cares about making money and doesn't give a flying crap about Communist ideals.
• Fascist, but Inefficient: The Communist regime is shown to be full of corruption from the bottom up to the higher echelons, with at least one Obstructive Bureaucrat present each step of the way, and even the occasional Reasonable Authority Figure being mistreated for not falling in line. Meanwhile people are starving in the streets and innovators like Alexey can't even make money out of their own creations. Most Russians know that this system is unsustainable and that it is eventually going to implode.
  Hank: (when he finds out Alexey isn't making money out of Tetris) That's criminal!
  Alexey: No, that's communism.
• Fire Alarm Distraction: Alexey pulls this off, in order to get his superiors out of the Governmental Fax Machine room, long enough for him to send Henk Rogers the expired Maxwell offer-contract handed to him by Belikov, so that Henk will be able to expose the Maxwells.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: As Henk Rogers and the Nintendo execs walk into the Moscow aiport, the PA announces that "Flight 702 to Zurich is now boarding." Rogers walks up to the ticket counter and asks "What's your next flight out?" Then, as they get in line to present their passports, the PA announces that "Flight 802 to Tokyo via Seoul is now boarding." A minute later, Trifonov and his lackey board Flight 802 looking for them, only to discover that they're actually on Flight 702.
  • Related, just before The Reveal, when Trifonov storms onto Flight 802, he enters from the right side of the plane, whereas Henk, Minoru and Howard were shown entering from the left side moments earlier, and there is a different flight attendant in the cabin. These, plus the movie's earlier use of misleading cuts, are big hints that Trifonov is on the wrong plane.
• Forced from Their Home: It happens to Alexey after he loses his job for helping Henk out, courtesy of the corrupt KGB.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Robert Maxwell holding back on paying Robert Stein his owed royalties for the home computer Tetris sales is a serious indicator that his fraudulent activities left him without any liquid assets to actually pay for anything, which plays a big part during the film's climax.
  • The line about Russia selling out to the West by selling the rights to Tetris, told from Valentin, the head of the KGB to Kevin Maxwell, is repeated almost verbatim from Sasha to Henk Rogers. Guess who turns out to be a Double Agent for the KGB later on.
• Freakier Than Fiction: One part of the film's tagline is a "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer ("the story you couldn't make up" says the trailer). Understandable, considering one of the toughest, nastiest obstacles to get the game released (as showcased also in the trailer) was the Communist government of the USSR. Even more freaky, interviews with some of the real-life people portrayed in this film make clear that, if anything, the film's events are Lighter and Softer than what really happened or would have happened. That said, many of the action scenes such as the car chase, the rush to the airport, and the kiss and blackmail are all Artistic License and Rule of Cool.
• Getaway Driver: During the film's climax Alexey becomes this for Henk Rogers, Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln as they attempt to escape the KGB and exit Moscow in a Hot Pursuit.
• Get Out!: After signing the Tetris rights to Nintendo and headbutting Robert Maxwell on the nose, Belikov makes a hand sign cueing both the Corrupt Corporate Executive and his snotty son to get the hell out of his office. Kevin Maxwell wisely complies.
• The Heavy: Robert Maxwell may be the overall Big Bad of the movie, but Trifonov is a fictional representation of the corruption of the KGB that was impeding the negotiations surrounding Tetris and is the one who comes into conflict with Henk the most.
• Hidden Depths: Henk Roger's might have a "Cowboy" reputation but it also turns out he is very good at reading contracts and finding potential loopholes. This is what eventually convinces Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG to listen to him.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Robert Stein screwing Henk Rogers over the handheld rights is what prompts the latter to go to Russia to get them directly. Which leads to Henk pointing out to the Russians that Stein sold the arcade rights to Atari illegally and that there was a loophole in the original contract which allowed him to legally sell the Tetris video game rights to Nintendo. The loophole is fixed in the Leonine Contract Stein is forced to sign for the home computer and arcade rights. Being blind-sided by being called out by Belikov for illegally selling arcade rights moments before, who also focuses Stein's attention on the increased royalty rates, Stein doesn't notice the loophole got patched and he is not happy when he eventually finds out.
• Honest Corporate Executive:
  • Henk. He is initially accused of being the other kind until he points out that he's doing things that are severely disadvantageous to his interests just to secure the rights legally and points out where Stein screwed ELORG in their initial contract.
  • The Nintendo executives look great in this movie. Their business practices are completely above board and they even end up sticking their necks out to help Henk finally secure the deal in Moscow. Even when it looks like Tetris is lost to Atari, they confirm they have no issues with Henk and promise to work together on another project.
• Hot Pursuit: One takes place during the film's climax. Once Howard Lincoln, Minoru Arakawa and Henk Rogers collectively sign the contract with ELORG over Tetris' video game and handheld rights to Nintendo in front of the film's Big Bad Robert Maxwell, Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG calmly informs them that they won't be safe until they leave Moscow. Robert Maxwell, in a final desperate bid to acquire the rights, makes a deal with the corrupt head of the KGB to apprehend them and cancel the deal (with the implication that he is allowed to torture them or worse in order to do so). The KGB is about to arrest Henk, Howard and Minoru but then Alexey crashes the scene, puts them in his car and becomes their Getaway Driver for the rest of the scene.
• Humble Hero: Alexey Pajitnov. He has created one of the greatest games of all time, one that has several factions fighting for the rights to publish it and yet he is perfectly happy to just be a simple computer programmer, staying in the same simple apartment and making just enough to take care of his family. It takes befriending Henk Rogers to get him to aspire for something more.
• Hypocrite:
  • Valentin, the corrupt head of the KGB who hounds Alexey and Henk throughout the movie. He might make a big speech to Kevin Maxwell about Russia selling out to the west by selling Tetris to foreigners, but at the end of the day, all he cares about is getting paid, something that Kevin Maxwell picks up right away and is thoroughly against. He also has no problem making backdoor deals with Corrupt Corporate Executive Robert Maxwell in order to make a profit out of Tetris.
  • Howard Lincoln tries to dissuade Henk from going to Moscow since they will see an American like him as a threat (despite the fact that he's Dutch). And once he gets to Moscow, Howard's concerns are proven true when the KGB immediately threatens to put him in jail for conducting business while under a tourist visa. Later in the film Lincoln does exactly that, despite being an American himself and in much more danger than Henk or Minoru Arakawa (a Dutch national who runs his business in Japan and a Japanese national and executive for a Japanese owned company).
  • Robert Maxwell gets called out by Mikhail Gorbachev when he makes a speech to him about protecting his country from capitalism and capitalists.
    Gorbachev: If am supposed to prevent capitalists from invading the Soviet Union, then what are you doing here?
• I Am the Noun: Valentin says, "I am the law!" in response to Sasha telling him he broke the law during his arrest near the end.
• The Idealist: Surprisingly, the head of ELORG, Nikolai Belikov is shown to be one. He truly embraces Soviet Communist ideals and does his best to Xanatos Speed Chess his way into securing the best possible Tetris deal, not for him but for his country. It gets beaten out of him by the corrupt leader of the KGB Valentin Trifonov, forcing him to face the reality that Communist ideals are in fact dead, which makes him decide to do his best to help Henk Rogers expose the corrupt Maxwells.
• Insistent Terminology: Kevin Maxwell would like to remind you that he is "Mr. Maxwell", not "Kevin".
• Karmic Jackpot: For helping Henk Rogers out in his time of need, facing disastrous consequences in doing so and being his Getaway Driver Alexey gains a great friend, one that helps him settle in the US and start the Tetris Company to finally gain some royalties from his creation.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • Kevin Maxwell nearly drives Henk Rogers to bankruptcy at the start of the movie by screwing him over the Japanese Tetris arcade rights and handing them over to Sega (though it was Nothing Personal). By the end of the movie he suffers a humiliating defeat over the Tetris handheld and console rights and the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue reveals that he went bankrupt himself shortly after the events of the movie took place.
  • For arranging to have the KGB beat up Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG, Robert Maxwell gets his nose smashed in when he attempts to attack Belikov after he signs the Tetris deal with Nintendo. The "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue reveals that Maxwell died while being over 5 billion pounds in debt. His media empire collapsed and he is not-so-fondly remembered in the UK as one of Britain's most notorious fraudsters.
  • After Henk makes Robert Stein an offer for the handheld rights (which tips Stein off that something big is afoot) he tries to screw Henk by taking the handheld rights for himself and selling them to the highest bidder. By the end of the movie, Belikov closes the legal loophole that allowed him to sell the console rights to Tetris, meaning he is stuck with the home computer and arcade rights, which he already sold and isn't getting any more money for. Even though he didn't go bankrupt after the events of the movie, the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue confirms that he never got over losing the console rights.
  • Valentin Trifonov, the corrupt head of the KGB that hounds both Henk and Alexey throughout the movie and beats up Nikolai Belikov for simply doing his job and trying to secure a good deal for Russia, ends up getting arrested for treason by his former subordinates, after it turns out he was being bribed by Robert Maxwell and tried to force a deal that wasn't in Russia's best interests.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In the context of the trailer. After showing a shot of Rogers getting in a car accident during a high-speed chase, it smashes to black and fades into him in a meeting room, calling someone "the kings of cliffhangers".
• Leonine Contract: Subverted. The new contract Stein has to sign is presented to him this way by Belikov, since it not only includes the original's home computer rights, but also the arcade rights which Stein sold to Mirrorsoft illegally. It includes much higher royalty rates and much stiffer penalties than the original contract Stein signed previously. The subversion is that in reality, it's mostly a Batman Gambit made to make Stein negotiate the rates and divert his attention from the fine print.
• Loophole Abuse: As Henk Rogers explains to Belikov, after the latter accuses the former's NES version of Tetris to be illegal, Robert Stein is indeed able to legally sell Tetris video game rights to Rogers and Atari, even though he was only supposed to get only the home computer rights because the original contract he signed with ELORG has a very loose definition of what a home computer actually is, meaning it can also apply to consoles.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Sasha the translator is shown as a kooky and naïve girl who uses obscure and unusual English vocabulary that catches Henk's attention and follows him around during his crazy ideas no matter how much danger they're both in, she becomes his confidante and even kisses him near the climax. In reality it's all a front, and she's a KGB agent sent to spy on him and the kiss was only meant to give them blackmail material against him, something that the KGB did do in real life.
• The Men in Black: The KGB Agents who watch Henk's every move in Russia and intimidate Alexey and his family throughout the movie.
• Moody Trailer Cover Song: An ominous, synth version of the game's theme - the Russian folk song "Korobeiniki" - plays over the trailer, mixed with "The Final Countdown".
• My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: After securing the funding and (what he thinks are) the rights to start porting Tetris, Henk gathers his Japanese employees to announce, in Japanese, "we are big failures now!" Everyone reacts morosely until Akemi steps in and corrects Henk's pronunciation, and Henk repeats the announcement - "We are big PUBLISHERS now!" - to relieved cheers.
• Nasal Trauma: Robert Maxwell gains a well-deserved one, when he attempts to physically attack Belikov, after the latter signs over the Tetris console and handheld rights to Nintendo.
• Nepotism: Played with. It's heavily implied that Kevin Maxwell, got the job as president of Mirrorsoft due to his father's company owning it and throughout the movie he is portrayed as an arrogant Jerkass. He is also not a Corrupt Corporate Executive like his father, and while he did indeed screw Henk over the Tetris arcade rights, at the start of the movie, he draws the line when it comes to using illegal means to achieve his goals. When he finds out that his father went behind his back and bribed the head of the KGB to secure the rights to Tetris by any means necessary, he is both disgusted and horrified, but at this point he has no choice but to go along with it.
• Near-Villain Victory: At the halfway mark of the movie, on Robert Maxwell's orders the KGB beats up Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG and it seems that they have successfully intimidated him into signing over the rights to Tetris to Mirrorsoft, Maxwell's company. Nintendo exec Howard Lincoln calls Henk Rogers to inform him that he has failed to secure the rights and that they will try to secure them from Mirrorsoft. Henk stands defeated facing bankruptcy. And then it turns out that the beating actually convinced Belikov to help Rogers and defy the KGB. He hands over a copy of the Mirrorsoft "contract" (actually an offer that expired) to Alexey Pajitnov and instructs him to send it over to Henk. This allows Henk to finally turn the tables on the Maxwells by revealing to Nintendo that Mirrorsoft never had a deal with ELORG in the first place.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The Head KGB Agent brutally beating up Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG, at the behest of Robert Maxwell is what eventually convinces Belikov to side with Rogers and do everything in his power to help Henk reveal the Maxwells' lies to Nintendo execs Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa thereby securing the rights to Tetris.
• No Honor Among Thieves: The movie's three main antagonists, Robert Stein, Robert Maxwell and Kevin Maxwell end up royally screwing over each other with their antics. Robert Stein goes behind the Maxwells' backs selling video game and handheld rights to the highest bidder (the latter of which he doesn't actually have) which is what causes Henk Rogers to go to the USSR to get the rights directly. This eventually leads Rogers to point out to Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG, the loophole in the original contract that allowed Stein to sell the former, and the loophole getting fixed costing Stein, and consequently Mirrorsoft, the console rights. Robert Maxwell refuses to pay Stein his owed royalties for Tetris computer sales (forcing Stein to look for money elsewhere) and does some behind-the-scenes dealings with the KGB, without Stein or his son knowing, which backfires in a big way, when his attempts to intimidate Belikov by having the KGB beat him up end up making him side with Rogers instead. He also hides the fact his fraudulent dealings left his company without any money from his own son who is attempting to secure the rights in Russia, thereby resulting in him making an offer to ELORG that the Maxwells can't actually pay and has to be eventually withdrawn. It all ends up with a grand triple Villainous Breakdown with every one of them going for each other's throats.
• Nothing Personal: Kevin Maxwell screwing Henk Rogers over his promised Japanese arcade rights and giving them to Sega doesn't exactly kill him, but it very nearly destroys him financially (since he was counting on the quick cash the arcade would give him to make the initial payment on his bank loan) and forces him to look for alternative means to find immediate capital at the start of the movie.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: The communist regime is shown to be full of them (albeit with the occasional Reasonable Authority Figure thrown here and there). Robert Stein is a non-Soviet example in addition to being a Corrupt Bureaucrat.
• Pac Man Fever: In the scene where Henk demos Super Mario Land, we hear random music and sound snippets of the game that obviously don't match up to what's happening on-screen.
• Paper Tiger: Robert Maxwell turns out to be one. He is broke and doesn't actually have any money left to buy Tetris, attempting to pay in book royalties instead. He makes one last desperate bribe to Valentin, the head KGB agent, to apprehend Henk and stop the deal, but he fails to do so and the Tetris deal falls through.
• Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: After losing his job and getting evicted from his home for helping Henk, Alexey thinks Henk Rogers used him and tells him to stay away from him and his family when Henk comes back to Russia for the second time with Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa to secure the rights to Tetris once and for all. When Alexey overhears the KGB planning to detain Henk, he changes his mind and decides to come back to help him.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: Both Robert and Kevin Maxwell are shining examples of this. Robert Maxwell, the head of the Mirror Group, is a Corrupt Corporate Executive who doesn't pay his due royalties, defrauds the pensions of his own employees and built his empire on lies, false promises, backdoor deals with the KGB and White-Collar Crime while Kevin Maxwell is an an arrogant prick who looks down on anyone not his father, cancels deals signed by his representatives just because a better one came later and became the head of Mirrorsoft through the merit of being Robert Maxwell's son. Even Robert Stein eventually has enough dealing with them and cuts his ties after punching Kevin and delivering quite a scathing speech before leaving.
• Product Placement: This Apple-distributed film has its main titles displayed on a 1980s Macintosh computer.
• Read the Fine Print: Robert Stein fails to notice until it's too late that the new contract he has signed with ELORG has a more restrictive definition of the term "home computer," meaning that he can no longer sell the console rights via Loophole Abuse. To be fair to Stein, this is mostly due to the fact that Belikov focused his attention on the increased royalties and the arcade rights.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG (the USSR's software licensing company) surprisingly. He seems to be an Obstructive Bureaucrat at first, but once Henk Rogers explains to him how the wording of the original contract allowed Robert Stein to sell him the console rights to Tetris and how this can be fixed in a new contract, he is more than willing to listen. In the end he is just someone doing his job and trying to secure the best deal possible for his country by keeping all sides away from each other, collecting bits of information and adjusting the deals accordingly. That being said, he gets into a lot of trouble with the Fascist, but Inefficient Soviet regime, even receiving a brutal beating by The Men in Black for doing so at the behest of Roger Maxwell. In the end, this only makes Belikov take Henk Rogers' side and he recruits Alexey Pajitnov to send the Maxwell "contract" (which was actually an offer they couldn't pay on time) to Henk via fax, thereby allowing him to expose Maxwell's lies to Howard Lincoln and get Nintendo's support to finally beat the Maxwells.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Robert Stein delivers a big one during his final Villainous Breakdown scene with Robert Maxwell and Kevin Maxwell, calling out the former on his corruption and greed and the latter on his nepotism and general incompetence.
• Rich Bitch: Kevin Maxwell is a male example of this trope, being assigned the position of being president of Mirrorsoft, purely through the merit of being Robert Maxwell's son and looking down arrogantly on anyone that is not his father. He does get somewhat better when he witnesses first-hand what sort of person his father is.
• Rogue Agent: Valentin Trifonov is a KGB agent that is supposed to look after his country's best interests. He instead makes a deal with Robert Maxwell to give him a piece of the Tetris profits, once Mirrorsoft signs a deal.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Robert Maxwell frequently uses his friendship with Gorbachev as an excuse to circumvent Russian bureaucracy when it comes to the game rights. However, those connections mean squat as the Soviet officials know that the USSR is on their way out and they intend on making a major profit on Tetris one way or another. So when they demand a large sum for the rights that Mirrorsoft doesn't have…
• Serious Business: The Russians view Henk's efforts to license Tetris as a crime. They believe it is a slippery slope from licensing a game to selling away the USSR to the highest bidder.The line, however, is delivered by Valentin, a person who is well aware that the USSR is halfway to collapse anyways. It's also repeated by Sasha to Henk Rogers, foreshadowing the fact that she is also a Double Agent for the KGB. Additionally, once Mikhail Gorbachev himself learns of the licensing battle from Robert Maxwell, it turns out he has no problem with it.
• Sins of Our Fathers:
  • Invoked by Alexey as he reveals to Henk that his father lost his livelihood in the USSR simply for defending a colleague who published a book abroad. Now that he is helping Hank, this is going to happen to him for creating Tetris. This is thankfully averted by the end of the movie when Alexey migrates with his family to the US with Henk's help, and the two become True Companions.
  • Robert Maxwell's behind-the-scenes dealings with the KGB end up backfiring on his son Kevin in a big way when they push Nikolai Belikov over to Henk's side, eventually leading to Henk revealing to the Nintendo execs that Mirrorsoft, Maxwell's company, didn't actually have any rights over Tetris. This instantly makes Nintendo cancel their deal with them and head to Russia to get the deal directly from ELORG. Furthermore, his fraudulent business practices end up leaving the Maxwells without any money to actually pay for the Tetris license, leading him to offer book royalties instead, something that Henk sees right through when the crucial time comes for the deals to be compared and signed. All this leads to a humiliating defeat for Kevin Maxwell and him going bankrupt shortly after the film's end.
• Shown Their Work: While a number of portrayed events are not correct, such as the climactic chase scene with the KGB, a lot of the details around the movie are actually true. In fact the real Kevin Maxwell commented that his father and his backdoor dealings with the KGB were way worse than what is portrayed in the movie.
• Sudden Video-Game Moment: Sprinkled throughout the film are moments when video game graphics are imposed upon the real world — Rogers describing his experience with the game as Tetrominos descend behind him and a car crash suddenly being rendered as a pixilated image — as well as moments portrayed as video game pixel art such as travel montages, car chases, and establishing shots.
• The Tetris Effect: Henk Rogers describes it pretty accurately during the film's trailer and the opening scene. It's a film involving the Trope Namer after all. It's one of the main reasons he falls in love with the game. It comes back as a Chekhov's Skill during the film's final Chase Scene.
  Henk: This game... It stays with you.
• True Companions: Henk Rogers and Alexey Pajitnov end up becoming this as revealed by the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • Robert Maxwell, Robert Stein and Kevin Maxwell all have a collective one near the end of the movie when it turns out that they are about to lose the rights to Tetris to Nintendo.
  • Valentin also has one when he gets arrested for treason by Sasha, his former subordinate.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Right after headbutting Robert Maxwell on the nose, Belikov makes a gesture to Kevin, queuing him to pick up his father and get the hell out of his office. Kevin picks up his case and wisely complies.
• Villainous BSoD: Kevin Maxwell has one when he realizes his father's fraudulent business dealings left their company, Mirrorsoft, without any money to pay ELORG on time in order to properly secure the rights to Tetris.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Henk's wife Akemi is none too happy about him missing Maya's concert, and his prioritization of the Tetris deal over it.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: Henk's daughter Maya expresses her disappointment of her father's absence while he chases the game rights and wishes for him to attend a school concert. Unfortunately, he just misses it. He makes up for it by watching it with his wife in private at the end of the movie.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: One is shown at the end of the movie showcasing what happened with Tetris and its major players interspersed with news clips.
  • The Game Boy became one of Nintendo's biggest sellers, thanks in no small part to Tetris.
  • The Soviet Union eventually collapsed.
  • Henk Rogers and Alexey Pajitnov formed the Tetris Company in 1996, thereby helping Alexey finally receive royalties from his game.
  • Maya, Henk's daughter, eventually became the company's president.
  • Robert Maxwell was posthumously convicted of defrauding over 900 million with an overall debt of over 5 billion.
  • Kevin Maxwell was also tried for fraud. It turns out he had no idea of his father's dealings and was found innocent. He tried presiding over his father's company but eventually had to declare bankruptcy.
  • Robert Stein continued licensing and selling software. He never got over losing the rights to Tetris.
  • Tetris is currently one of the most popular video games ever made, selling over 500 million official units.
• White-Collar Crime: Robert Maxwell attempts to have Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa of Nintendo sign a fraudulent contract for the handheld and console rights to Tetris, rights that he doesn't have since he failed to pay ELORG the necessary money to secure them. If the infamous Daily Mirror Pension Fraud Scandal (which is also mentioned in the movie) is any indication, he has done such deals plenty of times in the past.
• Working-Class Hero: Alexey Pajitnov is an odd case. Despite his game becoming a national sensation, he and his family are still stuck in poverty thanks to being screwed over by his country's communist government.
• Would Hurt a Child: Valentin makes it very clear to Alexey that he will go after his children, if he continues associating with Henk Rogers.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Nikolai Belikov, the head of ELORG, is shown to be very good at it, keeping Henk Rogers, Robert Stein and Kevin Maxwell separated, collecting bits and pieces of information from them and adjusting contracts as well as approaches accordingly as he tries to secure the best possible deal from Tetris for his country. When the KGB gets on his case, however, and brutally beats him up to force him to take up the Maxwells' deal no matter how ridiculously bad it might be for Russia he decides to stop playing chess and just help Henk Rogers expose the Maxwells in order to secure the Tetris deal.

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