Tetris (2023) review

Video game developer Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) comes across a new piece of software called "Tetris," which was designed by Russian programmer Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov), and risks everything he has to obtain the worldwide licensing rights, which means having to convince Nintendo to get involved and outwit businessman Robert Stein (Toby Jones), mass media tycoon Robert Maxwell (Roger Allam) as well as the omnipresent Soviet authorities.  There's plenty of pandering to the Gen X/Elder Millennial crowd here with the cutesy 8-bit graphics, although I find it hard to fathom how anyone would be all that compelled by the tedious details of obtaining contracts - to counter that, Baird dresses it up like an (unlikely) John le Carré adaptation with smoky interiors, double-crossing and even a car chase (which Rogers said didn't happen and there's a lot of exaggeration in the script).  That being said, Tetris itself is a masterpiece, and has rightfully earned its place among the greats.  I can't wait to see the "biographical thriller" they make for the creation of Wordle....