Taron Egerton Plays His Part in Handheld History for ‘Tetris’

In 1989, when gaming classic Tetris launched, it took the world by storm. Now explored by Apple TV’s latest original that lands on Mar. 31, this fiendishly addictive, perfectly portable, and instantly accessible title would sell millions. However, behind that global success story sits something altogether more unbelievable, involving Russian premiers, newspaper tycoons, and some good old fashioned political wrangling.  

Written by Noah Pink, directed by Jon S. Baird (Stonehouse), and starring Taron Egerton (Blackbird) – Tetris is nothing short of glorious. Packed with endless invention and more than a modicum of dry wit, it might just seem like a rags to riches origin story with an 8-bit overlay – but this retro retelling goes much deeper.  

As owner of Bulletproof Software, Henk Rogers (Egerton) is trying to make a life for himself and his family in Japan. This Tetris tale gets a jump start when he stumbles on the game during a consumer electronics show. Drawn to the simplicity of interlinking blocks as a premise, he instantly spots it market value and set off in hot pursuit to retain the publishing rights.  

This is where the film takes a refreshing turn, as an innumerable amount of interested parties all start jockeying for ownership. There is Robert Maxwell, a supremely caustic Roger Allam, who owns Mirrorsoft – a subsidiary of his newspaper empire which he allows his son Kevin (Anthony Boyle) to oversee.  

In another corner working under the auspices of Andromeda Software is Robert Stein (Toby Jones), who might be in…