Apple TV's Tetris Trailer Shows Taron Egerton's Spy-Like Romp Through The USSR

Video games have come a long way since the days of "Pong," and these days this form of entertainment is ever-present and available almost everywhere. Between smartphones, consoles, and computers, the different platforms and options for video games are almost limitless. Besides being able to play video games pretty much everywhere, some video games can be recognized almost anywhere in the world — Nintendo's character of Mario has sold well over 650 million video games worldwide. This means that video games have a fairly universal appeal that can span massive divisions in culture.

One of the best examples of a video game crossing cultural divides is "Tetris," the famous block puzzle game that can be played solo or competitively. "Tetris" was created in 1985 by Russian Soviet Alexey Pajitnov, but most Western audiences (at least the older ones) had their first experience with the game on Nintendo's Game Boy. 

This brings up a fairly interesting issue for those with an understanding of history, considering that the 1980s still saw the United States and the USSR in the aggressive and warlike posturing of the Cold War. In other words, the history of how "Tetris" came to become a worldwide sensation is a story in and of itself.

The above trailer for Apple's upcoming film "Tetris" isn't about how great the game is, or how catchy its music is (who hasn't hummed it while stacking boxes?), but rather how it came to breach the Iron Curtain and the issues that surrounded the Soviet intellectual property reaching worldwide audiences. 

The trailer starts off with Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) explaining how enraptured he became with "Tetris" after playing it for five minutes, and how he still sees floating blocks. The trailer then shows Rogers attempting to pitch "Tetris" to several different people, and it becomes immediately apparent that getting "Tetris" licensed will become a tremendous obstacle.

The trailer for "Tetris" highlights this by showing brutal conditions in Soviet Russia and how Rogers' efforts to license the game attracts some very dangerous attention from the Soviet government. A series of rapid-fire scenes then play out showing a home in ruin, attacks, sabotage, and intense political stakes. 

This means that "Tetris" isn't just going to be about a floating block puzzle, but it will definitely still involve getting things to fall exactly where one needs them to, which will require a combination of both skill and luck — much like "Tetris" itself.