Based on real-life events, Tetris charts the days before the release of the titular videogame. In the thirty-plus years since Tetris first appeared on the original version of the Game Boy, it's become one of the most successful games of all time. But before it ended up in the hands of almost any players, the rights were shifted back and forth in a story that feels indebted both to legal dramedies and tense spy thrillers. Tetris reflects both elements well, juggling the film's potential tonal problems deftly. Elevated by a solid cast, Tetris -- which comes to Apple TV+ on Mar. 31 -- proves to be a fun, thoroughly entertaining genre-hopping tale.

Tetris focuses on the story of Henk Rogers (potential Wolverine Taron Egerton), a video game developer who is introduced to a version of Tetris at a gaming convention. Enamored with the game and convinced of its potential enough to convince his wife Akemi (Ayane) to go all in, Rogers sets about gaining the portable property rights to the game to serve as a launch game on the upcoming Nintendo Gameboy. To do so, Henk finds himself dealing with a host of other people out for the game rights as well, racing against media mogul Robert Maxwell (Roger Allam) and his son Kevin (Anthony Boyle), as well as their frequent business partner Robert Stein (Toby Jones).

Taron Egerton as Henk Rogers, Sofia Lebedeva as Sasha and Nikita Efremov as Alexey Pajitnov driving in a car in Tetris.

Further complicating matters is the fact that Tetris was created by Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Yefremov) in Soviet Russia during the waning days of the Cold War -- and there are figures in the Russian government out to use the rights as a bargaining chip for their own reward. Tetris juggles a lot of little elements that could become disjointed, confusing, or even boring in the wrong hands. The film is ultimately about the efforts to determine ownership rights to a videogame as told in meetings and boardrooms. But to the credit of Director Jon S. Baird and the screenplay by Noah Pink, Tetris never feels meandering. The plot conveys a lot of information about the political situation at the time without losing sight of the main cast.

At various points in the film, Baird's direction feels rooted in the streets of Moscow -- especially when it shifts gears and introduces everything from a musical number to a car chase. Tetris knows when to pull back and let the film breathe, allowing the intensity of the waning but threatening KGB to drive the film. While certain aspects of the film end up feeling underutilized (Ayane doesn't get much to do except worry about her husband and be angry with him), it's less because of a split focus and more because the film moves too fast to slow down. But given the scope of the story and twisting elements of the legal battle, it's impressive that the film holds together as well as it does while being consistently charming and entertaining.

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Taron Egerton's Henk Rogers and Nikita Efremov's Alexey Pajitnov smiling at something in Tetris.

At the center of the film is Egerton, who delivers the more comedic and tense elements of Henk's struggle -- playing it equally for laughs and drama at different points in the film. Allam and Boyle are having a blast skewering the infamous Maxwells, turning their sequences into little comedies of errors that wouldn't feel entirely out of place in a more goofy version of Succession. Sofya Lebedeva's Soviet character proves to be a compelling cipher, hinting at the true motivations throughout. Toby Jones gets to punch someone out, spitting fire in a way only Toby Jones can. Nikita delivers maybe the film's best performance as a withdrawn and quietly vulnerable character who slowly peels back layers to reveal a more defiant side.

Bridge of Spies meets Succession may seem like an unlikely tonal fusion, but the stark difference between the two -- and the differing kinds of danger they present -- creates the ideal space for Egerton's Henk to flounder and flourish alike. Tetris tells a wild true story in a very fun way, keeping the story's legal and political intrigues without getting bogged by them. Elevated by a strong cast and good direction that knows when to lean funny and when to lean tense, Tetris is a winner.