God Of War Creator Slams First Image From Live-Action Prime Video Series: 'Terrible'

It's no surprise that our first official look at the upcoming "God of War" TV series stirred up all sorts of discourse, but who could've seen this coming? As it turns out, maybe we all should've. "God of War" video game creator David Jaffe has had a habit of voicing his very unfiltered thoughts on his personal YouTube channel, most recently raking the spin-off game "God of War: Sons of Sparta" through the coals for not being up to snuff. So, perhaps it was only a matter of time before he set his sights on Prime Video's live-action adaptation, as reported by Variety.

In his latest reaction video, Jaffe took direct aim at the first image showing Ryan Hurst as Kratos in action next to Callum Vinson as his son Atreus, a somewhat stilted setup that gamers were quick to dissect and tear apart online. In between bouts of laughter and disbelief, Jaffe didn't hold back about his thoughts on this picture giving us our first taste of the show. But, to his credit, he was quick to offer up a disclaimer:

"It's so dumb. But, okay, let's be incredibly clear. Two things can be true. This can be a terrible image, and it is. It is so bad in so many ways, which we'll talk about in a moment. And Ron Moore is awesome, who is the showrunner. He created the new 'Battlestar' [...] He's done 'Star Trek' stuff. The guy is a juggernaut of a talented fellow. I have absolutely no doubt it is going to be a good show. ['God of War' writer/director/producer Cory Barlog] is on it. I think Cory has a great deal to offer, not just to this universe, but he's great with storytelling. I'm not worried about the show."

Dare we say that David Jaffe's criticism, blunt as it is, actually feels pretty reasonable? It's obvious that this isn't going to be how the final product looks once it goes through the typical post-production process, especially since filming on "God of War" has only just begun. But it's perfectly fair to question the wisdom of Prime Video releasing this particular image, which may not feel like the most ideal embodiment of the "God of War" video games. As Jaffe went on to explain:

"But I'm a little worried about, what the f*** is this? Not because I'm like, 'How dare they, it doesn't look like Kratos!' I don't care about that. A good actor is a good actor, and that's all you need. I'd much rather have a great actor who embodies the essence of the character, and makes the character endearing or memorable or iconic, than looks just like the person in the video game. Who cares, right? I mean, you care right now, but eventually they can become — Peter Parker never looked like Tobey Maguire until Tobey Maguire became Peter Parker, right? So, I'm not worried about that stuff. It's just a dumb f***ing image."

Worse yet, Jaffe took issue specifically with the flat lighting and the blocking of Kratos and Atreus in this image. He hilariously observed that this resembles someone "s***ting in the woods" instead of a tough father looking on at his son in pride. Meanwhile, he also pointed out the amount of product in Callum Vinson's hair as Atreus and took a rather below-the-belt shot at how "confused" he looks while aiming his bow. Clearly, "God of War" has some work ahead in winning fans back, Jaffe included.