While watching "Tetris" (available tomorrow, March 31, on Apple TV Plus), I felt like I was playing the more modern "Tetris Effect." A bit more stylized than the original, but full of pivots and surprises, John S. Baird's film is the video game movie you didn't need.

But while "Tetris" is arguably one of the best Apple TV Plus movies, it could have been better, just a little different.

"Based on a true story," complete with historical visuals and a final footnote, "Tetris" explains the complex history surrounding this beloved block-sorting puzzle game. And, shockingly, it actually works quite well. This is a bit of a surprise. Like Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's upcoming movie "Air," which chronicles the history of the Air Jordan shoe, this is less about how Tetris was made and more about how it was licensed and sold. Not the best elevator pitch, though.

Still, despite the unnecessarily overused 8-bit visuals and a villain who is hardly cartoonish, "Tetris" is a movie that I am glad I saw. Don't worry about spoilers in this "Tetris" review, as I've hidden everything you didn't want to know beforehand.

You may or may not know Tatron Egerton, the star of Tetris, because he is still something of a rising star. I got to know him from the great Apple TV Plus miniseries Black Bird, but some of you may know him from the movie Kingsman or the Elton John biopic Rocket Man. [In any case, "Tetris" is another solid link in Egerton's filmography, and he pours a lot of humanity into Henk Rogers, the man who got the rights to distribute Tetris. Fortunately, Egerton's performance is not just about sales, and his love of video games and coding leads to some great scenes, especially with Nikita Efremov, who plays Tetris inventor Alexei Pajitonov.

And since most of the characters revolve around Rogers, it makes sense that Egerton is the film's mainstay. Egerton plays the role with equal parts charm, ambition, and enthusiasm, a trait amplified by the fact that he is surrounded by snakes.

Veteran MCU actors Toby Jones, Roger Allam, and Anthony Boyle play the slimy father and son, eager to take all the rights to Tetris for themselves. However, the latter two and the Communist villain Valentin Trifonov, played by Igor Grabuzov, are not up to the level of their co-stars. Trifonov looks like a Soviet Pete Campbell, though he is not up to the task.

From its humble beginnings (there was a game called "Go" that was a flop) to the spy versus spy game that pits Russia against anyone who gets in its way, "Tetris" does its best to offer a lot in a story that is a bit different from "Die Hard." And there is enough international espionage to make it exciting, and an inspiring story about freedom of choice if you look closely enough.

The best moments come when Rogers is confused by his complicated relationships with duplicitous businessmen and when he finally connects with the well-meaning people who live in this house of cards. It's neat that Rogers' victory almost feels like our victory.

Unfortunately, "Tetris" takes too many liberties with the 8-bit visuals. They are useful when one needs to explain the differences between the computer and the Nintendo Entertainment System, but they are often overused. Why have all the digitized fun from airplane rides to building exteriors? Even the car chase scene breaks 8-bit bricks.

I don't know why they thought the film needed this kind of animation, but it often felt detached and distracting from the film. On top of that, "Tetris" seems a bit flat, with the widescreen shots seeming overdone with excessive CGI and green screen.

Again, this is not meant to be a negative critique of "Tetris," but rather a feeling that a better film was left on the cutting floor. With a little less retro chic and a little more time for the Russians to become fleshed out, well-developed characters, "Tetris" could have made it into the hall of fame of movies and shows based on video games.

Instead, this is a good but perhaps forgettable movie. Filled with great scenes (the "Final Countdown" scene where the needle drops is the best), "Tetris" is fun. However, it is not as addictive as the game.