Metal Gear Solid Movie

/MG/ Metal Gear Discussion /MGU/
1

Thoughts about the upcoming movie?

I’m cautiously optimistic. There’s a lot that can go wrong here. Based on the interviews I guess the story will somehow involve multiple eras of the saga (VR training maybe?). That can get messy really easily if you ask me. But to be honest we know next to nothing.

Oscar Isaac is a good casting choice. He’s not my first choice but he’s a good actor and he said in the past he was interested in playing Snake so I think he will do his best.

And I’m always very pleased when Jordan Vogt-Roberts talks about MGS because it shows he’s a true fan of the games. He even got endorsed by Kojima himself. If the movie ends up as a failure it won’t be because of a lack of passion from the director.

1 Like
2

You know, i just watched Kong island a few days ago and I kinda respect the man, Vietnam era gear vs all these crazy monsters. i gotta say aesthetically I was all about it. I ahve hope it could be good, I dont think we’re gonna get a resident evil or ghost in the shell live action. I want ti to be a special one and hopefully my positive vibes i’'m sending his way will help him make this film worth watching, for fans and new blood alike!

3

I’m sure it won’t be a disaster, but I don’t expect it’ll be especially great either. Fundamentally, I think the only way to really make Metal Gear work is to do what they did with Castlevania and turn it into an animated series on Netflix or something. With more screentime, you can flesh out the world better to more organically introduce the world and characters to newcomers without bombarding them with exposition.

That, plus, MGS is pretty much an anime anyway. I say go for broke.

1 Like
4

Could be the first good video game movie if handled correctly. But then I said the same thing about Assassin’s Creed.

The problem is really this stuff is never handled correctly lol.

I think we are closing in on a generation who knows how to though. Soon.

5

I think the curse of video game movies is finally ending very soon because Hollywood is finally figuring out how to adapt them. I haven’t watched it yet but I heard a lot of good stuff about the Sonic movie. Also Monster Hunter and Mortal Kombat looked promising enough judging by their trailers. The thing about Metal Gear Solid specifically is that you need to find a good way to bring its lore to the big screen. If you just ignore it then it just plain isn’t a MGS movie, but if you put too much in it might overwhelm casual movie viewers. I agree with @Departed that a TV show might have been better. There are a lot of characters and a lot of them have interesting world views and they might not have the attention they deserve in a 90 minute or even in a 120 minute flick.

6

I saw that Jordan Vogt-Roberts is also working on the live-action Gundam movie for Netflix now, which will probably delay this even further. I hope it does it end up happening some day.

7

Excuse me? Mortal Kombat 1995 is a good video game movie. It’s not perfect and has issues but I rewatched it about 2 months ago alongside Street Fighter (which is bad) and it’s got decent fight scenes and a coherent story which is essential for those not familiar with the game. I will die on this hill.

Also do Detective Pikachu or Sonic 2020 not count? I enjoyed both.

1 Like
8

They’re perfectly fine but…I mean like, seriously good movies. Not just, decent.

1 Like
9

They’re adapting stories based on fictional anthropomorphic hedgehogs who go fast and portable child-friendly cock-fighting, you’re not going to get a storytelling experience of Glory or Glengarry Glenn Ross.

They should have done far better with AC, though.

1 Like
10

I think the problem with those movies is that the attempt to mesh the real world stuff in with the fictional talking rat stuff makes too much feel meandering half the times, where I just find myself saying, “get to the good part already.” I feel like the best approach for them would’ve been to lean into the cartoon stuff and just have fun with 'em like a Pixar movie. That’s why I think MGS honestly would be better helmed as a season of anime.

That said, I do imagine this film will at least have really great set pieces and “boss fights.” For example, we know already that this film will have Gray Fox in it, since Roberts said he was not making an MGS movie without featuring him in it.

1 Like
11

Yeah that’s fine, but they don’t have to be an incredible storytelling experience to be a great film. Like, there are many ways you could have a good video game movie I just don’t think they’ve fully nailed any of them yet.

I always thought something like Bioshock would be the best bet for an adaptation.

12

I strongly believe Detective Pikachu is beyond a good video game movie - it’s a good movie. It takes the source material of the Detective Pikachu games and gives it the most appropriate spin possible.

13

I have zero faith that the film will satisfy me as a long-time fan.

I hope I’m wrong. There are many decent fan-made films about MGS, Philanthropy comes to mind, but they feel less like films and more like passion projects. It’s probably Hollywood being involved that makes me cynical. MGS, like any story, can be told in such a fashion that it can be a masterpiece. MGS certainly has the potential to become a great movie (or several). But I can’t shake my doubts, and as the line goes, “where there is doubt, there is no doubt.”

1 Like
14

I gotta parrot some of the other responses here, MGS would make a better mini series than a film. To me, a film works best when it has tight constraints and a concise vision, you’re getting a snippet of the picture, not the whole picture. Several hour long epic movies have never really done it for me, IDK if it’s my ADHD or what but a big all long ‘epic’ puts my ass to sleep (looking at you LOTR).

That said, I feel like for a story as weird and nuanced as Metal Gear’s, a limited TV series would work best. They could break each game down into an 8 part mini-series, and all together have say 3 or 4 seasons. They could even go in game order; MGS, MGS2, then do the prequel with MGS3, then the resolution with MGS4.

I think this would present way better, because let’s be real, you spend more time in the codec being fed exposition than a movie is even long. I’m not sure how they could accurately even capture it all without it feeling rushed.

I am worried we will have another Ghost in the Shell (Live Action) on our hands. It had the right actors, the right director, the right music, the right production design, even Masamune Shirow gave it his blessing. It all looked so good on paper, but upon release, man did they squander that opportunity. They completely missed the nuance, instituted their own (boring) story, and showed set pieces from the anime.

Like GITS, Metal Gear needs room to breathe, it gives you room to think too. There are lots of quiet moments for reflection and piecing the story together yourself throughout both pieces of media, and I don’t think studios or directors today have the ability to bring that through on screen, unfortunately.

3 Likes
15

You’re right about the gits movie, they crammed ALL the stories into one and it was too busy, the 1995 movie and the spinoff series…It was too busy and provided nothing meaty to anyone. they could have made it up in the ending but instead we got a typical “eryone’s A-ok” ending. there was no message here, just a pretty action movie that had sloppy writing. I really like Scar Jo as motoko, I mean for a long time GITS was my fav form of media ever made.

So with all that said, i can see this guy trying to cram soo much mgs story down into 2 hours and instead of it feeling like it’s own thing, we could get a story that feels like it’s all over the place. Fuck i rmember after the credits rolled on GITS, i just held my head in one hand and just sat there in disbelief, couldnt believe how much they squandered a good idea.

1 Like
16

Cut that to the bone, my dude. Absolutely. Felt souless, it was like looking at a corpse.

I do too, but I may be bias because I like her and her films in general.

17

Just like what @Departed said, a TV show could be much better than a film adaptation. I do feel like JVR will do well with the film as he’s explained before that he’s a massive fan of the series, but a series would do much better since there’s just SO much more to show in one. Whereas a film has to be cut down to 2/3 hours.

If/When the movie is shot and released, I do hope whatever JVR does with it, it’s good. Hoping the video game to movie curse is gone for this.

1 Like
18

I totally agree with what was said above. I could see MGS being adapted for screen in such a way that would be monstrously binge worthy. Cliffhangers toward the conclusions of battles between Snake and FOXHOUND, a lead at the end into the second half of the game or even into some of Snake’s renegade Metal Gear hunting prior to MGS2. I can see this being a good action film, but it’ll (unfortunately) have to be kept quite simple and straight forward in comparison to the game.

One thing I sort of hope for is that this movie doesn’t opt for an entirely new orchestral score, but a recomposition of what we currently have with MGS1 and 2 - the soundtrack they have is entirely unique in regards to having a very early, film-game cinematic score. Just recompose what is (now) a little dated but maintain those themes and leitmotifs. This is my only ask!

  • Edit - Okay I have a second ask of the film which I hope JVR would do - take out all of Kojima’s fucking weird, perverse, male gaze shit. I really don’t want Snake’s first person view of some woman’s chest for 20 seconds and I think with characters like Sniper Wolf, MGS really has an opportunity to set down some great groundwork and examples for action films with how they treat women.
19

You’re telling me you don’t wanna see Snake on the big screen close himself into a locker with a girly poster?

Speak for yourself!

20

HAHAHAHAHHA okay disregarding THAT scenario!

1 Like