Jordan Vogt-Roberts is admirably dedicated to his Metal Gear Solid movie. The cinematic adaptation of Hideo Kojima’s beloved video game series has been in various stages of development for years, with the Kong: Skull Island director frequently updating fans via social media on what’s new with the project (lately, not much). Over the years, he’s shared pieces of concept art from the film, and this week he’s released a very cool new image showing off the pic’s nuclear-equipped walking death mobile: Metal Gear REX.
This indicates that, as expected, the focus of his movie is the Shadow Moses Incident as seen in 1998’s Metal Gear Solid on the PlayStation. This would see legendary soldier Solid Snake infiltrating an Alaskan nuclear weapons disposal facility in order to prevent terrorists from launching a nuke. What’s actually transpiring there is a little more complicated, but let’s just say there’s a reason why the game is considered one of the greatest titles in video game history.
So, is a Metal Gear Solid movie going to happen? Well, even as a huge fan of the franchise, I have my doubts. Leaving aside that the series is effectively dead as Hideo Kojima and Konami have parted ways (with Konami pretty much abandoning video game development altogether in favor of gambling machines), I just don’t see the point of turning it into a film. That’s mainly because the games are already extremely cinematic, and what makes them special is their intricate gameplay, bizarre sense of humor, willingness to break the fourth wall and earnest (and often long-winded) political and philosophical messaging.
Perhaps I’m just being pessimistic, but I doubt that the trademark tone of Metal Gear Solid is going to translate to a blockbuster Hollywood movie. Are we going to get a scene where Psycho Mantis starts interrogating a theater audience on their decisions? Unlikely. But obviously, if this movie ever comes to fruition, I’ll be there day one.
