Fan Rant: Please Don't Let Paul W.S. Anderson Direct 'Metal Gear Solid'
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sony, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek
Dear Sony,As I am sure you are aware, you own the film rights to any adaptation of Metal Gear Solid, the outstanding brainchild of video game auteur Hideo Kojima. I have no doubt that since the property became a gaming icon after Konami brought it to the Playstation in 1998 many have tried to get a film adaptation off the ground. I'm sure you've heard pitch after pitch, and maybe even solicited some of your own, so I appreciate that no ground has been made on turning the beloved series - arguably the most cinematic game of all time - toward the big screen.
Yet I fear that with a big budget adaptation of Prince of Persia on the horizon, you might start getting antsy about making a big budget video game movie of your own; and if that's the case, please do not take up Paul W.S. Anderson on his desire to be the man who brings Solid Snake to movie theaters around the world. For the love of all that is sacred to gamers, please, please, please do not allow that to happen. I could rattle off a handful of different directors better equipped to bring the sweeping world of espionage, intrigue, double-twists, and giant robots than the man who simultaneously rendered two beloved franchises irrelevant with Alien vs. Predator.
Now I'm not opposed to making Metal Gear Solid into a movie. Though Kojima's storylines for MGS have become more twisted and entangled than a snake orgy at this point, I have no doubt that a competent screenwriter could make an excellent script out of the series' latest episodes. But it's going to take a director with real vision to transform Solid Snake from a game icon into the film God he deserves, and Anderson just doesn't have the minerals to do that.
Should you be actively exploring how to bring the stealth superstar to cinemas, your starting off point must be hiring David Hayter to write the script. Sure, he's been the English language voice of the Japanese game star for over a decade, so he knows the property like the back of Snake's eye patch, but with helping pen the scripts for X-Men, X2, and Watchmen he's proven himself more than just a man with a talent for killing it with a gravely voice.
You don't have to go with Hayter as your sole and final screenwriter, but at least give the man a shot. I'm sure he'd be willing to forget the draft he wrote for Konami in 2001 and start fresh, so even if you don't go with him as the writer, you'll at least have a nice jumping off point established by an insider to the franchise. But like I said, I'm less concerned with the script than I am with the director.
Metal Gear Solid is big. It's a big story with big characters fighting bigger villains who sometimes hide in even bigger robots. It's going to take someone who can handle spectacle to bring all of that to cinematic life and nothing in Anderson's career has him capable of tackling such a project; and this is coming from someone who actually enjoys some of Anderson's work. He's not an awful director, he's just wrong for this project. And to show you how wrong I think he is for it, I'm going to throw out a name I never, ever, ever would have imagined suggesting for MGS: McG.
Yes, McG, the man behind Charlie's Angels and Terminator Salvation. While I was, as a whole, unsatisfied by Terminator Salvation, his delivery of the first hour or so has me convinced that even he would be a better match for global stakes than Anderson. And if I'm willing to concede that McG is a better at something than someone, well, that should only go to show how ill-suited said someone is. [Clarification: I'm not saying I'd like McG to do MGS, I'm just saying that even he - another safe, commercial director - would be a better choice than Anderson.]
Back in 1998 I first envisioned Metal Gear Solid as a perfect vehicle for someone like John McTiernan, but I realize that you're likely to eventually (and I do believe that a MGS is not a question of If, but When) want to go with someone who has a recent record at the box office. I could easily assemble a fantasy list of who I'd like to see do it today, but that's not necessary. All you need to know is that Paul W.S. Anderson, though willing, is even more unnecessary. Let him stick to the Soldiers and the Death Races of the world. Let him stick to movies without congruous tone, characters, and scale. Just please let someone else usher cinema's future-favorite spy to the big screen.
I beg you,
a Nerd
Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams Reunite for 'Mission Impossible 4'
'Big Top Pee-Wee': The Original Benicio Del Toro Wolfman
Spin-ematical: New on DVD and Blu-ray for 2/9
Watch This: Brilliant Oscar-Nominated Short 'Logorama'
Chris Nolan to Lead 'Superman' Reboot!?
_thumbnail.jpg)
_thumbnail.jpg)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-15-2009 @ 9:27PM
c said...
You know why Paul W.S. Anderson keeps getting work? Because he is safe. His movies never do awesome at the box-office, but he makes them within budget. The studios know that they will get a good return on their investment when they hire him.
I think he is sub par at best. A total hack director at worst.
On the topic of metal gear. I think the story has gotten way too silly and convoluted even for a video game.Though the story of Metal Gear Solid could be told pretty well if they focus on solid and liquid.
Reply
11-15-2009 @ 10:29PM
mopic nerd said...
MCG? Why not get Brett Ratner awile your at it? MGS the movie needs, I repeat needs to be driven by interactions between the characters and MCG has no idea how to handle dialogue, character emotion & interaction in a realistic way. Just suffer through Salvation or any other of his terrible films to see what I mean.
Reply
11-15-2009 @ 10:56PM
Peter Hall said...
Saying I'd rather have someone I don't even like, like McG, was just an example of how little I want Anderson to do it. To be clear, I don't want either of them to do it.
11-16-2009 @ 7:18AM
mopic nerd said...
Sorry mate. I read it awhile at work and had a near heart attack after seeing MCG. I think for a movie they'd need to really focus on either Snake & Liquid (MGS 01) or go back to where it begins and do Snake Eater, which was very cinimatic.
11-15-2009 @ 10:29PM
Stan Winsome said...
Meh who cares- it's not Shakespeare. At least with PWS Anderson you know what you're in for. Let MGS take his time for the next few years, and who knows what other decent genre films are being spared his lameness.
Reply
11-15-2009 @ 11:44PM
Oblique said...
Well if your a lover of great video games you would care, and it matters to me because I can really say that Metal Gear Solid is one of the best video games that I have played. And Anderson should be No where near this movie especially with what he did with the Resident evil franchise. And I'm not one of those crazy star wars type fanboys that demands their movies be a certain way, but after playing a game like Metal gear solid (the whole series in-fact) that digs deep into character development and has unique plot twist you can't help to be enthralled by it. Metal Gear Solid is no Halo or Modern Warfare 2 because those games may have a story but fans more or so like those series for the FPS gameplay and could probably careless about a story at that. But the first time I played MGS 10 years ago on the PS1 it was similar to reading the best book you ever read or watching the best movie trilogy, because it was long but it kept you hooked and then has a crazy plot twist after the credits rolled to boot.
But I Agree 100% with Peter Hall on this one, that David Hayter should be the script writer for this movie. That would have to be a fans dream that the voice actor or your favorite video game is also a big time hollywood screen writer that actually wrote for big blockbuster movies that weren't just garbage lol. But ill keep hoping, but if that doesn't happen Hideo Kojima the creator of the series has gone on record saying that he's not going to let anyone ruin his baby. So as long as he's involved it should be in good hands.
11-15-2009 @ 11:21PM
doa766 said...
this is serious
we should start a petition or something, that hack can't be within a 100 miles of a metal gear metal
Reply
11-16-2009 @ 12:08AM
Ricky047 said...
one name! Michael Bay! thats right! I know what ya'll are thinking but that guy can make a great cinematic movie. Watch The Rock and transformers. In a way, is similiar to the mgs games. Great scores, nicholas cage and sean connery infultrates a small island, and giant robots.
Reply
11-16-2009 @ 12:10AM
Nick said...
"Twisted and entangled" is the way you describe a complicated story that readers have a hard time following. The MGS stories, on the other hand, are heaping piles of nonsense, conceived by a man who has no idea how to form a plot. Kojima relies upon the naivete of millions of fan boys who think that pretentiousness=quality.
And besides, even if a competent movie were formed out of that material, it'd have to be so pared down it would just become a rote espionage movie. If you want an MGS movie, go play MGS. 10 hours of horribly written radio conversations, have fun.
Reply
11-16-2009 @ 12:44AM
Reuben said...
I agree with you that a true MGS would be impossible because of how convoluted the plot is. With that said, I vehemently disagree with everything else. The story is sometimes ridiculous and gets a little too tangled, but I'm not naive, nor am I blind enough to not see that it is pretentious. I love the long cut-scenes, and I love the gameplay and cinematic feel.
11-16-2009 @ 9:59AM
Oblique said...
@Nick, so let me guess you like the mindless videogames that have no plot or story whatsoever and like blowing things up, so of course you wouldn't understand MGS.
@Reuben, I agree with you...I would never want a TRUE MGS movie because in that case I would just stick to the game because at times the plot does get a bit twisted, but the overall plot is good. I say they start with Metal gear Solid 1, and use the basic plot of Solid Snake infiltrating Shadow Moses to take a group of terrorists down, and then introduce his Brother (Liquid Snake) aspect of the film. Because honestly as a fan MGS1 had a great story and the plot wasnt that convoulted, until MGS2 released and like I said im a fan and still to this day I hate that storyline which was pretty much a ripoff of the first game anyway but everything was explained in the last release (MGS4).
But again in the right hands this could be a good movie.
11-16-2009 @ 11:44AM
Nick said...
@Oblique: Nah, I'm just a guy who got away from games for a long time and realized how awful they are, generally. We (I include myself because I used to be this way) think that the best video game stories are the really complicated, 'mature' ones that take themselves really seriously. That's bogus. The story of the game should exist only insofar as it colors the interactive experience (see Portal, HL2). There's no reason for a game to have six hours of tangled, self-referential story-telling, when the other four hours is fairly straightforward (and I'd argue poorly designed) action/sneaking. I'm not even taking into account the poorness of the writing, the disastrous presence of Psycho Mantis, the absurdity of a game (and sequels) where the best action scenes happen in cut-scenes, Kojima's insane ego, etc. It's an awful experience that thinks it's the video game equivalent of War and Peace.
If you want a good game, go find a copy of Relentless. If you want a good story in movie format, go watch The Informant!
11-16-2009 @ 12:50AM
Alex said...
Eew. I hate your director choice. I think that Mr. 300 himself, Zach Snyder, should do it. This is HIS movie, it was made for him.
Reply
11-16-2009 @ 11:14AM
Aman said...
I agree. Zack Snyder knows his shit...I think he can do it
11-16-2009 @ 12:58AM
Batzarro said...
Nyaa! I am not heavilly into Metal Gear, but if they go with Anderson, that inmediately shoots the film straight into low budget February release. Think about it. Resident Evil was a survival-horror game, and he made a zombie action film. Aliens and Predators where sci fi horror and he made them into mediocre action. By my estimate Metal Gear should rightfully be a Spy THriller heavy in the future tech and and very story driven. What would Wes ANderson do?
Reply
11-16-2009 @ 4:05AM
Midnight13 said...
I'll throw a name out there that might do this adaptation justice. At least he's the first name that came to mind when I thought of the visuals of Metal Gear Solid, ready, - John Woo. The guy needs to return to his days of "The Killer" and "Hard-Boiled".
Reply
11-16-2009 @ 10:10AM
Zre said...
Christopher Nolan
The Metal Gear Solid movie needs to have a deep story and characterisation in order for it stand head and shoulders above the usual crappy video game to movie adaptions done so far.
Nolan and his brother can take the story of of MGS and make it simple enough for a non fan to understand but deep enough to satisfy all the superfans.He can convey the emotional and character driven story while still delivering plenty of action.
He can make Solid Snake as kick ass awesome as he made Batman even to people who never heard of him.( Thats you umfufu)
Reply
11-16-2009 @ 10:14AM
mg1207 said...
As long as we're throwing names, I'll take Paul Greengrass to direct, David Hayter to script, and Eric Bana as Snake.
Reply
11-16-2009 @ 10:43AM
Richard said...
MGS should not be an action movie, it should be a drama centered on character arc... it´s not a silly game, it has a real story behind it. i vote NOLAN WORLD.
Reply
11-16-2009 @ 11:41AM
Matt said...
I agree!
The best about Paul W.W. Anderson is Mila Jovovich.
Reply