Metal Gear Solid fans let out a simultaneous cheer of jubilation and groan of apprehension this week as it was announced Avi Arad, the mastermind coordinator behind Marvel Studio's The Avengers, is to bring MGS to the saga to the big screen. It's a long mooted project, but one which Arad is pledging to finally do justice. The producer said: ""We will take our time and tell the story with all the nuances, ideology, cautionary tales needed." But game-to-film adaptations have an embarrassingly bad track record, making me (a huge MGS fan) very worried about the movie. To do it justice, here are 5 hurdles I think the Metal Gear Solid movie has to clear.
5. Picking a Protagonist
The problem with the making an MGS movie is that the series has two equally popular main protagonists, the legendary soldier turned disillusioned merc and terrorist Big Boss, and his cloned son Solid Snake. While Snake's badassery in Metal Gear Solid and its sequel made him a video game icon, Big Boss' tragic story as portrayed in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and it's handheld sequels made him a much loved anti-hero. " Their histories are interlinked, but only one of them can be the protagonist in the movie, after all theres only room for one boss and one snake. Big Boss' tragic tale might make him a more interesting protagonist, but that means the film would have to be set at some point between the sixties and the rise of Outer Heaven. But having Solid Snake as the protagonist would allow for a more modern, high-tech scenario, and could explore his relationship with the turncoat Big Boss.