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14th Jul 2018

The director of the Metal Gear Solid movie teases a month of new concept art

Dave Hanratty

Metal Gear Solid 20 years old tribute

Wait, they’re actually making a Metal Gear Solid film?

So it seems.

After years and years of talking about it and nothing concrete coming to pass, Jordan Vogt-Roberts reckons he’s the man to finally bring Solid Snake to the big screen.

The director of Kong: Skull Island is currently attached to the project, and is fiercely committed to bringing this thing home at long last.

As such, he’s found a unique way to both pay tribute to the series’ origins – the first incarnation of the Metal Gear universe arrived in 1987 on the MSX – and  build hype for the future.

On Twitter on Friday, Vogt-Roberts promised 31 days of never-before-seen concept art related to the series, created by a collective of “next-gen” artists.

It is unclear whether this artwork will present a clear vision of what the resulting movie (if it happens at all, remember) will look like, but MGS fans love this kind of thing.

First up in Vogt-Roberts “beautiful+insane+iconic” imagery rundown…

Metal Gear Solid movie concept art

The above comes from Nick Foreman, and represents a pretty impressive first start to this campaign, one that pays tribute to the stunning work of Yoji Shinkawa while also forming its own identity.

As we know all too well, the vast majority of video games don’t translate to good cinema.

There’s the odd exception – Mortal Kombat is knowing genre fun, Silent Hill has an incredible visual strength, and The Rock brought his signature charisma to Rampage in fine style.

The best video game movie of all time, however, is, of course, Crank. Yeah, it’s not technically a video game movie but just try and imagine a better Grand Theft Auto adaptation.

Something like Metal Gear Solid feels like a can’t-miss prospect, but we’ve been burned before.

It is a series inspired by a pure love for Western filmmaking, one that arguably goes too cinematic at times, but that’s part of the charm.

Simply put, a proper movie transcription is either going to be absolutely brilliant or the biggest missed opportunity that this world has ever known.

Vogt-Roberts appears a confident sort – especially when you read his recent bizarre tale of escaping death in a Vietnamese nightclub – and a genuine fan, so we wish him all the luck in the world.

As of now, he’ll be in front of the camera with Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom writer Derek Connolly on script duties.

And hey, even if the inevitable happens, 31 days of fresh MGS-inspired artwork is a decent consolation prize.

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