The long-gestating Metal Gear Solid movie from Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts has found its lead actor: Oscar Isaac, best known as Poe Dameron from the Star Wars sequel trilogy, will play soldier and stealth specialist Solid Snake.
This news comes from Deadline, which suggests momentum on actually making the film has picked up at Sony Pictures. A Metal Gear Solid adaptation has been in the works for around a decade-and-a-half, at this point. Screenwriter Derek Connolly (the Jurassic World trilogy) is scripting the film. Vogt-Roberts has previously been vocal about what a huge fan of the Metal Gear Solid series he is.
Metal Gear Solid is a 1998 game released on the PlayStation, itself a sequel to two earlier games, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. It's about an expert soldier, the gruff but kick-ass Solid Snake, who infiltrates an Alaskan military base to stop a nuclear-equipped mech called Metal Gear from committing any unwanted end-of-the-world atrocities.
The original Snake character was heavily inspired by Snake Plissken from the classic John Carpenter movie Escape From New York.
The main villain in the first game's story is Liquid Snake, Snake's 'brother' – both are clones of a mythical soldier called Big Boss. It's, er, confusing. Could Isaac play both parts?
Better than it probably deserves
Isaac is a top-tier actor in the prime of his career, and given the overall batting average of game adaptations – ranging from terrible to just-okay – we almost wonder if he needs to star in a film like this.
Still, given how cinematic the games are in their audiovisual presentation, and how memorable their heroes and villains are, a good Metal Gear Solid movie does seem like a possibility on paper. The series – last seen with 2018's poorly-received Metal Gear Survive – was at its worst when the games veered deep into confusing lore and nonsensical plot twists. Hopefully any film adaptation will avoid that.
Oscar Isaac is also reportedly going to star in Moon Knight, a show set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for Disney Plus. He'll feature in 2021's Dune, too.
