A Divided World Inspired Neil Blomkamp

Elysium opens Aug 9th

For decades in South Africa, Apartheid was the law of the land that separated the races in that nation. To say that it produced many conflicts is an understatement, but the nation overcame it's controversy and even elected Nelson Mandela as it's leader (if you need me to tell you about this great man, get out from under your rock). Though Clint Eastwood made a great film (Invictus) about South Africa uniting to win the Rugby World Cup, South Africa was the center of one of this century's most underrated films, District 9. Director Neil Blomkamp drew inspiration from South Africa's history in telling his story and his follow-up film Elysium opens Friday with the same theme...only different.

Matt Damon stars in the action film.

Elysium is story about the manmade space station that the rich live on in an Utopian setting (free of hunger, disease and pollution) while the rest of the people live on Earth that is rife with all three of those. An ex-con Max DeCosta (Matt Damon) tries to move on with his life when a factory accident leaves him with 5 days to live. He straps on an exoskeleton and tries to sneak his way onto Elysium; past the the vicious forces of Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) led by Agent Kruger (Sharito Copley). Unlike District 9, Blomkamp sets this film in Los Angeles, not Johannesburg.

Shartio Copley starred in Blomkamp's breakout District 9

Back to Blomkamp's first inspiration, as District 9 showed the oppressive government that was forcing aliens (called Prawns) out of their slums to a concentration camp setting called District 10. However, everything changed when clumsy, contemptible MNU company man Wikus Van De Merwe (Copley) stumbles upon a canister that he believed was a weapon. It wasn't, but the liquid was ingested accidentally by Wikus and caused massive physical changes. He began to become a Prawn. As his company (and father-in-law) turned against him, Wikus fled to District 9 for shelter. As Wikus' life begins to unravel, he "befriends" a Prawn named Christopher Johnson and they band together to get back the liquid Wikus confiscated- fuel to pilot a pod that could get the aliens home. At times, the two protagonists we're helpful and spiteful toward each other. Wikus wants desperately to be human again and Johnson sees the experiments MNU was doing to the Prawns. With a theme of "How the Other Half Lives", Blomkamp weaves story, action and character together so well that the pacing of the film seemed shorter than the nearly two hour running time. The perspective of Wikus worked perfectly too. Like American History X, this story was from the point of view of the racist. Wikus joked about an "alien abortion" and slaughter of alien young that it sounded like popcorn. It certainly turns your stomach, but once he is forced to retreat into District 9, Wikus begins to change. He becomes more concerned about his survival and aggressive as his racism softened, but not too much to be corny or unbelievable. The film had a perfect ending and should be on everyone's watch list.

District 9 delivered in every way. Can Elysium do the same?

Obviously, we draw from our experiences in creativity. Blomkamp appears to have done a great job with that. If Elysium can match the work of District 9, Blomkamp will be on his way to stardom.

Console to Screen: Metal Gear

Metal Gear Solid is Playstation's
homerun if finds it's way to
the big screen.

In 1998, Konami released Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation and it was an instant hit. Eight years after the sequel on the Nintendo Entertainment system, the Playstation got a blockbuster to follow-up the success of Resident Evil. From the moment you hit start, Metal Gear Solid was a different game in presentation alone. It looked more like the Hunt For Red October than a video game as the credits flashed by the screen. However if you didn't hit start, you were treated to briefings with Solid Snake about his mission- they're more like Easter Eggs since you hear the info in the gameplay. Below will show how the game starts. Metal Gear Solid is exclusively a Playstation series- though the series started on the NES and Solid made an appearance on the Gamecube and Nintendo DS. What could go wrong if Konami can send it's second film to the big screen behind Silent Hill?

Plot:

Solid Snake's infiltration of Shadow
Moses was an awesome espionage
style game. 

A rogue group of elite soldiers called Fox-Hound captured an Alaskan Nuclear base (Shadow Moses) in the hopes of acquiring the remains of legendary mercenary Big Boss. If the government does not comply within 24 hours, they plan on launching a nuclear weapon via a nuclear-capable walking tank called Metal Gear Rex. Solid Snake is forced out of retirement by Col. Roy Campbell and deployed to stop the threat by his former associates, whose abilities vary. A weapons specialist (Revolver Ocelot), a master of disguise (Decoy Octopus), a sniper (Sniper Wolf...duh), a hulk of a human that's heavily armed (Vulcan Raven), a psychic mad man (Psycho Mantis) and all lead by Liquid Snake, who is the double of Solid. As Snake infiltrates the base, he meets up with the DARPA Chief -who dies immediately, Armstech President Kenneth Baker, the daughter of Col. Campbell (Meryl Silverburgh) and a ninja out to kill Snake -who's also his old squad member known as Gray Fox.

As the story progresses, every character's story unfolds well. It doesn't matter if it's the main character like Solid Snake, a supporting character like Otacon or a minor character like Naomi Hunter, ALL character's had their own story that could have been made into short films at the very least. However, this is Snake's show. He comes to reveal to the audience that Liquid is really his clone brother and that Liquid intends to fire a nuke from Metal Gear. Solid Snake attempts to thwart him with the help of Gray Fox. As Gray Fox is killed, he pleads to Solid to embrace his soldier mentality to keep fighting. Solid does just that. He grabs a rocket launcher and blows Metal Gear to pieces. As a reward, he rescues Meryl and leaves, thinking out loud, "Maybe it's time I live for someone else...like you."

Casting:

Already proved he's a capable hero,
Guy Pierce could pull off Solid AND
Liquid Snake.

Who could play Solid Snake? Honestly, today's crop is kind of thin. There's plenty of actors out there, but who could personify the character better than X-Men screenwriter (that's right, screenwriter) David Hayter? Well there are possibilities. Jeremy Renner just starred in the Bourne Legacy, while him (or predecessor Matt Damon) would be good choices, there's other options. According to Wikipedia, Solid Snake's look was inspired by Christopher Walken, but whoever would take on Solid, MUST take on Liquid. So who could be BOTH dark and light to show BOTH characters? Here's two choices: Guy Pierce and Viggo Mortensen. Both are quality actors, though Pierce has shown that he could play the hero (LA Confidential, Memento) and the bad guy (upcoming Lawless) as fully evolved people that will draw the audience in. It wouldn't be the first time the born-English/Aussie-raised-actor played a US soldier (Rules of Engagement, The Hurt Locker). The key is that he proved he could play a charismatic action hero in 2012's Lockout, but his role as Edmund Exley in LA Confidential would be the best comparison. Exley had the inner turmoil that Snake needs and the OUTTER turmoil that Liquid shows. Pierce would be this blogger's choice. Mortensen would be a good second selection.

Story Structure:

Gray Fox was an interesting character
for many reasons.

Unlike other video games before it, Metal Gear Solid would have little trouble moving to the big screen compared to other films. This game was made like a film and isn't meant to just make you play on and on without reason. Could they drop a boss or two? Sure, but all of them were made to feel important. How do you remove one of them? Decoy Octopus is killed as part of the "twist" and Psycho Mantis is a great boss fight, but how does that translate to a movie scene? Easily, Vulcan Raven could be removed (the same way you dropped claymore mines to kill him without a shot), but Sniper Wolf has a more compelling scene AFTER her death than the actually boss fight. Clearly, Revolver Ocelot plays a key role even after his early defeat to the hands of Solid Snake, but Liquid needs a menacing presence provided by the actor that plays Solid. There's other under-lying characters that will have their moments like Campbell and Naomi, but this film belongs to Solid Snake. (See the end below)

What it has in place:

Now, Metal Gear does have great music (though not listed in the Best Music in Gaming History), but the gem was in it's storytelling. Metal Gear was told like a Tom Clancy novel brought to life as if Hideo Kojima wanted a Jack Ryan feel for it. If success was what he aimed for, he failed only because he overshot it by 1,000%. Metal Gear Solid ranked up with the Resident Evil and Final Fantasy games as the best action/adventure games in Playstation history. It remains a Playstation exclusive despite appearing on the Gamecube in 2004. It is a game-for-this-era (even pre-9/11) and a game that tells a story about a hero whose willing to kill himself as he comes to realize his existence is detrimental to the world.

Who could pull this off:

There's a very short list of directors that make Metal Gear Solid a reality, but The Bourne Ultimatum/United 93 director Paul Greengrass is the most logical choice. Greengrass' United 93 depicted the victim's and assassin's mentalities, but it's action never faltered. That's the feel Metal Gear Solid needs and a feel that not many others could duplicate. At this moment, it's hard to fathom another director that could make this intelligent action film possible.

Could it happen? Sooner-or-later Konami will make a money-grab. They already did in Silent Hill, but taking a shot at a horror-film while in the boom of the Resident Evil popularity is one thing. Metal Gear Solid doesn't have an expiration date since some quality spy movies are post-dated, but other than The Hunt for Red October, most are recent stories. Sounds like a contradiction, but it's a truth. Wait, but not too long. Can Konami do so within five years? Eh...maybe, but is it possible? Sure. If any video game can make a four star franchise, this is one of the TWO... the other one will be covered eventually.