Considered by many to be an auteur in the video gaming industry, Hideo Kojima is primarily famous for creating the Metal Gear Solid game franchise. Based on the preceding Metal Gear games, they were unique from other shooters due to their strong emphasis on stealth.
The Metal Gear Solid games were also known for their complex storyline with arguably two main characters: Solid Snake and Big Boss. Yet what’s more interesting is the games’ cinematic approach, as Kojima was influenced by several movies. In fact, some films are quite similar to the games with the most notable ones listed here.
Tears Of The Sun
Following the success of the Die Hard films, Bruce Willis’ career as an action star took off. Yet Tears of the Sun is one of his lesser-known movies, which wasn’t liked by critics though audiences did.
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Set in Nigeria, the film follows a US Navy SEAL team led by Willis’ character Lieutenant A.K. Waters who’ve been sent in to extract an American doctor from the war-torn region. However, she won’t leave her Nigerian patients behind so the SEALs decide to escort all of them. This kind of morally ambiguous premise is similar to the later Metal Gear Solid games like Peace Walker and The Phantom Pain.
Apocalypse Now
Aside from the first Metal Gear Solid game, the one that is often praised as being one of the best in the series is Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Serving as a prequel of sorts, it tells the origin of Big Boss (whom Solid Snake was cloned from) and of the deadly mission that defined him.
So what does this have to do with Francis Ford Coppola’s underappreciated classic Apocalypse Now? For starters, both Apocalypse Now and Snake Eater take place during the Cold War in jungle-based settings. They also have a main character who begins to question his mission as he encounters many eccentric characters.
Ghost In The Shell (1995)
Despite the remake’s lackluster success, the original Ghost in the Shell movie still holds up today for its stunning visuals and thought-provoking themes. Particularly on what it means to be human in a rapidly technological world and artificial intelligence.
These themes are also explored in the Metal Gear Solid games as the eponymous Metal Gear machine represents the destructive power of technology and how it can be abused by humans. Additionally, these games have cyborgs in them starting with Gray Fox and introduced an AI villain in the form of GW in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
The Rock
Not to be confused with Dwayne Johnson’s wrestler name, The Rock was one of Michael Bay’s early film successes prior to the Transformers franchise. Starring Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage, it has them play a veteran and chemist who are tasked to stop rogue soldiers that have taken over Alcatraz Island.
On top of that, the rogue soldiers threaten to launch missiles at San Francisco unless their demands are met. Sound familiar? After all, the premise of Metal Gear Solid and its sequel Sons of Liberty involve rogue military units taking over a remote area with hostages and a deadly weapon at their disposal.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Among the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, Captain America: The Winter Soldier arguably has the least fantastical elements and is more grounded in reality. Of course, it’s still a comic book movie as we see Captain America fighting against another super-soldier while uncovering a government conspiracy.
But we can see some of these elements present in Metal Gear Solid and Sons of Liberty, since the titular Winter Soldier has a similar backstory to Gray Fox. They were both soldiers that perished and were revived through technology, which transformed them into brainwashed cyborgs. On top of that, the conspiracy in Winter Soldier is similar the one in Sons of Liberty.
Dawn Of The Dead (1978)
Often credited as the founder of modern zombie movies, American director George A. Romero is praised by horror movie fans while critics have been divided over him. One such example was the 1978 zombie film Dawn of the Dead, which is notorious for its excessive use of gore.
While some critics didn’t care much for the gory elements, others felt like it had more fun with its premise than its serious predecessor Night of the Living Dead. Romero’s film also influenced the Metal Gear Solid games, particularly in its use of tight spaces. Plus, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has zombies in it.
The Guns Of Navarone
Compared to other movies set during World War II, The Guns of Navarone is unique because it’s not a simple drawn-out battle between Allied forces and the German Nazis. Instead, the movie is about a commando unit that’s put together to fulfill a seemingly impossible mission.
Made up of an eclectic group of characters with special skills and distinct personalities, they all must learn to get along while encountering obstacles on the way to their target. With strong elements of machismo and espionage-style action, it’s easy to see this reflected in Metal Gear Solid and its sequels/prequels.
Goldfinger
Though Metal Gear Solid’s legacy on stealth-based video games is still going strong, it’s nothing compared to the James Bond movies and their impact on pop-culture. In fact, there are many similarities between James Bond and Solid Snake/Big Boss.
After all, these men are true symbols of masculinity in how they use a combination of charm cool gadgets and badass skills to get out of tight situations. They also have a tendency to flirt with multiple women and get tortured by colorful villains with crazy schemes. Nowhere is this more clear than Goldfinger, which established the general style of James Bond movies.
The Great Escape
Another classic in the genre of World War II-based movies, The Great Escape is a dramatized version of an actual event. In particular, when a group of British prisoners of war tried to get out of a Nazi German camp in what is now Żagań, Poland.
Like The Guns of Navarone, this movie had the characters utilizing stealth rather than blunt force which is the defining element in the Metal Gear Solid games. There’s even a segment in each game where Solid Snake/Big Boss has to escape an area under a time limit, just like the men in The Great Escape.
Escape From New York
If there’s one movie that has arguably had more influence on the Metal Gear Solid games than any others, John Carpenter’s dystopian action flick Escape from New York is it. Aside from the obvious name similarities between Solid Snake and “Snake” Plissken, there are other similarities.
For example, both Metal Gear Solid and Escape from New York’s protagonists are special agents tasked to infiltrate a dangerous place while infected with lethal nanotechnology. Then there’s Plissken’s appearance, which resembles Big Boss’ after the events in Snake Eater. Even the soundtrack of Escape from New York sounds a lot like the Metal Gear Solid games’ soundtracks.