Kara Dennison
December 8, 2020 
Metal Gear Solid is on its way to the movies, starring Oscar Isaac as Solid Snake! It’s safe to say we’re all abuzz waiting for more news about the flick. How are we going to keep ourselves occupied? Easy: by dipping into even more live-action game movies!
We’ve picked a few that we love for a variety of reasons. Some are surprisingly good, some are weird, and some just make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Whatever the reason, consider giving these a go. And then let us know what your favorite adaptations are!
Detective Pikachu
We can’t think of a game much further from Metal Gear Solid than Pokémon, but they do have one thing in common: a live-action adaptation!… Okay, two things if you count Derek Connolly, scriptwriter for both the Oscar Isaac starrer and last year’s Detective Pikachu.
The 2019 film, starring Ryan Reynolds as the voice of the adorable sleuthing Pokémon, had a lot of heart and solid writing. Also headlining were Justice Smith, Ken Watanabe, and Bill Nighy, all turning in strong performances. And the final 20 minutes include one of the coolest Pokémon battles ever and a surprising and satisfying finale. If you’re still sleeping on this one, it’s time to give it a watch!
Ace Attorney
From Takashi Miike, the mind behind gory flicks like Ichi the Killer and Audition, comes an adaptation of a Nintendo visual novel about lawyers. This new take on the popular franchise, based on the first game’s main story arc, leans into Ace Attorney‘s (then) near-future setting with holographic display screens. It also treats the story’s wild trials like popular sports events, with people buying tickets to trials.
Starring Hiroki Narimiya as the hapless but surprisingly sharp Phoenix Wright, the film does actually manage to build a world where the game’s odd events could happen. It even retains fan-favorite scenes, like Nick cross-examining a parrot.
Street Fighter
The campy, bizarre 1994 film adaptation of the popular Street Fighter game series is probably not the tone we’re hoping for as we look ahead to Metal Gear Solid. But despite its overall weirdness and hand-waviness to many of the characters, it’s worth a watch with friends. The star-studded cast includes Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile, Ming-Na Wen as Chun Li, and Kylie Minogue as Cammy. But all that aside, there’s one real reason to watch this: Raul Julia as M. Bison.
We can forgive the flick’s questionable performances and weird choices (including the whole Blanka thing) if it means we get to see scenes like this. The role was also Julia’s last on-screen appearance before his death in the same year. If you’ve gotta go out on a line, “I beheld Satan as he fell from Heaven like lightning” is a pretty good one.
What other video game movies will you be looking up as you wait for Oscar Isaac in Metal Gear Solid?
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