Nintendo: From Video Game to Film, Part 2: Metroid

The film starts with a team of scientists communicating with their superiors in the Galactic Federation. The scientists work for the military and, while scanning an unknown planet, they had discovered a new form of life: the metroids. As the scientists explain, the metroids are a species of floating creatures that cling to their prey, draining its life energy and killing it. The scientists are sad to announce that some of their people were killed by the creatures. However, research of the metroids has shown that the jelly-like substance that composes the majority of the creatures’ bodies can be used to cure a virus that has been recently plaguing the Federation’s home planet. The scientists inform their superiors that they have the metroids in transit and they will arrive in a few days. Unfortunately, a band of space pirates intercept the communications between the scientists and the Federation. It isn’t long before the pirates’ ship catches up to the scientists’ research vessel. The pirates attack the scientists and leave nothing alive but the metroids, which they take with them.

The film then turns its attention to Samus Aran, a bounty hunter with an armored power suit. The bounty hunter is currently chasing down a smuggler on a jungle planet. The smuggler, while trying to escape from Samus, runs straight into a group of large, cat-like creatures. Having followed him, Samus is also caught amidst the creatures after they have killed the smuggler. With a simple “damn” Samus fights the creatures off as they come two or three at a time. After they’ve all been killed, Samus removes the helmet of the power suit, revealing for the first time that she is a woman.

Samus then returns to her ship and leaves the planet. Samus returns to her client, an ugly, alien criminal, to collect her pay. However, he refuses to pay her, given the target was killed. Samus pulls a weapon, stating the condition of the target was not part of the deal. The client simply laughs as two Federation soldiers approach her from behind with their own weapons drawn. Samus is taken away and the Federation soldiers take her to the Federation’s home planet.

Samus is placed in an interrogation room by herself until a general of the Federation army, General Saxon (original character of my creation), enters. Saxon reads the charges that Samus faces for her bounty hunter activities. Saxon then tells Samus that all of the charges can be dropped if she agrees to aid the Federation. Samus listens intently as the general tells her everything about the space pirates’ attack on the scientists’ research vessel. The space pirates are apparently planning to breed the stolen metroids, increasing their numbers, so they can then use them as biological weapons against the Federation. Saxon makes it clear to Samus that her tracking skills, her experience, and her combat abilities make her the only candidate to retrieve the stolen metroids. Samus agrees on the terms given Saxon remains true to his promise to drop her charges. Samus is released, but for insurance Saxon has a tracking device placed in her power suit.

The location of the space pirates’ base is one of the greatest kept secrets throughout the galaxy. Thus, Samus must visit all available resources to find it. Kraid, an illegal arms dealer throughout the galaxy, has always been rumored to have connections to the space pirates. Therefore, Samus takes it upon herself to attack his base of operations, which is also his home. It is a struggle, but eventually Samus works her way through Kraid’s forces and interrogates him for information. Kraid is very large and can’t put up much of a fight given he can’t even walk. Kraid tells Samus that she might as well kill him because he will never talk. Samus, having counted on this, brings one of Kraid’s children in from another room. The child has a bomb strapped to it and Samus threatens to detonate it if Kraid does not talk. Kraid panics and gives Samus all of the information she needs; the space pirates’ base is on Zebes. Samus throws the child to Kraid and goes back to her ship.

Inside the ship, Samus cries to herself. With the realization that she had just threatened the life of a child, Samus questions what she’s done with her life. This scene ends with her curling up in bed, still crying, as the lights inside her ship go out. The next morning, Samus is once again hard-faced and ready to fight as her ship approaches Zebes. Before she lands, Samus does a quick scan of the planet. Her scans show that the pirates’ base is highly guarded by a system of unknown origin. At the same time, the pirates are picking up a signal from Samus’s ship. The ship is cloaked, but the tracking device placed inside her power suit by Saxon is revealing her position.

Samus lands, still unsure of what exactly she will face. It isn’t long before she has infiltrated the base. This is somewhat simple considering that the leader of the pirates, Ridley, is monitoring her and has allowed her entrance. The film goes on from here with Samus maneuvering through the highly secure base and fighting off pirates. Samus cannot pinpoint the location of the stolen metroids because the base’s security system, Mother Brain, is locking her out of all computers.

Eventually, Samus finds Mother Brain, which is a mechanical life form as well as a security system. Not knowing that she was being tracked the whole time, Samus does not expect to find Ridley guarding Mother Brain. Unsurprisingly, Samus must fight Ridley. After Ridley damages her arm canon, the power suit’s central weapon, Samus must use a damaged electrical cord to defeat Ridley. Being electrocuted, Ridley is sent crashing into the Mother Brain’s control panels. This makes it so that Samus can only deactivate the security systems by killing Mother Brain directly. When Samus kills Mother Brain, she activates a self-destruct sequence that would not have occurred if she had deactivated the systems using the control panels. Accessing the nearest computer via her helmet, Samus locates the stolen metroids.

With only ten minutes to act, Samus must get the metroids out of the base before it explodes. Positioning her ship directly above the room that houses the metroids, Samus blows the roof and places the metroid cages into her ship as quickly as possible. Just as Samus gets the metroids into her ship and flies off the base goes aflame. Samus looks down at the planet below, as the fire from the base is visible from space. This is pretty much where the film ends.

I never played the original Metroid game, but I remember playing Super Metroid as a kid. Fun times that was, me being too stupid to ever comprehend exactly what the story was or why that bulky, metal suit had a woman inside of it. What makes Metroid so interesting is its ability to create a strong female character that guys can really relate to. For one, Samus wasn’t even revealed to be a chick until the very end of the original game. There are too few things where a girl is the central character that we guys can really get into, but Samus kicking ass in that Iron Man-like armor is the bee’s knees in my book.

Cast:

Samus Aran- Charlize Theron