Better no movie than a shit one I guess, but I'm still bummed! To be perfectly honest, I was (and still am) such a fan of the first 3 (and MPO, great game and GREAT story), but while the 4th got so many things right, the story was just too complicated (not so much on the surface, more if you really thought about it), they did the best job they could tying everything up but in the end it just couldn't hold water with me, and the primary reason was the whole Liquid Ocelot thing. Here's the way I see it (SPOILERS AHEAD): Ocelot was an original member of the Patriots, but when Big Boss (and I guess Eva, can't remember for sure) bailed on Zero/Sigint/Paramedic in the game-universe 80s, Ocelot stayed on with the Patriots as a double agent (because he had such a heteroboner for BB), and after Liquid Snake's death from Fo
IE in '05 (again, game-universe), Ocelot had Liquid's arm grafted on to his and then concocted a scheme to claim that Liquid's personality was taking over his own (in fact of course the result of mental disciplining and hypnotherapy) I guess so he could claim that when he was "himself" (and not "possessed by Liquid") he could still have all the access and information he had as a Patriot.
But this seems very thin to me; once the Patriots (in whatever form they were in in game-universe '05-'07, between Shadow Moses and the Tanker) realized that Ocelot was at least somewhat compromised by this "possessing spirit," they should have cut him off immediately, and indeed, in the end of MGS2, the "colonel" (AI program) says Ocelot wasn't told the whole truth. So fair enough, they just kept him on during the Big Shell incident to play his part.
But after that, let me make sure I have another sequence of events clear.
- Up to and during MGS4, Ocelot, now apparently "fully Liquid", gains control of the 5 biggest PMC's in the world (and since in the game PMC's do almost all fighting worldwide, that's quite a strong position to be in), and launches his insurrection to take over the SOP system and have complete battlefield control (since everything and everyone on the battlefield is controlled by SOP).
- He claims that his purpose is to create Outer Heaven, that age-old goal of every MGS villain, but really - get ready for this - his real goal is to have Naomi write and upload a virus into the Patriots network (specifically JD, the master AI, disguised as an old orbiting satellite) so that he can destroy the Patriots and get the location of zero and Big Boss.
- This is also Snake's goal, of course, so let me say that again - they have the same goal, and Ocelot even knows it, yet the fucking fight Snake has to endure on Outer Haven (and that microwave tunnel) just to get to the computer room, meanwhile all Ocelot had to do was just open every door and come shake his hand; and furthermore, why did Ocelot even maintain his Liquid persona? It's clearly established in the game that the Liquid side has completely taken over, so it's not like the Patriots would trust Ocelot anyway, so he might as well just drop the act since it's not like he has any security clearances to protect any more (one can hope).
So basically, dude A's goal is to upload a virus into the AI network that rules the Country (really, world) via the piece of that network that he possesses (the GW AI that he recovered from Arsenal, which, lest you forget, the Patriot AI can't discover because it had presumed it destroyed with Arsenal). He's got a chick on his team who writes a killer virus, but she can't finish it herself, so she goes to her nerd friend (Otacon, man was that "love scene" between the two of them agonizingly painful to watch
) to trick him into helping her finish it (though ends up turning to Sunny instead). Then, she goes back to Ocelot (during the act in Eastern Europe, Act III I believe) with the virus completed - AND WHY DO THEY NOT UPLOAD IT RIGHT THEN AND THERE? Instead, they make Snake go through bullshit upon bullshit, fight absurd quantities of enemies, the aforementioned microwave tunnel, and all that happens at the end is Otacon uploads the virus (effortlessly, as is established the GW AI is the ultimate weak point in the Patriot system), which Naomi very easily could have done two acts earlier.
I'm sorry folks, that is some weak fucking writing right there - at least in MGS1, the reason they had to have Snake use the card to activate Metal Gear (when he thought he was deactiving it) was somewhat plausible, as they didn't know how it worked. But the fact that as far as I can tell they had zero reason to make Snake endure all the shit he did to upload the virus (when they were just as capable of doing it themselves, and they were the ones who put him through all that shit, I might add) just for the sake of making a twist at the end (and of course, tons of admittedly ridiculously awesome action sequences
), that is a goddamn cop-out if ever I've heard one (one cool speculative theory I read after MGS3 came out is the reason Liquid was "possessing" Ocelot in MGS2 is because Ocelot was the son of The Sorrow, the Spirit Medium soldier - frankly, I would've preferred that I think!)
HOWEVER, I will say that MGS4 was an absolute masterpiece in almost every other way, and the story is gripping and engaging up to a point - but MY point of all of this (oh yeah, I had one
) is that I'm kinda burnt out on the MGS games after MGS4, though at least there aren't any more loose ends to tie up (thank GOD
), so MGS5 can hopefully start somewhat fresh! (Peace Walker of course will be a sequel to MPO, so I'm looking forward to that regardless)
Sorry for the rant, one of those things I've been thinking about for months, but never really written down/verbalized
Oh, and for anyone who reads that and wants to challenge me on any MGS4 plot points, PLEASE no
speculation as to motivations/reasons, a good story shouldn't require that IMO, at least not where the primary motivations and sources of conflict between protagonists/antagonists are concerned
Quotes or specific examples only please!
