(Authors note: I think my avatar gives it away, Im an MGS fan but I'm also a forth year university film major. I felt I really needed to right this review, I guess to raise awareness of this film but also hopefully help people appreciate this great independent production a little bit more. So I hope you'll enjoy my review, and for those who are disregarding this film as nothing more than a Metal Gear Solid ball stroking, it is much more than that and hopefully you'll give these young film makers the 60 minutes they deserve)

If you’re expecting a big budget, Hollywood summer action flick, you will be gravely disappointed. The fact is this film is a fan-made production. However this isn’t a simple Metal Gear Solid spoof you see on Youtube. This is a short film created out of passion and love for two things: the Metal Gear Solid series and film making. Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy Part 1: The Over Night Nation can be labelled as a fan made movie first and an independent production second. The film comes from Hive Division, an Italian based film studio, which is made up of talented young filmmakers that came together across the globe to bring to you a non-profit movie worthy of the Metal Gear name. Three years after they first started production on this film they unveiled it to the world and the time and careful planning shows in this short film. As a Metal Gear Solid fan myself, I have devoted hours of my time into the lore and character developments of the series over the past eleven years.



This is not a redo of any of the Metal Gear Solid games; this is an original story that fits in the timeline two years after the events of MGS 1. It takes place in 2007, the same year as the tanker incident in MGS 2, so this story occurs probably closely before or after that. However it doesn’t start off in 2007. Instead the opening shot is from the point of view of a solider named Scott looking up at the night sky. We see through his eyes the brightly lit half moon coming to rest over a tree out in the middle of a forest. As the camera slowly pans down to the left, the horizon glows an ominous blood red from gun fire and missiles shooting up into the atmosphere. Scott is interrupted by another soldier who tells him to hurry up and to keep moving through the dark forest of trees and dead bodies. This is Outer Heaven, 1995. As the two soldiers come across what were once their fellow comrades, the nameless soldier that awoke Scott from his day dream says “For God’s sake, who is this man? How could he have possibly brought this on us?” Moments later Scott gets a gunshot wound to his leg and collapses to the ground. The nameless soldier drags him to safety, while trying to patch up his leg a man comes from behind and kills him. Now we see through Scott’s eyes again as he is laying on the ground, an image of dark grizzled person in front of a blood red horizon with a mushroom cloud slowly creeping up into the atmosphere. Frightened and mortally wounded, Scott mutters to himself, “They’re dead...they’re dead”. The figure with the bandana and facial hair replies to him “That’s war” and walks away toward the horizon on fire from the flames of man. This introduction sets the stage for the overall message of the brutality of war and the subtle character development we get from Snake’s nihilistic view of human life that we have seen throughout the video games and in this film.



Flash-forward to 2007, Snake is on a Harrier airplane receiving his next mission briefing from his newly established international terrorist group: Philanthropy. Philanthropy is a group which Otacon and Snake are members of and they travel around the world hunting down and destroying Metal Gears. They are officially-unofficially supported by the United Nations and are a highly hated group among the major armed powers of the world. This is where Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy begins, as Snake has to capture an esteemed senator who is being held in an enemy base near Armenia. Senator Abraham Bishop has unique ties to the key members of Armstech and Snake’s handler- Harrison Bishop. Harrison believes that Senator Bishop has information about a new Metal Gear programme that Armstech is planning and he also wants to be questioned for the strange supernatural hurricane at a location called Eldridge.



After Solid Snake’s mission briefing, he is dropped out into a small town where he has to meet up with members of his team. Snake isn’t going alone this time, and his team is made up of Pierre Leclerc, a deadly French sniper who has a addiction to video games. The second member of his team is Elizabeth Laeken, a skilled female soldier who holds some dark secrets about her past. Both Elizabeth and Pierre have explained little about their past, except for their combat experience and the way events unfolded in Part 1, the story alludes to explanations in future instalments. Pierre adds the comic relief in this otherwise dark story while Elizabeth is a possible love interest. This film remains true to the main themes of the video games, the dehumanizing of people in war related situations. This is reflected in the settings and the cinematography of the film. Environments look like they belong in a post-apocalyptic world, either brightly lit during the day or very dark at night. There is a sense of lifelessness in this film which only adds to the tension and danger that Snake and his team have to face during their mission.



A lot has to be said about the settings of Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy. The most positive comment is that they are fantastic, and the set designers and scouts who found these locations to shoot should really be congratulated on their work. In addition the costume design is another key piece of the overall package. The military equipment they used is not something that someone made up in their basement; this is real equipment. The guns, the camouflage and Snake’s sneaking suit all look great and are only accentuated by the special effects. For being a film that proclaims it had no budget, the effects they use look great and believable. The CGI in this film is not as good as a summer Hollywood blockbuster like Transformers 2, but what CGI they do use is well done. The overall presentation of this film looks great and while I was watching it I was in awe by how spectacular everything looks.
You can have the best settings and costume design but what you need is a film style that can bring all that together in a way that is not distracting to the viewer. The production team at Hive Division and director Giacomo Talamaini used their knowledge of the film medium to produce some fantastic action sequences and great dialogue scenes. There is some great talent at the helm of Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy and Hive Division. If this film is any indication as what’s to come, I’m looking forward to it.



Before watching this film I didn’t know what to expect, but after I the film I can say that there is alot of love that went into making Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy possible. While the acting could have been better, I will keep in mind that these are not professional actors. However everything else from film style to the special effects to the settings all work together well to create a very enjoyable experience. While this is not part of the MGS canon, it fits in nicely into the timeline that Hideo Kojima has made. As a huge fan of the series I really enjoyed it. If you aren’t a fan of MGS and just like a good action flick, this will do too. If you’re looking for some independent films and want an alternative viewing experience from Hollywood, watch this film. Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy is a great ride through the Metal Gear universe that provides a unique and interesting story that is easy to comprehend but still leaves room for some possible plots twists. The filmmakers at Hive Division deserve your support, and all that is, is simply watching their film.

Here's the link to the movie

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed the movie