Hideo Kojima's Remarks About Zack Snyder's Justice League Are Raising Eyebrows
Hideo Kojima has finally seen "Zack Snyder's Justice League" and his reaction has ignited serious buzz amongst his fans on social media. Released in March 2021, the Snyder Cut of 2017's "Justice League" was a monumental event for fans of Snyder and the DCEU. After reshoots and some alterations made to help restore Snyder's vision, the newest cut of the film premiered on HBO Max in March and was met by a decent amount of praise from critics.
Kojima, a visionary director like Snyder who has given us the video games "Death Stranding" and "Metal Gear Solid," recently shared his Snyder Cut opinions on Twitter. In the first of two tweets, he began by noting creative decisions made by Snyder and his team that the video game designer seemed to like. He wrote, "The characters of Flash and Cyborg, who were abrupt, have been reinforced. The 4:3 TV size, the darker tone of the color correction, the slow motion, the digital art direction, the black Superman."
In a second tweet, Kojima then gave what appears to be praise for the HBO Max DCEU movie by commenting that "[i]t's not so much a Snyder cut as it is a Snyder 'universe' in every way, for better or worse. For him, this is 'justice.'"
Despite the lack of clarity from Kojima over just how positive his response to the movie was, fans seemed to interpret the tweets as positive and shared similar reactions. Twitter user @Neo_NETRUNNER was happy with his tweets, writing, "Kojima San has finally seen this cut and give it his 'approval.' Justice indeed," and Kojima follower @NacitavO added, "This movie is such a masterpiece. Thank you for keep updating us with your experience. We need to see the complete story of the Snyder 'universe.'"
Kojima's fans now want him to make his own cut of Metal Gear Solid
Hideo Kojima's ostensible praise for the 2021 "Justice League" immediately had fans making connections between Zack Snyder's struggles to get his version finished (via Vanity Fair) to Kojima's conflicts with Konami over the "Metal Gear Solid" franchise. The departure of Kojima and his Kojima Productions studio from Konami was the result of years' worth of head-butting with the entertainment conglomerate, which frequently led to Konami punishing Kojima and his team through a variety of measures like separating him from his team and not allowing him to communicate with them.
Kojima left Konami in 2015, thus ending his involvement with "Metal Gear Solid," the video game that was seemingly his creative baby. The departure came around the time "Metal Gear Solid 5" was released. The installment earned critical praise at the time but is largely considered unfinished due to Kojima butting heads with Konami over what the game should have been and suffering somewhat from a deleted finale, as noted by The A.V. Club.
Given the similar narratives shared by Snyder and Kojima over respective projects each creator was passionate about, fans suggested on Twitter that Kojima be allowed to make the version of "Metal Gear Solid 5" that was true to his own original vision. Commenter @RyanLudwick_ wrote under Kojima's second tweet, "[D]o the same with ['Metal Gear Solid 5'], Mr. Kojima," while user @woruis pleaded in all caps for "THE KOJIMA CUT PLEASE."
While it's unclear if Kojima would ever consider returning to "Metal Gear Solid 5" to make the version of it that is closer to his original vision, it is nice to see the visionary video game director take to social media to share his apparent praise for a major piece of pop culture.