Hideo Kojima Gave A Negative Review To This Video Game Movie

It is an indisputable fact that video game designer Hideo Kojima is an auteur in his field. After joining Konami in 1986, Kojima designed/wrote the genre-defining “Metal Gear,” which rewired the definition of stealth-based combat in video games. The “Metal Gear” series has spawned seminal entries since then, including “Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater” and the inimitable “Metal Gear Solid,” whose impact can be felt to this day. (You might have heard about the long-gestating “Metal Gear Solid” movie adaptation that fans have been clamoring for.)

As a self-proclaimed film buff and a lover of literature, Kojima lovingly poured these artistic influences into his games, being actively inspired by surreal cinema, mecha genre narratives, and classic sci-fi/anime. His love for cinematic cutscenes and rich, open worlds is fully realized in 2019’s “Death Stranding,” which boasts a stacked voice and motion-capture cast that includes Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, and Kojima’s longtime friend Guillermo del Toro. Although “Death Stranding” is often reduced to a glorified “walking simulator”, it’s also a beautiful, meditative piece of media about human endurance, and is equal parts astounding and indulgent.

Kojima is also the internet’s favorite film critic. He often takes to Twitter (or X) to express his feelings about a film or series, his passion for art evident in his lengthy, spirited dissection of their themes and character arcs. However, there are times when the legendary game designer writes matter-of-fact one-liners after watching certain films. “Saw ‘Madame Web’ at the theater,” Kojima once tweeted, leaving us to infer that he had nothing positive to say about the critically-panned superhero film. These rare one-sentence reviews have achieved meme status, as they carry the implication that Kojima must have disliked these films (but is too polite to say so outright).

Keeping the inferred negative context of these super-short tweets in mind, it seems that Kojima also did not like “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”

Nintendo’s “Mario” video game franchise is massive. By massive, I mean unthinkably profitable and popular, with several titles lauded as some of the best video games ever made and more than 830 million copies of these games having been sold. Any film adaptation of these titles — especially from the beloved “Super Mario Bros.” series — would also be designed to make a lot of money, and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is no different. And earn a lot of money it did, racking up $1.314 billion globally while becoming one of the 20 biggest movies ever at the box office in 2023. Most audiences, who are longtime fans of the games, loved this vibrant, high-energy feature (which is filled to the brim with gameplay elements and Easter eggs), even if it doesn’t offer anything new or fun in terms of its storytelling.

Circling back to one-sentence reviews, Kojima tweeted the following about the movie: “Watched ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ at IMAX 3D theater,” accompanied by a red mushroom emoji. Given the connotations of these short tweets, most “Mario” fans jokingly responded that it was “so over for Mario-bros,” with some of them sharing the Sad Mario meme (where Mario is crying in the rain while sitting on some stairs). While it is unclear whether Kojima truly disliked the film to the point that he had nothing good to say about it, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” does make for an underwhelming video game adaptation, despite being financially successful. You can check out /Film’s in-depth review of the animated Nintendo adaptation here.

Is “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” terrible? No, not by a long stretch, but it feels like a safe bet crafted to appeal to nostalgia without any sincere effort to infuse it with new directions. Although every beloved character is brought to life in colorful hues, the involvement of some feels rather bland and soulless, especially our leads, Mario and Luigi. When such an immensely creative video game franchise gives rise to a brisk adaptation without a pulse, disappointment festers. Hopefully, the upcoming “The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2” can turn things around (and even end up earning an enthusiastic, full-length Kojima review on Twitter).