Metroid (NCM)

Metroid (Japanese: メトロイド Hepburn: Metoroido) is a 2021 Japanese-American-Australian computer-animated science-fiction adventure action film based on video game series of the same name by Satoru Okada, Gunpei Yokoi, Hiroji Kiyotake and Yoshio Sakamoto.
Distributed by Universal Pictures in International release and Toho Co., Ltd. only in Japan release, produced by Nintendo, Nintendo Animated Feature, Universal Animation Studios, DreamWorks Animation and Colin Entertainment, Ltd. as it was theatrically released in the U.S. on August 6, 2021.
It was the fourth segment in Phase One of the Nintendo Cinematic Multiverse.
== Plot ==
=== Summary ===
Samus Aran is a former member of the Galactic Federation who became a bounty hunter after leaving the Federation. She quickly became known as the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy and because of this was hired by the Federation to hunt down the Space Pirates who stole a Metroid the Federation captured. Samus agrees and begins hunting down all the Space Pirates, working her way up to the Space Pirates' leader, Ridley. The monstrous alien who killed Samus' parents...
Along the way, Samus encounters many strange creates, alien planets and discovers lore from thousands of years ago.
=== Film ===
On an Earth colony named K-2L, a young Samus Aran is trying to get a strange alien creature out of a tree, revealing it to be her pet. After failing to get it down multiple times she tries to climb the tree herself to get it, only for a branch to break and for her to fall. She is caught by a bearded man, revealed to be her father, Chief Rodney Aran. Rodney puts her down, telling her to get back to the village, informing her that if her pet truly loves her it'll come get her. Samus does as she's told, returning home and meeting up with her mother, Virginia Aran, who reveals she's finished making Samus her lunch, giving it to her. The two have a brief conversation, revealing a few things about Samus, her parents and K-2L itself. The conversation ends when Rodney shows up and picks up Samus, calling her "treasure" and putting her on his shoulders. This delights Samus, but it ends in her falling on to the table and smacking her head.
Later, Virginia is patching up Samus, who is bleeding from the head. Rodney is visibly upset, as he believes that Samus getting hurt was his fault, though Virginia and Samus herself assure him it's okay. After this, Rodney leaves for his job of leading K-2L's police force, while Virginia helps Samus sleep. However, halfway through the night, Samus is woken up by screaming. Virginia is looking out Samus' window, with Samus asking what's going on. Virginia, not saying anything, picks Samus up and begins running. Samus looks around, revealing that K-2L is on fire and being attacked by strange black aliens. Virginia is tripped up by something and ends up dropping Samus, who stands up and sees a monstrous alien standing over Virginia. Virginia tells Samus to run, which she does with no second thought, as the alien unleashes a large blue beam from its mouth that kills Virginia.
Samus keeps running, tears pouring down her face until she bumps into Rodney, who peaces together what happened from what Samus tells him. After this, Rodney begins crying, but his sadness quickly turns to anger, as he tells Samus to get out of K-2L. Samus refuses, but after Rodney snaps at her she does as she's told and begins to run, only to have the monster from earlier land in front of her. Rodney identifies him as Ridley, leader of the Space Pirates. Ridley grabs Samus and begins giving a strange speech that implies he is going to kill Samus and eat her. Because of this, Rodney comes at Ridley full force, tackling him and once again telling Samus to run. She does so, and Rodney continues his battle with Ridley, ending in Rodney being thrown at a metal tank, hurting his back. However, Rodney turns out realizes the tank is full of Alforaltite, a combustive crystal. Rodney then taunts Ridley, calling him a coward and weak. Ridley snaps, unleashing another blast. Rodney ducks out of the way, with Ridley hitting the tank behind Rodney. Realizing what he's done, Ridley's eyes widen in shock.
Samus makes it to the forest around K-2L, crawling up a small hill as K-2L blows up behind her, killing Rodney and the Space Pirates there. Samus falls down in shock, staring at the explosion in wide-eyed terror. Samus breaks down in tears, but it stopped when she hears people talking about her. She looks up and sees a group of bird-like aliens standing above her. Samus is taken back, but the aliens assure her that they aren't here to hurt her. The group's pseudo-leader, Old Bird, reveals the aliens are called Chozo. He reveals they saw what had happened, but were too late to stop the Space Pirates. After realizes Samus has nowhere left to go, Old Bird offers to take her to Planet Zebes, to the objection of another Chozo named Grey Voice. However, after realizing Samus has nowhere else to go, he agrees to take her.
Hours later, Samus is once again wide-eyed, as she stares at Planet Zebes. Old Bird then welcomes Samus to her new home. To make the rest of the Chozo accept Samus more, she is injected with Chozo DNA and trained in their ways, learning how Chozo think, act, fight and more. She makes friends with their race and becomes happier and happier each day, even drawing a picture of Old Bird and Grey Voice with her, much like she'd do her actual parents. Everything is once again grand in the life of Samus Aran.
Twenty-two years later, a man fires a gun into the air and a group of people begin racing each other. One person, in particular, is far ahead of all the others. She makes it to the end, winning the race and catching her breath. The man who fired the gun, Anthony Higgs, congratulates her and asks for her name. She is revealed to be Samus, who is now working to join the Galactic Federation. Higgs then reveals that he likes to give people nicknames, dubbing Samus "Princess", as much like a Princess, Higgs knows one day she's going to rule the world. Samus and Higgs' conversation is stopped by Commander Adam Malkovich, the two's superior, who demands them to stop talking and get back to work.
Later in the day, Samus and Higgs are discussing Malkovich, revealing back in the day he was a very over the top rebel named "Madman Malkovich", which confuses Samus, as Adam seems extremely underwhelming these days. A woman's voice is then heard on a speakerphone, telling everyone to report for "Test Fights" which makes Higgs extremely happy. Samus asks what a "test fight" is, with Higgs explaining that every time new recruits join the Federation they are pitted against each other to see who is the most skilled. Samus and Higgs run to the location, where Samus is put up against a very large, ape-like alien, who she defeats very easily. Samus continues fighting, defeating everyone there is until she becomes so tired she is forced to stop fighting for fear she will pass out during the next battle. She tries to argue against them but is dragged away by two soldiers. Meanwhile, one of the people watching the fight is revealed to be a Space Pirate, who contacts someone and informs them that he's found Samus. The person he's contacting is revealed to be a scientist working for the Space Pirates, who walks up to a tank. It's revealed that the tank has something living in it, as the scientist informs them of the news.
That night, Samus is called to Adam Malkovich's office, where he reveals he is quite impressed by how she managed to defeat everyone in the arena. Malkovich reveals that the only other person who was able to do that was Malkovich himself and that he is the commander now, meaning if Samus keeps doing what she is doing she'll have a very bright future ahead of her. Samus becomes very happy and is ready to thank Malkovich, but right before she can there is a massive blast that sends both of them flying. Samus slowly wakes up, with both Malkovich and Higgs yelling at her to get up. She does so, demanding to know what's happened. Malkovich simply points in the air, revealing a Space Pirate ship hovering over them.
More TBA
== Voice Cast ==
Name 	English voice 	Japanese voice
Main 	Main 	Main
Samus Aran 	Alésia Glidewell 	Ai Kobayashi
Ridley 	Steve Blum 	Kazuhiko Inoue
Commander Adam Malkovich	Troy Baker 	Kenjiro Tsuda
Anthony Higgs 	Kevin Michael Richardson	Kouji Ishi
Mother Brain 	Philece Sampler 	Saito Chiwa
Minor 	Minor 	Minor
Old Bird 	Tom Kenny 	Jouji Nakata
Kraid 	John DiMaggio 	Keiji Fujiwara
Unnamed Space Pirate 	Makoto Kano 	Makoto Kano
== Production ==
=== Development ===
After the release of Pokémon X and Y, it was decided the next logical step was to make a Metroid film as next to the first three titles in the NCM it was one of the most popular Nintendo series. Not many of the producers knew much about the games, so they decided to take a risk and hand it over to untested talent.
=== Writing ===
The head writer of the film was Makoto Kano. The other writers where Koji Tazawa, who wrote the Metroid manga, and Gary J. Brown, who was untested talent. Makoto mostly wrote lore heavy scenes while Koji and Gary wrote most character interactions, actions scenes, etc.
=== Casting ===
The only reprising roll was Alésia Glidewell as Samus, as she played her in Super Smash Bros. series, chosen by the CEO of Colin Entertainment, Ltd. From the beginning Gary wanted Ridley's English voice to be Steve Blum and eventually managed to get everyone on his side. The rest where quite hard to pick as no one was sure how they wanted the characters to sound, but in the end, they were happy with what they chose.
=== Animation ===
Unlike the previous films in the Nintendo Cinematic Multiverse, the film's art, design and animation were meant to be more realistic to reflect the film's much darker tone. Most of the character's appearances were ripped straight from the Metroid manga, drawn by Kenji Ishikawa. Ridley himself is based on his manga counterpart, as in both the movie and the manga, his eyes are slightly more expressive. Ridley was actually quite hard to animate, as to go with the realistic nature they wanted to see how pterodactyls were theorised to move while flying, as Ridley is based on the dinosaur. The lasers in the film were also quite challenging, as they wanted them to look like they could actually hurt something and to be brighter than anything else in the film.
===Post Production===
The film's recording was done very differently to other movies, as most of the time all the actors where in the same room, which allowed for improv but also resulted in a lot of re-takes and edits, as at many points actors would tell jokes during takes that would result in the others to burst out in laughter. There was also a lot of scenes that had to be added as a plot hole was found that had to be filled before the film was released.
== Reception ==
=== Box office===
Everyone who worked on the film was extremely nervous on opening day, as the film only earned 60 million dollars, which would be considered a bomb. However, each day it earned more and more money until it not only matched the film's budget but surpassed it.
=== Critical response===
The film received mostly positive reviews, though there are obviously quite a few negative ones. For example, one critic gave the film a 6.5 out of 10, saying that it "has too many dialogue scenes for an action movie and drags quite a bit in certain areas". Gary, one of the writers, has come out and stated he understands where the critiques are coming from, as he sometimes felt the film could've done far, far better in certain areas.
=== Users response===
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== Rating ==
Metroid is rated PG-13 for Parental Guidance from the Motion Picture Association of America, 12A from British Board of Film Classification and M from Australian Classification Board for sequences of science-fiction action and action violence.
=== Sequences of Science-fiction action===
Many scenes have Samus blasting away at enemies with her laser canon, with many of the hits being shown on screen, implying she killed a few enemies. As well, Ridley kills quite a few people with his laser breath.
=== Action violence===
The movie has many scenes of violence, some mentioned before, and many more scenes of destruction and chaos. In the film people bleed, have limbs broken, the heroes don't win in every scene and there are multiple scenes that out right show characters dying.
== Release ==
=== Theatrical release===
*August 6, 2021 - U.S.
*August 15, 2021 - Japan
=== Home media===
*September 5th - U.S.
*September 18th - Japan
=== DVD or Blu-ray menu===
*November 1st - U.S.
*November 1st - Japan
== Languages ==
*Metroid - English
*メトロイド / Metoroido - Japanese
== Gallery ==
== Transcript ==
== Trivia ==
Category:2021
Category:Nintendo Cinematic Multiverse
Category:Sci-Fi Films
Category:Adventure Films
Category:Action Films
Category:Rated PG-13 Films
Category:Metroid (series)