In the late 1980s, Contra wore out the television sets of gamers the world over, as commandos Bill and Lance (the Schwarzenegger and Stallone of the video game universe) ripped through a landscape of deadly traps and weapons platforms designed to take them out before they could do the same to the enemy. Now, many years and several reincarnations later, the classic shoot-em-up is finally getting its time to shine (or something) on the big screen with a new film project, as well as a TV series. Like the non-stop actionfest that was the 1987 original, this adaptation is going all out. For better or for worse.
Original game developer Konami joins forces with China’s Starlight Media to bring the game to life. Many details remain a mystery, though CFI provides this brief synopsis:
In 1988, a huge meteorite lands on an uninhabited island in the South China Sea. Chen Qiang and Li Zhiyong investigate but come up empty handed. 29 years later, Chen sends commandos Bill and Lance into a combat mission there to neutralize the villainous Red Falcon Organization, but end up facing a different enemy altogether.
No release dates for either the TV or film projects have been announced, or even the order in which the two come out, and how (if at all) they might relate to each other, but this brief yet effective teaser did appear a few months back with little explanation.
Well. That certainly paints a picture.
I think it’s safe to say the one thing we can trust is that this project won’t skimp on the gun-blazing action. It could very well skimp on everything else ever, but I don’t imagine too many people familiar with the game series will go in expecting a deeply thoughtful drama. Until we know more, we can assume this is all about the spectacle. And, for a game of this type, maybe that’s not the worst way to go.