Visually, this short is spectacular, and the few issues to be found are fixable in the event of a major motion picture following suit-the Varia Suit looks clunky and the actress wearing it doesn't provide the athletic frame or movement seen in the games, and the actress, who perhaps has the look, failed to capture the stoic and strong Samus Aran, instead channeling a nervous, confused character filled with trepidation as opposed to confidence. That, above all else, prevents this from being a nearly perfect depiction of the original games.
The problem with making Metroid, from a commercial film standpoint, has always been adapting the story + visuals and still selling it to mass audiences. It's increasingly rare to find a sci-fi film of any notable production providing atmosphere over exposition, source-material accuracy over big names and a convoluted screenplay loaded with tired tropes and material that insults the original instead of honoring it.
This short, however, did just that. Yes, the parallels between Alien, 2001 and this short are extremely obvious, but not in a detracting way; in fact, it perfectly illustrates how taking that type of approach-hard sci-fi with a slow build-would work incredibly well for a feature film with the Metroid name and story. A film heavy on atmosphere and tension, loaded with second and third-act action, and minimal dialogue or characters would likely work if the two-hour runtime were tightly edited and the studio intervention (that is, the bottom-line watchers) was kept to a minimum.
But to the point, this short is very well made, by people who clearly love the source material enough to use it, not change it, while still adding a brief and simple look at expanding the greater Metroid/Samus universe in believable ways.
Not perfect, but extremely gratifying for those of us who simultaneously lust for and cringe over the idea of a blockbuster film version of our beloved game.
