The greatest movie ever made..!
... View MoreSome things I liked some I did not.
... View MoreOne of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
... View MoreIt's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
... View MoreThis is a film for Halo fans. If you aren't, a lot of this is meaningless - three minutes of beautiful CG with vague snippets about a wrecked space ship, followed by an hour of teen angst, then a shoot-em-up on campus with space aliens and a snippet about the space ship again. If you don't know the games, you don't get much out of this. Other than a couple of training exercises, the first hour pretty much drags - teen melodrama.
... View MoreThe first time I watched Forward Unto Dawn, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. My only exposure to Halo media was the multiplayer function in Halo 2.Despite that, FUD presented me with a story that made me care about the characters, it gave me enough information to understand some of what was going on, but not enough that I felt like I knew everything -- which I'm assuming was the goal, as the perspective we're given is that of the cadets at this officers' academy who also don't know the full story either.Some might call the buildup 'slow' or 'boring', but as a storyteller I can appreciate taking the time for your viewers to make some kind of connection to the characters before you throw them into the action and the chaos.FUD did a very good job of introducing The Master Chief, easily the most iconic character in the Halo franchise. As said before, I knew absolutely nothing about Halo when I started out, but the Chief's first appearance still had me jumping in my seat. It was very exciting, because even I knew that was when it was about to get REAL.I enjoyed the final confrontation with the Hunters at the end, and the appearance of the iconic Halo theme in the background when Master Chief defeated the last one. It was very dramatic, but in a good way.I also liked the inclusion of the other two Spartan-IIs we see in FUD - Fred-104 and Kelly-087. While not given much screen time, it's a nice nod to people who have been fans for a lot longer, who would recognize them.My one qualm is the death of Cadet Silva, as its only purpose seemed to be to inspire Cadet Lasky. Maybe that was just me. My honest rating -- 9.5/10
... View MoreAlright for a live-action Halo series, it's pretty good. The acting is nice and believable and the visuals are amazing. Nothing is really left out but you aren't bogged down by insignificant details either. I am rather pleased with what I saw and for a video game adaptation, that's saying a lot. I can't say the same for some of the action. When it comes to the actual gun fights, it feels kind of lacking. All the whooshing and zapping and blasting is nice and all but the feeling behind it all just feels lost. It's pretty slow-paced when it comes to the battle scenes and when Chief appears it doesn't really get any faster. And all the slow-motion doesn't help. If you've ever played a Halo game than you know what Master Chief looks like in slow motion and this doesn't make it any cooler. Showcasing Master Chief blowing up an alien with a grenade is fine but it didn't need to be all slow. It's obvious what's going to happen. If you go into this movie expecting a lot of Chief you might be a bit disappointed but you'll enjoy it either way
... View MoreIn my opinion , this movie/web-series has been over-rated by Halo fans and in the end it will be to everyone's detriment. If Microsoft/343 Studios get the impression they can release something like this and hit one out of the park we will just see more of it in the future.As a Halo and Movie fan I believe this would be a shame. The source material (the Halo universe) has the potential to bring something truly great to the big screen but this is far from it.I won't go into plot, as it has been covered in many reviews, but I will say it is clichéd. The military boot-camp stereotypes have all been done before and with much more depth. These characters seemed one-dimensional and lackluster development left me indifferent to their fates. Some of the dialogue was corny to the point of cringe-worthy and the actors (including some of the adults) lacked the presence to pull off their roles and really set the scene.Given the relatively small budget some of these things can be understood but the hackneyed plot is not one of them. The special effects were good, despite said constraints, but too many "bullet time" segments bogged the action down. All in all I was disappointed by Halo 4: Forward Until Dawn and I (like many others I'm sure) am still praying for a Blomkamp/Jackson treatment of the source material.I do not believe that 10/10 rankings of an obviously flawed series/movie will get us there.
... View More