Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

[Rodan56]

This was my request, and its been a long time coming. But I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out as it was a fair and balanced critique which was all I really asked for. Specifically in that Chuck would treat the film as he would any other in the hopes he'd give the Halo franchise more credence than most do. Which I feel he did and I'm extremely happy as a result.

Re-Watching the movie in anticipation of this review, I can certainly see Chuck's issues as well as a few of my own. It's obviously not a perfect film, but I did feel at the time and still do that it was one of the better video game adaptations out there. I think what always stuck with me was, besides giving the Master Chief live-action life at last, was that it was telling a fairly well-crafted story about the nature of soldiers and of leadership within the universe itself. I've always felt Halo's story and it's universe overall, hold more depth to it than most would give it credit for. Forward Unto Dawn was honestly a good indicator of that, even if it's not exactly a mind blowing film. But still, seeing Chief in all his glory, becoming a beacon of inspiration to others, that's what was most important to me and it worked.

I would compare it to, I guess, how Godzilla 2014 pans out. While it's hard for most to get invested in the human story of that film, the payoff at the end where Godzilla dukes it out with the monsters, using his atomic breath and everything, that's the money shot and makes the movie for most.

If I'd add anything, I think the film is a good introductory case for new fans to the franchise. Although I do wonder how many would be receptive to its message, especially now. The film doesn't go into too much detail over the Insurrectionist cause, but frankly they aren't exactly complicated. They really are violent terrorists who have not limited their violence to military targets alone. They've killed a lot of civilians, because they view Earth at large as their enemy, not just the UNSC. I do wonder how much a regular person is going to look at this movie and perhaps view it as some sort of "RAW RAW, War is the only option, don't be naive, hippy!" Because that certainly feels like the attitude of a lot of people who look at Halo's story honestly. It's not at the same level of how people view the current Call of Duty franchise, which gets saddled with accusations that it's basically a US Army Recruitment tool, but Halo often gets labelled with a similar brush. For a lot of folks, soldiers are swords and nothing else, as Chuck pointed out.

I'll admit, at times that is a thing in Halo. Some of the less than great pieces of the expanded material don't do much to dissuade that argument. But I feel like there is push back against it, Forward Unto Dawn being one. Halo isn't so much about how war is great or anything, it's about how War isn't desirable, that good people do die and often the cost is far too high. But ultimately, it's not about being a sword that will help you win, although that is sometimes neccessary, but being a shield is arguably more important. Master Chief is a protector first, it's his first real mission in the original game, to protect Cortana. Chief, as we saw in this movie, is always thinking about protecting others first and foremost. If that means destroying the enemy, he'll do it, but first and foremost is to protect those under his watch. So while you do need both to win a war, I feel Halo overall has a philosophy of "Shields are more important than swords."

So those are my thoughts on the series and the movie. I want to thank Chuck for doing this, especially since it was in such a grey area. I will try very hard next time to not give him such a, well, controversial choice if you will. I'm not sure what I'll pick as a result, but I'll give it some thought before I do. Besides, I imagine he still has a few long gestating reviews to get through anyway. i'm satisfied with what I have for now.

[Nealithi]

Chuck giving something a fair and balanced review criticizing the issues and praising the successes of a film is always a treat.
That his issues were mistakes the characters made not the making of the film? Makes this sound like something worth seeing. By the description it works as a teaser and a pilot. Enough that had they expanded this to a regular show it sounds like it would have been good.

One thought on characters with a comparison. Space Above and Beyond. I like some characters going in and hated others. By the end of the series my opinions had reversed. So Lasky to have character growth really needed a low point to grow from. Because I think if one starts too high you get flanderization. IE character tics that get more and more exaggerated as time goes on. Instead of real growth.

Oh and on handstand pushups? Had guys in my unit that did those. I never had that upper body strength but some I knew did fifty just to show off.

[MaudDib9417]

I like that he is finally looking at the Halo franchise, I considered making a request myself. I understand he's not very familiar with it and that's fine, but I did cringe a little about how little he seems to have researched the lore.

[Rodan56]

I like that he is finally looking at the Halo franchise, I considered making a request myself. I understand he's not very familiar with it and that's fine, but I did cringe a little about how little he seems to have researched the lore.

I told him to leave it up to his discretion, but I felt that given the position of the film and it's place in the canon, the start of the war between the humans and the Covenant, and how the movie acts as a jumping on point, that he didn't have to do much research overall.

I didn't personally mind honestly, I feel any work has to be able to stand on its own, regardless of the lore. That stuff is there for world-building and to get you into the universe/setting, and it can inform you of certain thematic elements, but overall it's not the most important element in any analysis of a work.

[Winter]

True story, when this was being released as a miniseries and the trailer for I think episode 4 came out and Master Chief asked "Can you drive a Warthog?" I started an entire comment response that turned into a complete transcript for Episode 2 of Red vs. Blue.

Strangely, and hilariously, while several people played Simmons, Church and Tucker I was consistently Grif while someone else was consistently Sarge. It got to the point that someone got angry at us for doing this whole joke because it was dominating the comment section (because people can be idiots like that) and the head of Halo web site told us to keep going and to have fun (because people can also be fun).

Nothing else to add it was just a nice memory I had about this film.

[Ikiry0]

The film doesn't go into too much detail over the Insurrectionist cause, but frankly they aren't exactly complicated. They really are violent terrorists who have not limited their violence to military targets alone. They've killed a lot of civilians, because they view Earth at large as their enemy, not just the UNSC. I do wonder how much a regular person is going to look at this movie and perhaps view it as some sort of "RAW RAW, War is the only option, don't be naive, hippy!" Because that certainly feels like the attitude of a lot of people who look at Halo's story honestly.

I mean, Earth in this case is also 'Kidnapping children to be brainwashed and turned into supersoldiers with a catastrophically high death rate even in training, before they met genocidal aliens'. I don't think any faction of humans in Halo would do anything with a moral high ground but use it to drop rocks.

[King Green]

Would have thought Chuck would have cracked from the ugly as sin weapons and the magic-upgrade-plot of Cortana. Yet he managed to (barely) survive beating the game on veteran?

[stellar_coyote]

I'm glad Chuck made mention of Daniel Cudmore's skill in the role of Master Chief, there's a lot of performers out there that I don't think get their do because they aren't showing their face to the audience. Sure you get cases like Ron Perlman who managed to get acclaim in and out of prosthetics but it took some time before Doug Jones' talents were recognized. And of course you can't forget the late, great Kevin Peter Hall. If not for the work he put in, I doubt the Predator would be quite the sci-fi icon it was.

[Thebestoftherest]

I'm glad Chuck made mention of Daniel Cudmore's skill in the role of Master Chief, there's a lot of performers out there that I don't think get their do because they aren't showing their face to the audience. Sure you get cases like Ron Perlman who managed to get acclaim in and out of prosthetics but it took some time before Doug Jones' talents were recognized. And of course you can't forget the late, great Kevin Peter Hall. If not for the work he put in, I doubt the Predator would be quite the sci-fi icon it was.

I am glad they didn't get an actor who ruin it by showing cheif face as oppose to doing their job.

[Rodan56]

I mean, Earth in this case is also 'Kidnapping children to be brainwashed and turned into supersoldiers with a catastrophically high death rate even in training, before they met genocidal aliens'. I don't think any faction of humans in Halo would do anything with a moral high ground but use it to drop rocks.

Yes, that was the response the UNSC took in regards to the very violent insurrectionist threat that was killing a lot civilians. Note that this is not a justification but an explanation that this stuff does not happen in a vaccum. Regardless, my point was not to place anyone on a moral high ground, it was to explain that Halo's story is deeper than some dumb pro-war propaganda or whatever.