Halo: Nightfall

It starts off so well but then they spent most of the time walking around with the odd thing happening. There is parts with action but I felt it could have used a lot more. The fact this is a Halo movie I expected loads of special effects and action like in the games but we did get that for a short period of time. After that it was minimised.

The worst thing about the pilot is that it is not that sci-fi. It starts promising, detailing the threat and "the mission", it shows the characters, then they all go to an isolated place where technology works against them. So basically, an entire setup for a medieval like quest, only on an alien world.

Other than that, the plot is predictable, but not terrible, the acting is good and it kept me watching it, even if I knew how it would end from the first half of the movie.

As I have not played the game, I have no quarrels with that aspect of the movie, however it did seem that it had nothing to do with how a specialized fighting force would behave in the 26th century. Also, it didn't really say anything about the Halo universe. As a complete noob, I had no idea who MasterChef (he he!) was and what a Halo was.

Bottom line: forgettable, but not that terrible. It did seem really low budget, though, and I have to ask myself what is the purpose of a low budget sci-fi series pilot which brings nothing in terms of story or characters? It only prepares an even less worked on series, right?

Update: didn't realize that "the pilot" was the whole first season. Heh!

It's the 26th century. There is a tenuous treaty between humans and the alien alliance called Covenant. Despite the peace, the Covenant is still sending operatives in a dangerous secret war. On an outer planet called Sedra, Commander Jameson Locke (Mike Colter) leads a squad hunting a Zealot Elite warrior with a suspected bomb.

I saw this as a ninety min Showtime movie. It has a lot less shooting than I expected. Actually I expected a lot less of everything from this movie. The acting is pretty good led by a capable Mike Colter. The characters are mostly one dimensional but that's fine for this type of movie. I like their conflicts once they get to the ring. The first part isn't as compelling and is limited by its production. Overall, I'm relief that it doesn't suck. It's not bad.

While Nightfall is a step above most other video game televisions or film adaptations, it is still unfortunately delivers less than what is expected from a modern drama and quite honestly less than what fans of the long running game series deserve. Halo obviously had an incredible series of video game entries but also was really the first game series to pioneer a literary universe alongside it with many award winning sci-fi novels that routinely place in the New York times best seller list. Television and film is an arena Halo has yet to conquer as successfully and Nightfall is, sadly, not going to change that.

My biggest complaint would be that at the end of the day the story really has very little to do with Halo. That's a benefit for those watching who have never played Halo, but a letdown for those fans looking for that kind of story, and honestly considering the scope and quality of what is available for sci-fi why would you watch this if you were not a Halo fan? Most elements here, if you had simply swapped the names to non-Halo terms, would not change the context or value of the plot at all. It is a sci-fi film with Halo paint essentially.

The CGI is absolutely laughable, but the costumes are quite exceptional and really the CGI turns out to be very limited as this turns into more of a character drama than anything else which I enjoyed. Most of the characters are fleshed out with unique motivations and it creates a lot of loaded, tense conflicts between then as they decide what they have to do and what choices need to be made. If I can say one thing is that this is the realest Halo had ever felt in terms of characters and motivations. Everyone has clear reasons for what they do and say and how they act towards each other and it pays off in a lot of tense interactions between them.

Maybe someday we will get the Halo show we have been asking for, and this certainly isn't it, but it still was enjoyable for me and honestly a lot better than what I expected from a low budget video game adaption.

First, I have to say I am a huge fan of Halo series, I was not expecting a plot exactly as the original series but come on, this is simply horrible and I love sci-fi movies!

I've seen all 4 episodes wishing something well worth mentioning would occur but until today i have disappointments all the time.

I will be honest with you, the first episode was not that horrible, it make me curious for the second one even if did not impressed me at all.

The story is a mess, no interest and acting is really poor.

Please give back the viewers the 70 millions!?!?! spent in this movie,

From my point of view, the way things are, this series has no future!!!!