I'll spare you the length, but the general idea of the rant would be that I'm not a big fan of first person shooters, specifically of the multiplayer-centric variety. I just find them boring and overly repetitive. Well, that and everyone online is absurdly better than me, so I leave the multiplayer alone. That of course includes the venerable "Halo" franchise, of which I've only played two of the six, having beaten the third game and gotten about halfway(?) through the first one. I've maybe played 4 minutes of multiplayer, in which I got tenderized like a steak. It was unpleasant.
The story of "Halo" I never found to be that interesting to be honest. As formidable and badass as Master Chief is as a combatant he's a rather dull protagonist, since as far as I know we never learn much, if any of his backstory in the games. Oh, you dropped that his first name is "John." That makes him so three dimensional I need special glasses. I'm sure there's some extended universe stuff that provides everything you want to know about him in full, unflinching detail, but you're crazy if you think I'm going out and buying a "Halo" paperback. I have my dignity.
Says the man who owns all of these. Hypocrisy, I know, but these are actually pretty good.
So of course I'm going to watch "Halo 4 - Forward Unto Dawn," a movie with a distractingly redundant sounding title which is a tie-in with the fourth (actually sixth) game. Why wouldn't I watch a movie that you probably need intimate knowledge of the games and extended universe to understand? That's just common sense.
Surprisingly, despite not knowing what in the crap was going on plot-wise, I found "Forward Unto Dawn" to be reasonably entertaining, despite starting off brutally slow and plodding. This is not a film that would hold someone's interest for the first 45 minutes unless they were a huge fan of the extended universe, and were there simply to wallow in and soak up all the drippings of fan service that were undoubtedly crammed into it. I missed all of it, naturally, not being a fan, but I'm sure it was there in spades. However, once the overly-long "Full Metal Jacket"-esque setup is done and we finally get to some action it stops being a "FAN ONLY" zone and becomes something that anyone could wrap their head around fully: An action movie.
Oddly enough that's also the part with the biggest bit of fan service - Master Chief.
I can't really even speculate on what the deeper story is that is going on in "Forward Unto Dawn," since it feels like you're being dropped into a trilogy at the second part without having seen the first entry, but I can make some sweeping generalizations. Our main character, Lasky is a cadet at a military academy who is kind of a hippie and doesn't want to fight and thinks violence isn't the answer. Why he joined the military when he holds these views I'm not sure but whatever. I don't recall a draft being mentioned. Anyway, he's perpetually on the verge of being kicked out when an allergy to something in the stuff they use to put you under for cryosleep gives him a potential 'Get Out of Jail Free' card for getting him out of the military. And then aliens attack.
Like I mentioned earlier, there's an inherent problem with the proportions going on with the Interesting vs. Not Interesting things in "Forward Unto Dawn." The whole bit about aliens attacking is really just the last 40% of the movie. The proceeding 55% is confusing (at least to a non-fan) rambling dialogue about things I'm sure are relevant to the mythos, and the cliched but occasionally well acted military academy story. And the last 5% of the movie is more confusing references to the games that I sure meant something to someone, but it wasn't me.
Seriously. Do I know you? All you did was take off your helmet, and the music swells and gets all dramatic like I'm supposed to recognize you on sight. WHO ARE YOU?!
While the production value isn't up to the level of an average Hollywood action extravaganza, "Forward Unto Dawn" is actually pretty good looking for what it is. In fact, the action and costumes and sets all look quite nice, and had it been put on actual film instead of I'm assuming digital medium with a higher frame-rate it could have passed as a respectably decent budgeted sci-fi action movie. Instead it does come off as a little "Made for TV." It still looks pretty darn good, though. And that's not an easy thing when you've got an 8 foot tall dude in armor fighting a giant glowing monster made of worms.
Tom Green was okay as our somewhat petulant, brooding main character. At the very least he never approached obnoxious levels with his sulking. And the turn around he does at the end to finally find his courage and heroically help Master Chief to overcome the impossible odds they find themselves in is admittedly very well done. The cathartic and life affirming moment when, as they ride away after making their escape, Master Chief gives him a respectful nod and says "Well done, marine" I found to be quite moving, actually.
I was less a fan of Anna Poppelwell. I don't know, she's an actress who's never really worked for me. I have no basis for this as she's not a bad actress by any stretch, she's no Kristen Stewart or anything, but there's just something about her that doesn't do it for me. I guess it's the same way some people despise Anne Hathaway for no good reason, although my dislike of Anna Poppelwell is nowhere near that level of hatred. I don't get it. Although the fact that we're supposed to take her seriously as a solider is laughable.
*snort* Oh yeah. She's ready to storm the beachhead. She looks more like she should be sampling perfume at JC Penny.
I did like the guy they had playing Master Chief, Daniel Cudmore. Although I guess it was more of the performance of Alex Puccinelli, who did his voice, that I was a fan of. I don't have too good of a memory of what he was like in the games, but the voice acting was good in this. There's a strong sense of power and odd compassion for the young cadets in his voice that really helped make this nearly anonymous behemoth in power armor something more than just a random deus ex machina descended from the skies. But why they didn't get the dude who did him in the games, Steve Downes, to play him is a mystery to me. Was he too busy or something? Being Master Chief is almost literally the only thing he's done. He could have recorded the part on his lunch break.
Anyway. Voice acting oddness aside, "Forward Unto Dawn" was not quite as cryptic as I feared, but not as action packed as I hoped. But hey, it could have been worse, especially when the fact that it's a video game movie is considered. That's some bleak territory right there. It's not like it was a "Resident Evil" movie or something.
Wait...why did the hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stand up?
THE BOTTOM LINE - "Forward Unto Dawn" is a movie for "Halo" fans. That's a pretty essential factor in getting a lot of enjoyment out of it. But it's not critical. Even if you don't know what's going on or who is who, everyone can understand an alien getting blown up by having a grenade rammed into their guts. It's not phenomenal since it relies too much on assumed knowledge, but I can't say I regret seeing it.
No comments:
Post a Comment