PRESS X: HALO

 

I'm Alex Kirby and welcome to another outing of Press X. This time around we are moving on to the futuristic military war action of Xbox's Halo. Here, we don’t just ask if the latest video game adaptation is faithful — we ask if it levels up, glitches out, or just needs a hard reset.

When Microsoft entered the console market in 2001, it launched the Xbox alongside a title that would become its flagship: Halo: Combat Evolved. Developed by Bungie, Halo is a first-person shooter that puts players in the armored boots of Master Chief, humanity’s last hope against the alien Covenant. At a time when the FPS genre was beginning to feel stale, Halo reinvigorated it with accessible yet deep gameplay, and a multiplayer experience that set a new standard, long before online consoles had fully figured out how to make social shooting fun. 

With a franchise as big and revolutionary as Halo, it would be no surprise that a film adaptation would make it to the big screen and way back in Season 1, we would get one. Directed by Gareth Edwards and written by D.R. Cobb, Halo would net over $188M in the box office. You would think back then, that would mean it was the most profitable film of that season, but actually it ranked 7th in profit. 

When the UNSC ship Pillar of Autumn exits slipspace near the mysterious Halo ring, it is ambushed by the alien Covenant. Captain Keyes initiates the Cole Protocol to protect Earth, while Master Chief and AI Cortana escape in a pod and eventually rally surviving Marines, including Sgt. Avery Johnson. After rescuing Keyes from the Covenant ship Truth and Reconciliation, Master Chief and Cortana investigate Halo, only to accidentally unleash the parasitic Flood. Recruited by Halo’s AI, 343 Guilty Spark, Master Chief retrieves the Index to activate the ring, but Cortana reveals that Halo’s true purpose is to wipe out all sentient life. Together, they fight the Covenant, the Flood, and Halo’s Sentinels while orchestrating the destruction of the Pillar of Autumn to prevent Halo’s activation. After narrowly escaping, Master Chief and Cortana emerge as the apparent sole survivors, leaving them poised for the war that is just beginning.

  
This film adaptation, truly is the plot of Halo: Combat Evolved, with very little deviation from it. Critics were quick to point this out and some even called it a basic action filmed that relied on Alexander Skarsgard just shooting things and too much exposition in the dialogue. The most positive things I could find about the film was how the battles looked epic and huge on the big screen. 

My take is Skarsgard is a competent enough Master Chief, but the film does unfortunately plays too safely to the source to stand out among the other 8 films in the franchise.

This would be D.R. Cobb's only contribution to the franchise, which would be taken over by writer Mo Buck, with spin-offs written by Dominic Wilkins. Director Gareth Edwards would direct the mainline Halo films all the way to Halo 5.

If its one thing Season it's Halo did for us, is it showed us early on that video games could carve out their own place in the studio and could be just as profitable as any superhero film.

Anyhow, I must sign off. My mother won't shut up about how my sister got engaged and is asking me when that's gonna happen for me.