dsalouk Halo 4; Forward Unto Dawn continues the trend every movie that has been adapted from a game has set; it fails incredibly. The director; Stewart Hendler, has shown that he has brought his unique type of direction to this movie, and in doing so, it has a poor structure, and incredibly poor acting. The chemistry between Thom Green and Anna Popplewell is unbelievable, and at times their dialogue is obviously scripted. The excitement of seeing the Chief himself was not enough to carry this movie that failed on most fronts. For a viewer watching this as a stand alone film, it is disappointing and lacklustre, however, if you're an avid Halo player, then maybe there is enough nostalgia and references to keep the tedious story afloat.

WakenPayne I'm just going to say it, Halo is overrated. It can present some fun gameplay if you want to play with friends but in terms of story nothing about it screams anything other than video game, although I DID enjoy some of the anime so that was a surprise. But as a linear 80 minute movie? This could work, I mean I'm open to it if they flesh out more plot characters and... That's not even remotely what happens.We follow cadets in a training Academy for the army against the Covenant. Only they think they're going to fight terrorists which we don't know about and has never been in any other Halo game. As the characters which are barely established go through training one played by Tom "NOT-Freddy-Got-Fingered" Green questions orders, has a war hero mother who we never see and is allergic to some cryo-genetic fluid that's in tanks which the army uses. One day The Covenant attacks and They're caught completely off-guard as to what they are and where they came from and The Master Chief appears in record time to make his 5 minute cameo and then the movie's over.Okay, notice how many times I said things aren't established in any other Halo game or we are told as opposed to shown? There's a lot of that. I can't feel emotionally connected to characters who we know almost nothing about and what we do know comes in about halfway through at best, so half the movie is spent with me saying "What?, Who?, Why?, OKAY! TIME OUT! WHAT IS GOING ON!" I mean for what is simply "Human's Versus Aliens" this movie loses you very easily.I might dwell into the under-use of one of the most recognizable video game characters of all time However I have another complaint. Why does the academy keep the fact that they're fighting aliens secret. I mean how's that supposed to work? On Graduation Day does the person running the place say "Oh, by the way, we're fighting aliens in a losing war" Shouldn't Tom Green's character know this because he has a mother AND a dead brother in the exact war? I mean if they wanted to keep it a secret from non-soldiers (where are they again? In a game franchise over 10 years old I don't think I've seen anyone who isn't a soldier in them) then I'd be fine but these are people who are going to fight the war.At the end of the day this is like watching a YouTube fan film. You know, the ones which don't exactly follow the rules of film (I'll give credit even they're better at keeping to the rules then this does) but you know they're a fan of the games. Instead of watching one that's a few minutes this is one that's an hour and a half. There is some talent trying to pull through - I'll admit that but there is just a lot that I really don't like.

kaiba2789 Alright 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

bnoriega2001 Somehow I stumbled upon this movie browsing through my Netflix queue and was glad I watched it. I'm hopeful they put out more movies like this. Its the first movie that I can actually say I have enjoyed even though its based of a video game, normally they try giving movies a very video game like first person shooter feel which really takes away from the story. This was totally not the case. The entire Halo world has been fascinating from the beginning and hopefully more content gets put out for it (comic books, games, etc.). Just like the video games the story takes the front seat and then delivers with good effects , cinematography, and action as a way to propel it they way good stories should be done always. Hurray for Bungie on this epic franchise.