Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn - Part 4 [Available To Watch]

I do agree. This does show the real potential of a Halo movie. Despite the dialog issues and other minor things since Episode 3 I've been enjoying the hell out of it. I really have. They got the action right and the suspense with the elite was well done.

Sadly I just never see us getting a true Halo movie. I really don't.



Ah ok then. So I was wrong. I guess it's just the referring to yourself the way he did that bugs me then. It just seems weird.

Don't say hurtful things like that. :(

fuck the movie industry, they are running out of ideas so they are just milking every damn comic book under the sun. halo has the potential to be something incredible. its a no brainer.
 
Mass Effect deserves better.... much, much better.... than something like Paragon Lost.

I dunno. Did you see that nine minute preview that was posted? Paragon Lost doesn't seem half bad. And that's the first time I've felt that way about one of these EA/Funimation animes.
Whinging is a word, and it is used correctly here.

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And me confusing it for a misspelling of "whining" is just so hard to believe, right?
 
What exactly is the excuse for Forward Unto Dawn being better than most (if not all) movies based off video games.

This is in the hands of a pretty much unknown producer/director.
It's low budget.
It is a made-for-web-series movie.
Contains generally unknown actors except the Narnia girl.

And yet it manages to be better than all the crappy Tomb Raiders, Resident Evils, the Uwe Boll abominations, Mass Effect: Paragon Lost (lol!), etc.

Is it the close involvement between 343i and the producers? Microsoft breathing down their backs wielding whips?

Bolded are the reasons.

First of all it doesn't need to be adjusted to better appeal to mainstream sensibilities. It's a web series so there are no TV executives, no Hollywood producers to make a case to. Nobody but the population of GAF could watch this and it wouldn't matter because it's purpose is solely as a commercial for Halo 4. It doesn't live or die by ratings and audience attendance like most shows and movies.

Second there are no actors demanding big contracts, heavy advertising and lots of screen time. Everyone is an unknown, so they're just excited to be a part of the project at all. You don't have to put Mark Wahlberg's face all over everything, you don't have to make sure the actors each get a certain type of scene. They're just doing what they're paid to do and having a good time doing it.

Finally, 343 are heavily involved and obviously are some of the most passionate Halo fans out there, and just want to tell a good story. It's not just some guy getting paid to do a treatment of some game he hasn't played, it's a bunch of real Halo nerds coming up with what they want to see in live action. They want to give the fans what we want.

Don't say hurtful things like that. :(

fuck the movie industry, they are running out of ideas so they are just milking every damn comic book under the sun. halo has the potential to be something incredible. its a no brainer.

Hollywood knows the worth of the movie, but Microsoft doesn't want to play by their rules. It's partly a money issue and partly a creative control issue, so it's not like one side is the bad guy stopping the movie from existing. If the movie is ever made, it would need to be funded almost entirely by Microsoft, which is unlikely to happen until they're absolutely sure it will make them serious bank.
 
It's not bad, the last episode.

I just feel the writers are a little too in love with the characters. MC should be barking orders to those recruits, not herding them like children.


And the "Call me Master Chief" line was awful. He should state his rank and designation.
 
And the "Call me Master Chief" line was awful. He should state his rank and designation.

I agree he should have been a bit more authoritative with the recruits, but he can't state his rank and designation because he technically doesn't even exist and isn't part of the military at this point in time.
 
I dunno. Did you see that nine minute preview that was posted? Paragon Lost doesn't seem half bad. And that's the first time I've felt that way about one of these EA/Funimation animes.
Yeah I did. I'm the one who first posted it. ;)

And it was horrible. The CGI, the character designs, the acting, the animation.... It was like a Saturday morning cartoon but with gore added in. I love Mass Effect. Why release such an atrocity as this?
 
I agree he should have been a bit more authoritative with the recruits, but he can't state his rank and designation because he technically doesn't even exist and isn't part of the military at this point in time.

Plus, they want to emphasize his humanity. Those are kids frightened out of their minds. Barking orders would have made him seem overly detached and unstmpathetic to the audience. It makes sense in a way.
 
Plus, they want to emphasize his humanity.
I didn't get that impression at all - if anything, they emphasized his robotic nature. The way he walks is robotic, and he doesn't truly come to life until all hell breaks loose.

My second viewing was better. The Chief reveal has extra punch to it when you know that he just stabbed the elite (I missed that the first time). I also liked some of the slow mo later on, when Lasky is making a break for the Warthog with the needles smashing to bits against the concrete, and thank to those who pointed out the super combine needler explosion - wow.

Good stuff. Am ready to see how this ends, and the intros, with the breakdown of the ship's and Cortana's fragile mind are a perfect tease and send up to the game.
 
Something with Chiefs armor is just off to me. Its hard to say what it is... I guess it just looks fake/plasticky
Awesome episode though. They keep gettin better every week!

i think its because the armor looks too "new" and clean. like it doesnt have any wear and tear at all. its the same for me with other movies and stuff too. if armor and props dont have many small details and grit like wear and tear, it looks faker IMO.

like the elites armor looks great in this because it looks weathered
 
Yep, but Halo 4 comes just four days later :)

Longest four days ever.

This series is killing me. It should be building me up for Halo 4, but it's not. It's just making me want a movie more and more.


That being said, the Cortana bits at the beginning are definitely making me want the game, even more...if that's possible. Getting the LE, the console, and the trigger headset. All my damn money, 343. All of it.
 
NeoGAF = Home of the whinging bitches.

Episode was great.

Thank god someone said this. This web series is a triumph. Anyone bitching about "Call me the Master Chief" needs to understand that this series is for marketing first, pleasing the fans second. The effects, story and unapologetic brutality should make up for any cheesy one liners that are clearly needed to please the PR reps.
 
I really hope there's something like FUD for Halo 5. This has been better recieved than both the live-action and gameplay launch trailers. The next logical step would be a movie and that would've happened long ago in a perfect world, but if 343 wants to do a couple more web series or a TV show, I'm absolutely for it. With the same creative team, too. I can only imagine this getting better.
 
Thank god someone said this. This web series is a triumph. Anyone bitching about "Call me the Master Chief" needs to understand that this series is for marketing first, pleasing the fans second. The effects, story and unapologetic brutality should make up for any cheesy one liners that are clearly needed to please the PR reps.
Cheesy one liners are part of what makes this great.
 
Is that another thing from the Fall of Reach that is now non-canon? I thought they didn't encounter hunters for a while.
They encountered Hunters at Cotz de Azur or something. It's one of the first planets (other then harvest) that they didn't glass outright. It's been a long time since I read it but I can pretty much guarantee it fits into the cannon, as long as this takes place after that which is easy to say from the writers stand point since I don't believe we have a year and day on this.
 
Just caught up.

THIS NEEDS MOAR CHIEF LESS EMO KIDS.

But yeah why can't games have a proper story and decent dialogue in games like this?
 
I'm not so sure about this. Episode 1 was eh, nothing really.
I guess I can spare an hour of my life though watching the rest.
 
Finally it feels like things are kicking into gear.

This series needs less random slow motion, more Master Chief.

I didn't mind the slow burn beginning at all, but I do wish they had at least two more episodes left... they really should have spent more time after the invasion started, even if there was a slow burn survival episode. But yeah, Im really digging it.

They used slow mo at all the wrong times! We should have seen the
colonel get hit by the first needle shot in slow mo, with the other needles tracking into her as she falls out of frame and then had the supercombine explosion.
The way that scene was handled could have been way cooler.
 
I love it that they are terrified of the covenant. It's like Alien. That fear of the covenant is missing from the Halo games.
I agree, but I imagine that after years of fighting the Covenant you would stop fearing them and just hate them instead. In this series the Covenant are a new alien threat so the fear is appropriate.
Hopefully the fear of a new threat is somewhat captured in Halo 4.
 
How is this series so damn good? Episode 4 is crazy. The Cortana prologues are a nice touch.

The live action commercials only partially sold me on the idea of a live action Halo film, but Forward Unto Dawn totally seals the deal. With the right creative talent it could be outstanding.
 
I like that despite the brevity of the run time, the episode - and series - is giving each scene breathing room. A good chunk of this 15 minute episode is purely tension, waiting for things to go down. And when they do, events happen quickly. The bit where the one kid
tries to create a distraction - hero moment! - and is instantly shot down
had an unexpected, efficient brutality to it. And the moment with the carbine was great.

That said.

I didn't really buy the Chief. The armor looks plastic, the character doesn't seem to have real weight and heft (a few moments aside) and his dialogue was uniformly poor. (He really should have introduced himself as Spartan 117, not "Call me Master Chief.")

Still, this was an effective episode, warts and all. Looking forward to the finale.
 
I like that despite the brevity of the run time, the episode - and series - is giving each scene breathing room. A good chunk of this 15 minute episode is purely tension, waiting for things to go down. And when they do, events happen quickly. The bit where the one kid
tries to create a distraction - hero moment! - and is instantly shot down
had an unexpected, efficient brutality to it. And the moment with the carbine was great.

That said.

I didn't really buy the Chief. The armor looks plastic, the character doesn't seem to have real weight and heft (a few moments aside) and his dialogue was uniformly poor. (He really should have introduced himself as Spartan 117, not "Call me Master Chief.")

Still, this was an effective episode, warts and all. Looking forward to the finale.

To which the kids respond "...what the hell is a Spartan?"

At least with an informal rank, they can address him without knowing too much. Like addressing Sergeant Johnson as just "Sergeant"


I have no complaints about the name, just the delivery.
 
I think it was handled well. If there was a dramatic pause or something like that, it would've been cheesy, but this was fine.

I didn't think it was cheesy or anything. The timing just seemed weird. Of all the times to inquire who he is, you do it well after you're already dedicated to following him, in full gear, and he's about to leave...

Just seems strange. I feel there should have been a short gearing up moment after he opens the locker, and introductions could've been done there, with the kids trying to figure out what happened. "Who are you, what are those things attacking?" etc.
 
He should have just said "Call me, [Dramatic pause] Chief [Cue silent chanting monks]". Done.

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This better be in the extended edition!
 
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