Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Season Review
Warning: full season spoilers follow.
The Halo franchise has expanded to cover everything from comic books to direct-to-DVD anime movies. But so far, a real, live-action move adaptation remains elusive. 343 Studios brought us one giant step closer to that dream with Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. Far more than just an expensive commercial for a game everyone with an Xbox was going to buy regardless, Forward Unto Dawn added something to the Halo mythos and showed us what's capable with even a relatively modest budget.
Forward Unto Dawn unfolded largely in the past at the very beginning of the conflict between humanity and the Covenant. However, a series of flash-forwards opened each installment that showcased Cortana and the dormant Master Chief in the period between Halo 3 and Halo 4. Ultimately, these bookend scenes were fairly irrelevant to the plot. Cortana's gradual mental breakdown had nothing to do with an older Thomas Lasky reflecting on his youthful adventures at Corbullo Academy. But they were nice additions regardless. In particular, the final glimpse of Cortana in Part 5 was a showcase for the same gorgeous CG imagery that is earning Halo 4 such rave reviews.
Forward Unto Dawn did a reasonable job of catering to both seasoned Halo vets and complete newcomers with its plot. The series never does much to explain the nature of the UNSC or what exactly the Covenant are, but as for as what was necessary in the context of the series itself, it was enough. With Forward Unto Dawn serving as a prelude to the sixth main entry of the Halo franchise, there's really only so much hand-holding that can be expected.
The series suffered from two general weaknesses, both of which tended to work themselves out over the course of the five episodes. The first was that the acting quality was very sporadic. Fortunately, the two lead characters were handled well. Tom Green's Thomas Lasky and Anna Popplewell's Chyler Silva formed a strong emotional core as fellow cadets, best friends, and brief lovers. The rest of the cast failed to leave much of an impression. The few adults at Corbullo were poorly defined and disappeared from the series entirely once the Covenant came calling. The various other cadets were barely more fleshed out. Many seemed too young and frail to be military cadets in the first place.
The other problem, at least initially, was that the action scenes left a bit to be desired. The early war games sequences lacked the epic feel of Halo combat, playing out essentially like paintball games with radar displays. That didn't bode well for the upcoming Covenant conflict. However, once the action truly kicked in during the invasion sequence in Part 3, all those worries fell away. Even $10 million only gets you so far in this case. The strength of the later episodes was that they used the Covenant soldiers sparingly and effectively. The enemies were bathed in shadow - more of a hidden menace to the frightened cadets. The battle with the cloaked Elite in Part 4 was another clever case of "less is more." The end result was that the action sometimes felt more inspired by survival horror titles than the Halo games. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
The action ramped up even further in Parts 4 and 5 once Master Chief stepped onto the stage. Here again, the creators knew to use a familiar Halo element sparingly. Master Chief isn't a terribly compelling figure in and of himself. It's more about the relationships he forges with other characters - the wartime camaraderie with the disgraced Arbiter in Halo 2, the love story with Cortana in Halo 4, etc. In this case, Chief was the all powerful super-soldier whose primary purpose was to rally the survivors and inspire young Lasky to embrace his potential. This tie between Lasky and Master Chief is the predominant element that ties Forward Unto Dawn into the events of Halo 4.
So if Forward Unto Dawn got off to a slightly rough and underwhelming start, it certainly finished in style. Aside from successfully teasing an already hugely anticipated game, it served as a template for how to do justice to the Halo universe in live-action. With any luck, we can look forward to a similar tie-in during the build-up to Halo 5.
Warning: full season spoilers follow.
The Halo franchise has expanded to cover everything from comic books to direct-to-DVD anime movies. But so far, a real, live-action move adaptation remains elusive. 343 Studios brought us one giant step closer to that dream with Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. Far more than just an expensive commercial for a game everyone with an Xbox was going to buy regardless, Forward Unto Dawn added something to the Halo mythos and showed us what's capable with even a relatively modest budget.
Forward Unto Dawn unfolded largely in the past at the very beginning of the conflict between humanity and the Covenant. However, a series of flash-forwards opened each installment that showcased Cortana and the dormant Master Chief in the period between Halo 3 and Halo 4. Ultimately, these bookend scenes were fairly irrelevant to the plot. Cortana's gradual mental breakdown had nothing to do with an older Thomas Lasky reflecting on his youthful adventures at Corbullo Academy. But they were nice additions regardless. In particular, the final glimpse of Cortana in Part 5 was a showcase for the same gorgeous CG imagery that is earning Halo 4 such rave reviews.
Forward Unto Dawn did a reasonable job of catering to both seasoned Halo vets and complete newcomers with its plot. The series never does much to explain the nature of the UNSC or what exactly the Covenant are, but as for as what was necessary in the context of the series itself, it was enough. With Forward Unto Dawn serving as a prelude to the sixth main entry of the Halo franchise, there's really only so much hand-holding that can be expected.
The series suffered from two general weaknesses, both of which tended to work themselves out over the course of the five episodes. The first was that the acting quality was very sporadic. Fortunately, the two lead characters were handled well. Tom Green's Thomas Lasky and Anna Popplewell's Chyler Silva formed a strong emotional core as fellow cadets, best friends, and brief lovers. The rest of the cast failed to leave much of an impression. The few adults at Corbullo were poorly defined and disappeared from the series entirely once the Covenant came calling. The various other cadets were barely more fleshed out. Many seemed too young and frail to be military cadets in the first place.
The other problem, at least initially, was that the action scenes left a bit to be desired. The early war games sequences lacked the epic feel of Halo combat, playing out essentially like paintball games with radar displays. That didn't bode well for the upcoming Covenant conflict. However, once the action truly kicked in during the invasion sequence in Part 3, all those worries fell away. Even $10 million only gets you so far in this case. The strength of the later episodes was that they used the Covenant soldiers sparingly and effectively. The enemies were bathed in shadow - more of a hidden menace to the frightened cadets. The battle with the cloaked Elite in Part 4 was another clever case of "less is more." The end result was that the action sometimes felt more inspired by survival horror titles than the Halo games. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
The action ramped up even further in Parts 4 and 5 once Master Chief stepped onto the stage. Here again, the creators knew to use a familiar Halo element sparingly. Master Chief isn't a terribly compelling figure in and of himself. It's more about the relationships he forges with other characters - the wartime camaraderie with the disgraced Arbiter in Halo 2, the love story with Cortana in Halo 4, etc. In this case, Chief was the all powerful super-soldier whose primary purpose was to rally the survivors and inspire young Lasky to embrace his potential. This tie between Lasky and Master Chief is the predominant element that ties Forward Unto Dawn into the events of Halo 4.
So if Forward Unto Dawn got off to a slightly rough and underwhelming start, it certainly finished in style. Aside from successfully teasing an already hugely anticipated game, it served as a template for how to do justice to the Halo universe in live-action. With any luck, we can look forward to a similar tie-in during the build-up to Halo 5.
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