- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
I apologize for posting without reading the entire thread, but I don't have the patience to read through 28 pages of argument. I merely wanted to voice my opinion.
Naturally being a video game lover I would love to see a Halo movie. However, whenever I talk to people about it I'm surprised no one ever suggests that it take place during the Fall of Reach. Make it a sort of prequel. This makes the most sense because you don't have to condense the story of the game or put it in somewhere it doesn't fit, or have to make a plot with certain elements of the game but not the game itself (such as Resident Evil, which I'm one of few people to enjoy the movie though it's incredibly loosely based on the games).
However, I wouldn't want to see the movie based on the book of Fall of Reach. One reason is because I personally didn't enjoy the book and had a few problems with it (not to mention spotted a few plot holes), but another is because I don't think the book itself would translate well into a movie. I'd like the movie to actually be about the Fall of Reach.
I've pondered writing up a script/screenplay just for the Hell of it, though I'd doubt it would go anywhere, and basic ideas I had I think would work well for a movie.
Firstly I think opening the movie up with a mission of the first group of Spartans would be a good idea (if you read in the instruction manual, MC is of the Spartan II's, meaning he was part of the second group of Spartans. The book claims that he was the first group and there was a second group under development, and I find this to be a poor plot hole). Open with their first mission, which is a failed attempt at what the Spartan II's initial mission was meant to be; infiltrate a Covie vessel and learn the location of their homeworld.
Second, I think there should be more time for MC to get to know Cortana than there was in the book. In the game MC and Cortana instantly banter off like good friends, but all they did in the book was go through a training exercise and one failed mission. I would rather MC get Cortana first installed into his suit near the beginning of the movie and before he can remove her all Hell breaks loose.
Third, the Covenant should land on Reach in a manner similarly to how you see in the E3 2003 demo video. Instead of just bombarding the planet they should land on the capital city and you actually get to see them raze the planet. An example scene that I think could be cool if executed well would be having the Covenant line up a number of human citizens on their knees, a Gold Elite reciting some religious sort of speech in an Alien tongue, and when he finished all the other Elites discharged their plasma rifles into the humans, killing them in a manner similarly to how people might do mass executions in a sort of Jihad.
The other reasons aren't really too big, but just things I think might go over well. For some reason I feel that Reach should have snowfall during the invasion. It sort of fits the tone since winter is a sort of symbol of death in nature, where plants whither and animals hibernate due to lack of food, and whenever it snows the sky is dark and a sort of gloomy. I also think it would work well because it makes the movie more memorable. You don't see many Sci-Fi where people battle in a city full of snow. It would also bring back memories of the level "Assault on the Control Room", where some of the coolest combat scenarios in the game were executed.
Now, the biggest problem with the game would naturally be the fact that, if this happens before Halo, there have to be multiple Spartans. I know other people may not feel this way, but I'd rather the Master Chief not be in a scene where he can be viewed without his helmet. MC's identity is a mystery, and I'd rather that mystery not be spoiled. Plus, you can have the same voice actor as in the video games, which is the most fitting voice for MC. The other Spartans are still difficult, because we have no idea how their genetic and cybernetic enhancements have affected them, and if they might even have mechanical parts on their face to increase vision and such. Best way to be able to tell one Spartan from another would be to simply take colors from the multiplayer mode and make each one a different color. Naturally, the military would never do this, but this is a movie. You're going to have to make the difference between each one obvious besides voice, and the best way is through different color armor.
Lastly, it's not really too important, but I'd like the Halo movie to be at least two hours. In order to stuff enough plot in there, time to get to know the other Spartans so their deaths matter more to the audience, and just for plain old bad ass action to fill the movie up.
Oh yeah, special effects wise, and I know this will sound funny to a lot of people, but I would seriously prefer if Grunts were done by dressing midgets up in Grunt outfits. I for one believe realism is better than CG if it can be done, and if you can manage to get midgets dressed as Grunts, it will turn out to be a lot better in the end piece of film than if all the Grunts were CG. Jackals, on the otherhand, you have little choice because of their structure. They'd have to be animatronic and CG only.
And that's how I feel on the idea behind a Halo movie.