Halo
Genre: Action / Sci-Fi
Director: Gareth Edwards
Writer: D.R. Cobb
Based on the video game series
HALO SERIES
Cast:
Alexander Skarsgard .... Master Chief
Clive Owen .... Captain Keyes
Chadwick Boseman .... Sgt. Avery Johnson
Sarah Gadon .... Cortana
Plot: UNSC ship, The Pillar of Autumn, a exits slip space near a mysterious ring-shaped space station, called "Halo" by the Covenant. A Covenant fleet attacks and heavily damages the Pillar of Autumn. Captain Keyes (Clive Owen) initiates "The Cole Protocol," a procedure which destroys all navigation data and is designed to prevent the Covenant from learning the location of Earth. Master Chief (Alexander Skarsgard) and Cortana (Sarah Gadon) fight their way to an escape pod, where they eject from the ship along with a group of Marines. As they fly away they can see Keyes attempting to crash land Pillar on Halo.
Master Chief and Cortana are the only survivors of their pod's crash landing, but they soon contact other survivors, including Sgt. Avery Johnson (Chadwick Boseman) and help collect them into a fighting force. Johnson tell them that Keyes survived the Pillar of Autumn's crash landing, but has been captured by the Covenant and is being held aboard the Covenant ship Truth and Reconciliation. Master Chief and a force of Marines board the ship and rescue Keyes, who orders Master Chief to beat the Covenant to Halo's control center and to discover Halo's purpose. Master Chief and Cortana travel to a map room called the Silent Cartographer, which leads them to the control room. There, Cortana enters the systems and, discovering something urgent, suddenly sends Master Chief to find Captain Keyes while she stays behind. Keyes was searching for what he believed was a cache of powerful weapons, but when he reaches his position Master Chief finds only signs of a battle and a recording revealing they have accidentally released the Flood, a parasitic alien race capable of spreading itself by infesting other sentient life-forms.
The release of the Flood prompts Halo's AI monitor, 343 Guilty Spark, to recruit Master Chief in retrieving the Index, a device that will activate Halo and prevent the Flood from spreading beyond the facility. After Master Chief retrieves and prepares to use the Index, Cortana re-appears and warns him against the activation. She has discovered that Halo's defense system is a weapon designed to kill all sentient life in the galaxy, which will deny the host bodies the Flood requires to spread, a revelation which Guilty Spark confirms.
Faced with this information, Master Chief and Cortana decide to destroy Halo to prevent its activation. While fighting the Flood, the Covenant, and Guilty Spark's Sentinels, Cortana discovers that the best way to accomplish this is to cause the crashed Pillar of Autumn to self-destruct. However, Captain Keyes' authorization is required to destroy the Autumn, forcing the Chief and Cortana to return to the now-Flood-infested Truth and Reconciliation to search for him. By the time they reach Keyes, however, he has been infected beyond the point of no return by the Flood. Master Chief retrieves Keyes' neural implants directly from his brain and retreats to the Autumn, where Cortana activates the ship's self-destruct sequence. However, 343 Guilty Spark reappears and deactivates the countdown, discovering the record of human history in the process. Master Chief manually destabilizes the Pillar of Autumn's fusion reactors, and he and Cortana narrowly escape the destruction of the ring via a fighter. Cortana scans nearby space and finds that they are apparently the only survivors. Cortana justifies the sacrifices of the other humans on Halo, stating that they had no choice due to the threat posed by Halo, the Covenant and the Flood. Cortana believes it's over but the Master Chief tells her that they're just getting started.
Director: Gareth Edwards
Writer: D.R. Cobb
Based on the video game series
HALO SERIES
Cast:
Alexander Skarsgard .... Master Chief
Clive Owen .... Captain Keyes
Chadwick Boseman .... Sgt. Avery Johnson
Sarah Gadon .... Cortana
Plot: UNSC ship, The Pillar of Autumn, a exits slip space near a mysterious ring-shaped space station, called "Halo" by the Covenant. A Covenant fleet attacks and heavily damages the Pillar of Autumn. Captain Keyes (Clive Owen) initiates "The Cole Protocol," a procedure which destroys all navigation data and is designed to prevent the Covenant from learning the location of Earth. Master Chief (Alexander Skarsgard) and Cortana (Sarah Gadon) fight their way to an escape pod, where they eject from the ship along with a group of Marines. As they fly away they can see Keyes attempting to crash land Pillar on Halo.
Master Chief and Cortana are the only survivors of their pod's crash landing, but they soon contact other survivors, including Sgt. Avery Johnson (Chadwick Boseman) and help collect them into a fighting force. Johnson tell them that Keyes survived the Pillar of Autumn's crash landing, but has been captured by the Covenant and is being held aboard the Covenant ship Truth and Reconciliation. Master Chief and a force of Marines board the ship and rescue Keyes, who orders Master Chief to beat the Covenant to Halo's control center and to discover Halo's purpose. Master Chief and Cortana travel to a map room called the Silent Cartographer, which leads them to the control room. There, Cortana enters the systems and, discovering something urgent, suddenly sends Master Chief to find Captain Keyes while she stays behind. Keyes was searching for what he believed was a cache of powerful weapons, but when he reaches his position Master Chief finds only signs of a battle and a recording revealing they have accidentally released the Flood, a parasitic alien race capable of spreading itself by infesting other sentient life-forms.
The release of the Flood prompts Halo's AI monitor, 343 Guilty Spark, to recruit Master Chief in retrieving the Index, a device that will activate Halo and prevent the Flood from spreading beyond the facility. After Master Chief retrieves and prepares to use the Index, Cortana re-appears and warns him against the activation. She has discovered that Halo's defense system is a weapon designed to kill all sentient life in the galaxy, which will deny the host bodies the Flood requires to spread, a revelation which Guilty Spark confirms.
Faced with this information, Master Chief and Cortana decide to destroy Halo to prevent its activation. While fighting the Flood, the Covenant, and Guilty Spark's Sentinels, Cortana discovers that the best way to accomplish this is to cause the crashed Pillar of Autumn to self-destruct. However, Captain Keyes' authorization is required to destroy the Autumn, forcing the Chief and Cortana to return to the now-Flood-infested Truth and Reconciliation to search for him. By the time they reach Keyes, however, he has been infected beyond the point of no return by the Flood. Master Chief retrieves Keyes' neural implants directly from his brain and retreats to the Autumn, where Cortana activates the ship's self-destruct sequence. However, 343 Guilty Spark reappears and deactivates the countdown, discovering the record of human history in the process. Master Chief manually destabilizes the Pillar of Autumn's fusion reactors, and he and Cortana narrowly escape the destruction of the ring via a fighter. Cortana scans nearby space and finds that they are apparently the only survivors. Cortana justifies the sacrifices of the other humans on Halo, stating that they had no choice due to the threat posed by Halo, the Covenant and the Flood. Cortana believes it's over but the Master Chief tells her that they're just getting started.
BOX OFFICE
Budget: $180,000,000
Domestic Box Office: $195,035,065
Foreign Box Office: $333,880,519
Total Profit: $188,960,304
Domestic Box Office: $195,035,065
Foreign Box Office: $333,880,519
Total Profit: $188,960,304
REVIEWS
"If you've played the video game, you really want gain anything extra from watching Gareth Edwards' film version. I would have liked a little more deviation, or even some extra backstory to the huge universe that has been developed since the release of the first game in 2001." - Desmond Rodgers, TIME Magazine
"While the story brings nothing new to the picture, Gareth Edwards continues to show an ability to make pictures with a large scope. The exterior battle scenes look great, and are shot with a clear precision sorely lacking in the shaky-cam heavy action pictures these days." - Brian Edelstein, Time Out
"No surprises with this one. Skarsgard's Master Chief has to find something and fight something. Rinse. Repeat. The dialogue almost exclusively consists of exposition, turning this one into an exhausting viewing." - Clark Davis, JoBlo.com
Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action sequences.
Filming Locations:
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada