Without a doubt the Halo series has had a huge impact on the gaming industry since Halo: Combat Evolved was unveiled way back in 2001. Since then, a number of short films based on the Halo canon have been released. One such piece was recently added to Netflix: Halo: The Fall of Reach.
As the title suggests the plot is based, almost line for line in some cases, on the book Halo: The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund. It outlines the creation and training of the SPARTAN’s by Doctor Catherine Halsey in an effort to combat human rebels plaguing man’s colonized systems. The Covenant, a group of aliens on a religious warpath, are discovered soon thereafter and Master Chief and the rest of the SPARTAN’s are enlisted in the fight to stop this near-unstoppable foe. The events of the film and of the book lead up to the story told in Halo: Combat Evolved.
The film, about an hour long, is animated. Which is too bad because the animation is lacking. Its not laughably bad like some indie PC game, but it’s definitely not cutting edge. That, along with the wooden voice acting, are my two biggest complaints. Surprisingly, a few voice actor’s from the game are recognizable here, including Steve Downes, the voice of the Master Chief himself. One thing in particular that stuck out for me was the portrayal of Dr. Halsey. She’s kind of a renegade mad scientist badass that has to make a lot of really difficult choices. The film makers did a good job showing this and her sarcasm and sass come through even with the clunky dialogue. Besides that, and seeing how the members of Blue Team stated out, there’s not much to recommend this title. I would suggest watching any of the short pieces in the Halo Legends collection. Most of them are cartoon but they’re really well done.
All in all, I can never say no to more Halo goodness, but Halo: The Fall of Reach is disappointing considering what could have been done with it.
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