Halo: Nightfall (2014)
Directed by: Sergio Mimica-Gezzan
Written by: Paul Scheuring
Starring: Alexander Bhat, Alexis Rodney, Christian Contreras, Christina Chong, Eric Kofi-Abrefa, Jennie Gruner, Luke Neal, Mike Colter, Sarah Armstrong, Shaun Blaney, Steve Waddington
Halo: Nightfall is the latest in the series of live action movies based in the Halo universe, that precede the upcoming and hugely anticipated videogame, Halo 5. Nightfall is quite the departure from the previous film, Forward Unto Dawn. Although we see bad guys, weapons and vehicles that all feature in the games, the story itself feels more like a bigger budget, feature length episode of Star Trek. The story takes place during a ceasefire between the UNSC and Covenant forces. On the small planet of Sedra, far away from the conflict between the two sides, a Covenant spy releases a biological agent in to a densely populated area, killing many innocent civilians. It turns out that the agents origin is from a section the original Halo that was destroyed, and ended up orbiting the sun in same solar system as Sedra . A team of Sedran soldiers and the UNSC’s ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) are sent to find the people responsible for obtaining this destructive substance, and also destroy the section of Halo. There is a slight draw back to the plan however, as the Halo segment is so close to the sun, if they are there any longer than sunrise, they’ll burn to death in the intense heat. Once the crew land on the rock, they soon find out that their weapons and technology are useless to them, as it attracts a deadly parasite. Not only that, the deadly parasite soon has its way with the ship in which they arrived. With the realisation that they are virtually defenceless and stranded, the battle soon becomes one amongst themselves. As tension mounts up, the soldiers soon become paranoid and selfish, and their numbers start to fall.
The film looks great and has some decent effects and CG for a straight to TV movie. The actors all give a great turn, in particular the squabbling unit leaders Aiken, leading the Sedran army (played by the excellent Steve Waddington) and ONI’s Locke (played by the equally impressive Mike Colter). The other players in the film put in as good a shift as everyone else, but the rapport that builds between the stubborn Aiken and Locke is just as great to watch as well as everything else that’s going on around them. As far as the Halo connection goes, aside from a few references that fans will get, it may as well be it’s own film. The movie starts quite frantically with the initial terrorist attack, but once that’s out of the way, it slows down dramatically and becomes more of a character driven story, where the soldiers have to overcome obstacles and learn to work together in the face of mortal danger. It’s a path tread many a time in the genre and in terms of originality, it’s not got a massive deal going for it, but the way it’s presented and performed is more than enough to keep things interesting and entertaining.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe5iGKfl_ws[/youtube]
Those expecting the guns-a-blazing, balls to the wall action of the Halo games will be gravely disappointed. In fact, anyone expecting anything resembling one of the games will be left feeling short changed. However, if you’re a Halo fan that enjoys the story the games follow, and like a good sci-fi to boot, you can do a lot worse than Nightfall. What it lacks in Halo, it makes up for in good sci-fi story telling.
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