NEWS: Chris Gore's Footage Fetishes: Halo is the Next Epic Movie Franchise

CULTURE: Chris Gore's Footage Fetishes: Halo is the Next Epic Movie Franchise

Perhaps you are one of the many who has not been caught up in the Halo 3 hype. That’s okay. It’s alright if you don’t like it or just don’t get it. It’s probably because you’ve never played it. This week’s release of the game marked the largest grossing entertainment launch in history – Halo 3 racked up $170 million dollars in sales exceeding Spider-Man 3’s box-office opening and sales of the other recent geek midnight madness for the final book in the Harry Potter series. So, if you are not caught up yourself, there’s a good chance you know someone who is.

At its core, the multi-player aspect of Halo is as simple as schoolyard games like tag, king of the hill along with a healthy dose of paint-ball thrown into the mix. Perhaps that explains its unprecedented popularity – in many ways, it’s a new kind of sport. And while it’s very easy to understand the rules, it can take time to master the skills required to become a great player. But that only applies to the multi-player element of Halo, the campaign mode of the game actually has all the makings of the next great movie franchise on the level of a Star Trek or a Harry Potter.

A Faceless Hero
Basically, Spartan Officer John 117, or as most of you non-gamers know him, Master Chief, is the last of the Spartans, a kind of "Super-Stormtrooper," if you will. And we’ve never seen his face which allows anyone playing the game to picture them in his helmet. This is very much in keeping with the spirit of epic myths as explained by author Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. However, any film version of the movie will likely have to reveal the face behind the mask as this seems to be the most often asked question, “What does Master Chief really look like?” The answer is simple… he, or she for that matter, is you. I am hoping Chief is female, that would be hot.

Epic Musical Score
John Williams is the go-to man of choice when it comes to epic films. From the Star Wars movies to Indiana Jones and Harry Potter, he has composed the most memorable film scores in history. And if you can’t get John, there’s always Danny Elfman who has also created some amazing film music as well. Martin O’Donnell & Michael Salvatori have created a music track to accompany the levels of Halo’s campaign mode that is both emotionally stirring and triumphantly epic. It’s like no video game score you’ve ever heard and even non-Halo fans will recognize it if one begins to hum the notes.

War, Weapons and Blowing Up Real Good
There is no shortage of impressive technology in the Halo Universe – from the weaponry wielded by the Chief or the alien guns from the Covenant. The Covenant consists of a loose collection of alien allies who shoot pretty purple laser weaponry, the coolest of which is the “needler” gun. The “ghost” motorcycle is also damn cool along with the very practical “warthog.” It’s like opening the toy soldier set and letting them loose in a world where anything goes and in the sci-fi film world, we haven’t seen anything as epic as the battles portrayed in Halo. Well, we haven’t seen it yet, at least.

Actress Jen Taylor (center of course) is best known to as the voice of Cortana.

Sexy Holograms
Cortana is Master Chief’s guide through the story. She’s sexy as hell but unfortunately is not real flesh and blood – she’s a hologram and the Chief will only touch her in his dreams. In the world of movies, Cortana would be known as “Miss Exposition” showing up at key moments to explain what just happened, what we need to do next, and the goal that must be achieved. But she’s so much more than that as she represents, in a sad way, desire that will never be fulfilled.

Scary Zombies
Who doesn’t love zombie movies? The Flood is the scourge devouring sentient life in the galaxy, turning living things into a cross between the horrific creatures from George Romero’s Dead films and John Carpenter’s The Thing. Just the sounds of the Flood monstrosities creeping around unseen will make your skin crawl. And these things are as scary as they are hard to kill. I personally love all things zombie-related and I even have a bumper sticker on my car that reads: I “heart” Zombies.

The Biggest Threat in the Galaxy
Sure, the Star Wars movies had the menacing Death Star, two of them in fact. And Star Trek had that giant carrot-shaped planet eater from the original series, the huge Borg Cube from the Next Generation and the colossal V’Ger from the Motion Picture. But the Halo ring dwarfs them all with its ability to wipe out all life in the galaxy to prevent the scourge of the Flood from spreading. Now requires coining a new word on the level of Humongo-normous-colossalopolis!


Could a Halo movie win Peter Jackson another Oscar?

For some reason, the Halo movie has been filled with false starts, even with talent like Peter Jackson involved as executive producer. Perhaps this recent financial milestone and public frenzy will inspire a version of the film that will resonate beyond the rabid gaming fan base. And we may even see, for the first time, a movie based on a video game that actually goes on to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Just kidding, I think a Halo movie that works as a decent motion picture would be a worthwhile achievement on its own. Clearly, all the elements of a great film experience are there, but doing it right may be as difficult as finishing the fight… solo… on Legendary. (You know what I’m talking about.)

Gore gone!

Chris_Gore prefers to beat campaign before attempting multi-player. So shoot me.

I'm a campaign whore too, so not to fret.

Personally for me, this is the only game in the series to interest me at all. The story to me has always been eh, but the multiplayer has been where this game has always excelled and with all the new features of this one it is the only Halo I would pay for.

Well, there's always this until they actually get a movie made

If they were able to get the right actors together with Jackson and WETA, along with a producer or studio who were willing to give Jackson freedom to do what he wants, I think a fairly well-done movie could be the result.

When it comes to Master Chief, despite the fact that I've only played bits and pieces of Halos 1 and 2, I'd like to see him remain anonymous, and instead be characterized by his actions and dialogue, and to some extent, his body language. I thought that keeping V masked in V for Vendetta was the wise choice, and I think the same choice would benefit a Halo movie.

I definitely think the Halo universe has enough length and breadth to become at least a decent movie.

I played the first one multiplayer on X-Box with a few friends when it came out and was like, "Why aren't I at home playing Team Fortress?"

Actually, a "Halo" movie could work without revealing Master Chief's face. "V for Vendetta" is a good example of this. It would just require an actor with a distinctive voice. Hmm...

Having played the first two games, I still don't find it to be a big deal (they're enjoyable, but I'm not a big FPS fan), but I love that all the ads for the third game have picked up on the mythic nature of the plot, and your description goes hand-in-hand with that.

Halo is a poor substitute for Half Life, if you ask me. All life in the galaxy, huh... talk about cloying melodrama. and those little dudes that sound like cartoon comic relief? Doesn't one actually say "owie" when you shoot it? Hey, they could be the Jar Jar Binks of the Halo movie! Woohoo!

Give me the Combine and a few headcrab zombies any day.

I really hope the Halo movie finally gets a go ahead. There's plenty of good material to build a entertaining science fiction movie out of, and the shorts directed by Neill Blomkamp so far have been excellent. I can only imagine what he could do with a real movie budget.

I agree -- doing it like V would be the way to go. That worked so well.

a film is the only logical choice for the series.
the universe is so large and varied across many mediums
(books,comics,games,and those commercials) that a movie would
be foolish not to do.

oh no gore upset a pc snob run!!!!

Fixed that for you.

170 million....sounds nice, but how much is a video game price compared to a movie ticket(although they are slowly inching closer to eachother...heh) its doesnt seem that it should be compared to movie debuts.

Honestly, I've never really played Halo - tried out the multiplayer of the first game at a mates place while drunk, but other than that, havent touched it. I hate the XBox controller, and my aim sucks without a mouse. I guess I'm a "PC snob" too, but hey, I manage a computer store.

The most important thing here though, really, is whether a Halo movie could stand up to the fine work by the distinguished gentlemen of Red vs Blue?

I mean, these guys are hilarious.

I hope Peter Jackson gets to do a space zombie movie again at least once before he dies.

Really? I mean, it's sole appeal is the fact that it's an awesome GAME. A game people want to play, not watch. I don't get how people/execs, etc. always seem to miss that fact. This is what it should be, its already reached its ultimate purpose, being a hit game. The same way numerous TV show pilots revolving around video games and watching people play them didn't work either, no one wants to hear someone talk about it, THEY wanna do it.

I know about 50 Halo fanatics and not one has ever commented to me about the awesome "story." The reason it's so similar to all those big budget movies is because it was constructed from those same generic, cliched parts. Parts that have been recycled in film for years... Just like GTA, DOOM, etc...

There's a reason there's never been a decent video game movie.

Personally I'm not a big halo fan although I do enjoy playing the game every once in awhile when I am around people playing. I really get annoyed when people say the game is revolutionary, however, since it is nothing more than another same old formula FPS(that's not to say I don't like a good FPS). Despite that I do think Halo could make a halfway decent movie, but, following the tradition of video game based movies, it would probably be horrible.

I've never gotten the big thing about Halo. It's because I played PC games for years that did the same things it did. The big difference being it was on a console and therefore waaay more popular. If there's any credit to give, then there you go. It's fine and all, but there are other games I like better.

I feel the same way about its movie prospects. You could have just as easily been describing the Half Life series. Halo just doesn't seem that epic to me as a result.

Meh. Metal Gear is the clear frontrunner of the major console franchises as far as suitability for movie conversion goes. Why? Because the abundance and cinematic choreographing of the cutscenes suggests what Kojima really wants to be doing, at heart, is making a movie.

It's also very anime James Bond. Crazy stunts, super cool weaponry, except with freakish superhuman enemies that have never been satisfactorily explained within the theoretically realistic framework the rest of the games offer.

I'm not saying they'd necessarily be *good* movies, because the storytelling in most Metal Gear games is just short of incomprehensible and shows a distinct tendency to ramble on at length about totally out of place philosophical matters. But the foundation's there.

The next epic movie franchise to avoid.

Unless they can emulate what makes the multiplayer matches so attractive to the halo-zombies, there are far more interesting places to go to for a theater packing story, not that quality in storytelling is a must for a popular movie (Transformers) for the people that just want to see something 'splode.

Halo's insane popularity, in gaming mythology terms, owes a lot to the original game's appearance at a time when the old Xbox had no real identity and nothing incredibly new about it, but like those heinous Matrix sequels, a freakishly self-important mythos that seems to buy into its own hype popped up and made a cool game into this bloated monster of a thing that hasn't developed much past the original game.

I like shooting zombies and robots as much as the next guy, but it's one of those cases of being bummed by how much attention goes into some pretty middle of the road, as far as the story and overall campaign gameplay goes, storytelling and character development. Would a Halo movie be a good idea though...yes, as far as packing in the asses, but maybe the marriage of self important master chiefy story and a director who made a giant monkey movie pretentious with slow motion shots and voiceover about Heart of Darkness doesn't sound so hot.

A movie about the 360 blade menu sounds more fun.

I still think that plotwise, Halo is lacking in a serious way. For my tastes, the single-player experience is garbage. This obviously would prove to be a huge problem for creating an OSCAR-WINNING movie.

Also, I second the whole "V" thing for Master Chief.

same here... I'm completing campaign in Co-Op with a buddy... and after that I'm attackin' the servers for some multiplayer deathmatches... Xbox360 Gamertag: WeaponXQc.

Halo is the Star Wars of videogames if you ask me. I'm lookin' forward to see a movie about it. But I'm ready to wait the time that is needed for the writers to come up with a decent script. Don't fuck up this one. I don't want to see fuckin' The Rock playin' Master Chief.

I think the first paragraphs were kind of crude. A lot of people, I mean a lot didn't like the halo 3 hype, and for some it completely ruined the game for them before it had even come out.

I'm also debating staring a petition to move this story from "Culture" to "Geek".