First off, I am blown away at the fact that LatinoReview was able to get their hands on Alex Garland‘s Halo script… Bravo! Secondly I am astonished that it was given a five star review by their resident script reviewer El Mayimbe. This is a script that was turned down by New Line and DreamWorks based on its lofty $10 million price tag. It was then turned down by Columbia Pictures (Sony) due to game console conflict, Xbox vs. Playstation. Finally the script was snagged by Universal and Fox for $5 million when, at the time, it was rumored to be a poor script. As we all know, rumors can be proven false.
The opening statements of Mayibe’s review reiterate all the points I made above, but when he asks himself whether the script is any good he respons, “Hell yeah, baby! This script rocks man. The script is so damn good and entertaining that I read it more than once. A tour de force. The clowns at the other studios who passed on this are gonna lose their jobs when this movie comes out and opens huge.”
So what exactly did he say? Check out a snippet below, but get the full review here.
Halo is a balls to the wall unapologetic, ruthlessly ultra-violent war movie – and it’s cool as hell, man. How violent is it? It’s the Saving Private Ryan of video game movies. We got headshots, bodies being cut in half by the swords of the Stealth Elite. We see what kind of damage plasma grenades can do and yes we get to see the horror of flood infection vessels – heads snapping back and torsos exploding…
– There is a Beach attack sequence between the Marines and the Covenant. MC pilots the warthog – the multi terrain four-wheel vehicle and we get to see MC driving ability. We see the Grunts use the needlers in this sequence too.
– Inside Halo, the Marines are ambushed by the Stealth Elite who brandish their energy swords and literally cut their enemies in half. Cool sequence.
– Later we see the FLOOD INFECTION FORMS – each the size of a football, bloated, propelled by a seething carpet of small tentacles on the underside on the underside of its main form. We also see the horror and goriness of the Flood infection vessels upon the infected marines and Covenant…
Hardcore fans of the series won’t be disappointed because the ending is from the game. I won’t say which one though. Wait until 2007 to find out.
Honestly, there is a lot more to read, those are only snips from the beginning and the end, click here for the rest.
