Halo 4 Forward Unto Dawn is one of the most useless things I've ever seen, not only is it boring, filled with bland acting, and painfully cringey dialogue, this movie has no reason to exist. The movie decides to try to justify its existence by saying it takes place before events of Halo 4, but it still doesn't make any sense. There really is no story in the film, it's everywhere for an hour and then tries to start things happening, even though there is no reason for it to happen, and Master Chief is shoehorned in, because unlike the characters we are given in the film, he is at least interesting, but not in this film. I wish I didn't have to say this, but Master Chief barely plays a part in the film, you can cut him out by cutting out one scene that makes him at least vulnerable in the film by one percent. With the characters, we spend 100 minutes of the film with them, so you might be wondering why you would do that, and there is no answer, cause these are one of the most boring and uninteresting characters I've ever had to watch, by the end of the film, not even the end during the film you don't remember their names, and the acting is atrocious, cookie cutter acting with awful dialogue that makes it sound like a Halo fan fiction, that's where it would belong in. As for the action, there is barely any action and that is a big problem if the drama sucks, take a film for example called Batman Begins, we have all seen it and we all know the action sucks, wither you think it is terrible or very outdated for the time, but what makes it is the drama between characters and what makes the story progress, but if drama sucks, action sucks, then you can't make a coherent story. I love Halo, from Combat Evolved to 4, and I wanted to give this film a chance, but I just can't. This is one of the most useless films I've spent time on, and I can't recommend it at all, please avoid this film at all times, it is not worth your time and not worth anyone else's.

I found this on Netflix as a 91 minute "movie". As a fan of the video game franchise, I decided to watch it. As always I will evaluate this film as independent of the source material, but I will include some notes about the games.The film starts fairly typically, following the progress of a group of young cadets at a military academy. They are training to do battle with "the Insurrectionists"--a group of "terrorists" who may just be outworld farmers rebelling against taxes.Thomas Lasky (Tom Green) is the central character--a cadet who sees himself as a pacifist and who has trouble living up to the legacy of his military family. But all of the cadets are untested and have no idea how they would react under real fire.Their ivory tower dedication to the cause is jarringly interrupted by an actual attack, but the invaders are like nothing they have ever seen. How can they survive against a superior force of aliens?The photography and the music are both excellent, immersing the viewer into a dynamic and sometimes spooky conflict. But the story is disjointed, with significant parts left unexplained. The actors, though young, become believable as the action unfolds.I cannot give this film a good score, due to the deficiencies in the story. But I can recommend the film to anyone who loves the games, like I do. What fun to see the Master Chief come to life, to see great depictions of the warthog, the grunts and weapons like the needler. The various members of the Covenant, though only briefly depicted in some cases, were a joy to see.

First of all, I have virtually no experience playing the Halo games, and thus only a very casual acquaintance with their universe and story line. I like science fiction, though, and was interested in something with action, so I gave Halo 4 a spin, not expecting too terribly much. As at least one other reviewer has written, ALL CAPS WOW!This film is simply astounding in the quality of its production values, cast, writing, cinematography and musical score. I am completely blow away. I have not seen a science fiction/action film this arresting in a long time. Just the visual aspect of it is incredibly beautiful. From what I understand -- I could be wrong -- this was not released in theaters, but I would absolutely love to see something like this on a big screen.Does it start out slowly? I suppose so, but I am a big fan of taking time to develop characters, establish themes and set the stage. Once the action hits, it is intense, and that is only helped by the build up to it. I was on the edge of my seat, lost track of time, and kept thinking to myself, How can this be so good? A little bit of Starship Troopers without the satire/gore, a little bit of Aliens w/out the 80s rough edges, a little bit of Ender's Game with a more hands-on approach, but with a specific modern style all its own. Halo 4 may be just an origin story on a small scale, but what a ride! Highly recommended if you enjoy being transported and thrilled.

In my opinion , this movie/web-series has been over-rated by Halo fans and in the end it will be to everyone's detriment. If Microsoft/343 Studios get the impression they can release something like this and hit one out of the park we will just see more of it in the future.As a Halo and Movie fan I believe this would be a shame. The source material (the Halo universe) has the potential to bring something truly great to the big screen but this is far from it.I won't go into plot, as it has been covered in many reviews, but I will say it is clichéd. The military boot-camp stereotypes have all been done before and with much more depth. These characters seemed one-dimensional and lackluster development left me indifferent to their fates. Some of the dialogue was corny to the point of cringe-worthy and the actors (including some of the adults) lacked the presence to pull off their roles and really set the scene.Given the relatively small budget some of these things can be understood but the hackneyed plot is not one of them. The special effects were good, despite said constraints, but too many "bullet time" segments bogged the action down. All in all I was disappointed by Halo 4: Forward Until Dawn and I (like many others I'm sure) am still praying for a Blomkamp/Jackson treatment of the source material.I do not believe that 10/10 rankings of an obviously flawed series/movie will get us there.