halo, the next generation

I've got mixed emotions about this bit of news: Halo: The Movie. Alex Garland (28 Days Later, The Beach) has written a movie script based on the XBOX game Halo. Insiders at Bungie, who created and developed Halo: CE and Halo 2 and are responsible for the story, who have read the script says it's quite good. I didn't like 28 Days Later, and have not seen The Beach, so Garland isn't a stellar writer in my limited view opinion. I'll give Garland this, the story for 28 Days later wasn't bad, the movie itself wasn't what I was expecting. My mixed view not only comes from my experience with Garland, but with movies based on games that have come out in the past. Mortal Kombat. Street Fighter. Any sequels of either. I won't go on.

Not only that, but I personally have high, nay, astronomical expectations for a Halo movie. And a lot of questions. Will it be Halo:CE? Halo 2? Backstory? Inbetween story? What exactly will be in the movie? THe current Halo story is chock-full of open endedness to allow adventerous gamers to develop therioes to explain missing details. The games and books provide just enough detail to make you want to know more. I'm leary of the movie watering everything down to be forced feed to the masses, and in doing so, losing much of the charm and appeal of the Halo story and Halo universe.

Then what of the budget? I'm reading that Fox and Universal have picked the script up....no word yet on being green-lit, so who knows if the movie will even be made, but both Fox and Universal have some deep, deep pockets. With enough resources, the money can be spent to create special effects that will do the Halo game justice. I hope the director, producer and cinematic director, etc, etc are all good at sci-fi to really get the fear, feel, and desperation of the Halo sotry to life. Can you imagine the first sighting of an 8-foot tall Elite holding an Energy Sword? Or the drowing feeling of swarms and swarms of Flood? There better not be a damn seat that's not pissed in when the movie is done. Or, my personal favorite Covenant spieces, Hunters warming up thier fuel rod cannon and taking a shot just missing you overhead? I'm getting chills just thinking about it. A generous budget would allow for jaw-dropping, pants-pissing effects.

I expect only the absolute best from a Halo movie. Shortcommings can be excused to a certian extent on the video game, due to physical limitation of the hardware, but with no hardware to get in the way, a Halo movie should be beautiful, thrilling, scary, heroric, and adrenaline inducing all rolled up in one, slightly shiny, green suit of aromor.