HALO: NIGHTFALL is the live action prequel to the HALO 5: GUARDIANS video game.   Like with HALO: FORWARD ONTO DAWN, they produced a live action prequel to a HALO video game to give a deeper experience for those who play the games and also giving an opportunity for people who don’t play the games (like me) a door into the HALO universe.  HALO: NIGHTFALL begins with ONI intelligence agent Locke following a Covenant soldier into the Sedran city (on the remote outer colony of Sedra) where a chemical attack is set off.   Further intelligence of the attack traces the origin of chemical agent to a fragment of a destroyed Halo ring.   ONI soldiers and Sedran soldiers team up for a mission to go to this ring fragment where they have to land on it at night (when temperatures are tolerable) to plant a bomb to destroy it.   Attacks on technology by alien worms force the team to go on a mission to retrieve the bomb and get off before sunrise where not all may be able to get off the ring.

HALO: NIGHTFALL is another great live action entry in the HALO series and 343 Industries is able to do a lot with the limited budget that Microsoft gave to it.   The Belfast and Iceland locations add lots of production value along with not bad CG effects, a good cast, and the production assistance of Scott Free.   I just wonder when Microsoft will take the leap to finally fund a proper HALO movie since many fans of the game would like to see a movie based on one of the games and feature Master Chief as one of the main characters. HALO: NIGHTFALL is a good sci-fi production to be enjoyed by sci-fi and Halo fans alike.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

There are eight featurettes that cover the development and making-of HALO: NIGHTFALL that has interviews with cast and crew along with behind-the-scenes footage and clips from HALO: NIGHTFALL in addition to the challenges faced by cast and crew when filming in Iceland:

BEYOND THE GAME- EXPANDING THE HALO UNIVERSE

CANNON FIRE: DEVELOPING THE STORY OF HALO: NIGHT FALL

OLD DOGS & NEW TRICKS: THE TECH OF HALO: NIGHTFALL

TRY TO KEEP UP- THE STUNTS OF HALO: NIGHTFALL

RETURN OF THE RING- THE LOCATIONS OF HALO: NIGHTFALL

HEROES EVOLVED- INRODUCING AGENT LOCKE

CHARACTER BUILDING- THE CAST OF HALO: NIGHTFALL

NEW HORIZONS- FORGING THE WORLDS OF HAL: NIGHTFALL

SECOND STORIES story extras/ mini-sodes unfortunately lack a play all option and you have to play them all separately and below is the order you should watch them in.  You get enough additional details about the universe of NIGHTFALL and get to see some of the characters of the movie appear in some these stories as you see the events unfold before and after the chemical attack on the Sedran city:

OUTBOUND CARGO Part 1/ OUTBOUND CARGO Part 2/ ROHEN BORDER SECURITY/ INDEBTED TRAVELERS/ COOPERATIVE PROTOCOL/ QUARTERMASTER/ SEED OF HONOR/ COMPLIANCE/ TRADE BARRIERS/ THE PATH OF BELIEF/ EXPOSURE/ RECON 14/ WALK THE PATH/ UNIT-54/ SOLDIER WITHIN/

FINAL ANALYSIS: HALLO: NIGHTFALL is another great entry to the HALO universe as well as a good sci-fi production along with well-produced extras to give more insight into the world of HALO: NIGHTFALL and the making of thie slive action prequel to HALO 5.

This review is ©3-22-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

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