SHOW:
Halo
WHERE TO WATCH:
OUR RATING:
3.5/5 Stars
WHAT IT'S ABOUT:
Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced super-soldier, defends humanity from the alien Covenant in the 26th century.
WHAT WE THOUGHT:
You don't even have to know much about video games to know about Halo. It's a hallmark in the world of first-person shooters, helmed by the mysterious Master Chief - a super-soldier of few words directed by a super AI Cortana. As a playable character, these traits served that character well as anyone could place themselves in his shoes while fighting off Covenant armies.
Despite some backlash from fans, this version of Master Chief would not have served a Halo TV series well, where you'd need your main character to say at least a few more words. Instead of linking it up directly to the decades-spanning game franchise, the Paramount+ (available on Showmax) version offers its own separate storyline that 'better serves' the streaming medium, perfect for sci-fi fans with little knowledge of the game.
In this Halo, we are introduced to the Spartans - super-soldiers enhanced and trained from childhood to be efficient, order-taking killing machines. Led by Master Chief - or John - an encounter with the Covenant and an ancient artefact leads him down a dangerous path to a mysterious potential weapon. Along the way, he rediscovers his humanity and the secrets that the army has kept from him all his life.
While there are many changes, the show does try to pander to its original fans, with action scenes designed to fit Halo's gameplay right in the beginning and end and having the original Cortana voice artist reprise her role in the series. But it loses that appeal almost in the first episode when Master Chief takes off his helmet and rarely puts it on again except when in battle. This might have been a better reveal if kept for a little later in the series with more buildup, but they thought it would 'restrain' the performance (should have taken some notes from The Mandalorian). Despite this take on the problem with 'helmet acting', Pablo Schreiber did a decent job with the layered character development of Master Chief, with a broad-minded mix of toughness and tenderness that fused well together.
My favourite, however, was Spartan Kai-125, played by Kate Kennedy from the world of video game voice acting. She was so delightful, and her metamorphosis had a separate direction to Master Chief, rediscovering her playfulness rather once she starts rebelling against her programming. I literally held my breath every time she was in a dangerous situation because I was convinced they made her so likeable just to break the audience's heart.
The story, on the other hand, has a few hiccups at the start where the focus is on some necessary worldbuilding, but it gets into the groove after episode three, when we get a peek into the Covenant's plans and everything starts getting direction. Hopefully, we find out a little more about this alien alliance and what started the war with humanity in the already green-lit second season.
The one major snag in the series is the insidiously tedious side-story of Kwan Ha - which even got a whole episode dedicated to it. Saved by the Spartans from a Covenant attack on her home, the teenage Kwan does everything she can to live up to her family's rebellion for her planet's independence. Initially, it seemed like she would have been a humanising sidekick to Master Chief, but instead was passed off to a discount Spartan that ran away from the programme, and they went on their own adventures almost completely separate from the main story. It was such a boring part of the whole show, derisively tacked on for some diversity points instead of being authentically built into the main story. The character and actor deserved better than that lazy writing detour into mediocrity.
Moving on from that, if a sci-fi military jaunt into the universe with mysterious space science sounds like your jam, you'll definitely have fun with Halo. And if you're a diehard game fan, I think give the series a chance - you might find a more nuanced approach to Master Chief that couldn't have happened if they didn't stray from the original source.
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE: