Paramount+’s ‘Halo’ Series Premiere (SXSW) Non-Spoiler Review – “Contact” & “Unbound”

After development hell and network hopping, Halo: The Series is finally here. Ending up at Showtime as a production underneath them and being released on Paramount+, Spartan 117 has hit the silver screen. With much division between the Halo fanbase leading up to the launch, does the series stick the landing? Or does it fall short with its effort?

Halo: The Series was created and developed by Steven Kane and Kyle Killen.

This is a non-spoiler review of the first 2 episodes, so no need to worry about any episodic spoilers below.

Plot Synopsis

According to Paramount, here is the plot synopsis for episodes 1 and 2 of Halo: The Series.

Episode 1: “Contact” In the year 2552, humans on the planet Madrigal have been fighting for independence from Earth, but a fatal encounter with the Alien Covenant complicates things. Master Chief John 117 and his super-soldier “Spartans” join the fight. After the battle, Master Chief heads to his home planet of Reach with a Madrigal survivor and a mysterious object he discovered on the planet. But a controversial order has John questioning his mission, and himself.

Paramount

Episode 2: “Unbound” John takes Kwan to an old friend and learns more about the mystery object, which the Covenant and Makee are determined to steal. With the alien threat growing, Dr. Halsey has a plan to deal with John’s unpredictable behavior.

Paramount

The Story of Halo

For all who may not know, Halo is one of the most popular and successful video game franchises in history. With its first release dating back to November 15th, 2001, the Halo franchise has been Microsoft and Xbox’s frontrunner to represent the company. If you think of Xbox, you think of Halo.

The Halo franchise, as of writing this, spans 8 main entries into the series, with 8 spin-offs as well to back it up. The release order for the series is as follows:

• Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)
• Halo 2 (2004)
• Halo 3 (2007)
• Halo Wars (2009)
• Halo 3: ODST (2009)
• Halo: Reach (2010)
• Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (2011)
• Halo 4 (2012)
• Halo: Spartan Assault (2013)
• Halo: The Master Chief Collection (2014)
• Halo: Spartan Strike (2015)
• Halo 5: Guardians (2015)
• Halo Wars 2 (2017)
• Halo Recruit (2017)
• Halo: Fireteam Raven (2018)
• Halo Infinite (2021)

Halo was developed and made by Bungie from 2001-2010. Most notably today Bungie is known for currently running the Destiny franchise, which just netted them a purchase to become a Playstation studio.

From 2010 to now, Bungie passed on the Halo franchise to 343 Industries, a studio created specifically to helm and keep Halo going for the fans and gamers alike.

Being a massive Halo fan since I was little, I will do my best to summarize what the video game series is about, to be able to compare it to the series as the first season plays out:

In the 26th century, humanity has moved to the stars and began to colonize. Underneath the UNSC (United Nations Space Command), humanity has spread to far reaches of the galaxy and has bred life to many other planets.

Due to many civilizations spawning on different planets, some of the civilizations decide they want to secede from underneath the UNSC’s control, which then causes a civil war between the UNSC and so-called “Insurrectionists”.

This civil war spawns a new breed of soldier for the UNSC, Spartans. Spartans are cybernetically enhanced super-soldiers, standing well at 7 feet tall and above with strength and speed comparable to legends. Wearing MJOLNIR armor, a highly advanced suit with a reinforced titanium alloy, and wielding weapons no normal human could pick up. The UNSC uses these Spartans to crush the insurrectionists’ attempt to leave, taking out every single one if they have to.

And finally, this brings us to where Halo’s story actually begins in the games:

During the middle of the civil war, an alliance of alien species known as The Covenant begins to attack random planets around the galaxy, “glassing” them. The UNSC is on the run, and The Covenant just glassed the planet Reach.

You play as a Spartan, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, or better known as just the Master Chief. You wake up out of cryosleep to your ship being invaded by The Covenant, and you crash land on a massive installation in space, a Halo Ring.

Up against an armada of aliens, it’s up to you and your brand new AI Cortana to figure out what The Covenant is, why it is attacking, what it’s looking for, what the Halo Rings are, and of course, finish the fight.

Phew! Trust me when I tell you that is purely off of memory and trying to keep it simple for anyone who hasn’t played the games before. Halo’s story expands well beyond games into short films and books and comics too, this is just the shortest summary for the beginning of the game.

Finally, how does the show compare to the story the game sets up?

Lore Galore

The show itself takes many risks to deviate a lot from the source material without trying to brush off the Halo fans that made the game what it is today. I am a lot more open-minded than some of the fanbase, and some of the changes they make I can tell are gonna upset some hardcore fans. But for me and casual viewers who are being introduced to the Halo universe through the show, it’s still just gory, sci-fi fun.

But need not worry for the hardcore fans, in the two episodes I have seen, it is flooded with lore and references to events in the games and story beats that carry the game’s plot. With appearances from the Elites (Sangehli) wielding their energy swords and their plasma rifles, the high prophets of The Covenant (San’Shyuum), Mercy, Truth, and Regret, and more of the iconic roles and species in The Covenant I wanna keep secret due to not being shown in the trailers. Plus, I bet you’ll geek out as much as I did seeing fan-favorite species in live-action for the first time.

I also picked up on some story influences from certain books, specifically Halo: The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund. The book was the very first Halo novel, being released back in 2001 underneath the then newly formed Halo Story Bible to keep continuity and canon in check. It takes place over a couple of decades before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved and shows the UNSC’s battle with The Covenant on different planets through Master Chief’s point of view, leading directly into the first game.

The way they went about creating a new story for Master Chief to experience in the television show, by taking key notes from major events and fan-favorite moments while creating original story beats to combine with the old, was pretty spot on for me. The series is over two decades old now, and the series is not canon to the games, so it makes sense to freshen things up for a brand new audience they could be reaching nowadays, and bring a lot of people to the game series itself.

Cast and Crew

The cast and crew according to IMDB are as stated:

• Pablo Schreiber – Master Chief
• Natascha McElhone – Dr. Catherine Halsey
• Yerin Ha – Quan Ah
• Bokeem Woodbine – Soren-066
• Jen Taylor – Cortana
• Shabana Azmi – Admiral Margaret Parangosky
• Olive Gray – Dr. Miranda Keyes
• Charlie Murphy – Makee
• Kate Kennedy – Kai-225
• Bentley Kalu – Vannak-134
• Natasha Culzac – Riz-028
• Ryan McParland – Adun
• Casper Knopf – Young Johnsilve

Bringing in this cast had a lot of challenges, especially when it comes to casting the one and only Master Chief. I can say with a lot of confidence that Pablo Schreiber is excellent as Master Chief, and I absolutely cannot wait to see more of him in the rest of the season. He nails the stoic tone and vibe of Master Chief, and excellently portrays the emotional and conflicted side as well with just his voice since his helmet is on 90 percent of the time.

Another standout for me was Natascha McElhone as Halsey. Halsey in the games is the original creator of the Spartan program and Cortana. McElhone embraces the two sides of Halsey perfectly, showing a woman who cares about the Spartans as her own children, but also an egocentric scientist who is too arrogant for their own good sometimes.

The supporting cast is excellent as well, with Master Chief’s Silver Team of Spartans showing how close to family Spartan teams can get over the years. Kudos to Bokeem Woodbine, Kate Kennedy, and Bentley Kalu for doing excellent jobs as Soren-066, Kai-225, and Vannak-134 respectfully.

Budget Issues?

Here comes the one big thing that irked me in the slightest, the apparent division of how much budget went to certain shots and whatnot. During a lot of the big battle scenes that had wider views of the battle, the CGI was not the greatest, it’s not bottom-tier CGI but, it could definitely be much, much better.

When I’m seeing Master Chief kick major ass, it is kind of depressing in some points to be pulled out of the immersion by seeing a CGI model clearly clip or seem bouncy. I caught some of the quick editings they used to try and cover it up, and many casual viewers may let it slip by but, my brain could not get over it.

But here’s the other side of the coin, when we get to see up-close shots of some Elites or slow-motion shots of certain fights, the CGI is impeccable! Some of the Elites genuinely looked like they were living and breathing right in front of me, with perfect lighting and facial animation alike.

My take and personal opinion is that I would like a middle ground, where the fights can look better to keep the immersion, but tone down the realism of some of the aliens, because we all know they’re not real. I don’t need to think they are, I just need to feel like I’m in Halo.

Thoughts and Remaining Episodes of Halo

Halo: The Series is a fun joyride so far off of these first two episodes. Is it perfect? Not by any means. But it truly is a fresh take on the lore and story of what made the games so special. The little jitters of excitement I got hearing a shield charge up, all the classic weapon sounds, even some very cheesy POV shots meant to mimic the games got me going, this show just hit all the right Halo points for me.

Pablo Schreiber just absolutely kills it as Master Chief as I stated before, with very big shoes to fill with the iconic voice of the Chief himself, Steve Downes, I think Schreiber went the perfect direction of not trying to mimic Downes’ voice, but to create his own voice for Master Chief that just works.

For the rest of season 1, I am balls to the wall in. I can look past some cheesy and wonky CGI, for that perfect Halo moment where the organs, violin, and opera kick in and Master Chief goes to town on some Covenant ass.

Stay tuned for more of my coverage of Halo: The Series over the span of the season! And of course…

Finish the Fight.

Let me know your thoughts on these episodes when it releases on The Cinema Spot‘s socials, here on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!