20130528, mardi

A. Watched Halo 4: Forward unto Dawn.

1. 91 minutes, 2012, supposedly in HD.
2. Watched on my high-def computer setup.
   
3. Lighting problems: many.  There was often too little light to make anything out.
4. Contrast--often too little to separate objects visually.  Characters often said, 'what is that?'
   
5. #2 and #3 combine to give bad-looking, washed-out greyscale for about 30% of the film.
6. When colour was present, it was frequently the ugly yellow-green of fluorescent lamps.
7. It's fugly.  It's repellant.  It's eye-strain with no payoff.
   
8. The reviews in imdb were predictable.  Die-hard Halo console fans/players loved it; those who can apply a critical eye to films generally did not care for it as much.
9. The acting was uninspired because the screen play sucked, which meant the actors had little to work with.  Character development left me anti-interested in all characters except perhaps Lasky and Master Chief.
10. I was quite impressed by the abject poverty on the Halo universe: short on ideas, short on plot, short on characterisation, short on economic reality, short on good exposition.  What groups actually produce anything in this universe?  Only the Insurrectionists, who are farmers by and large, the people who produce the food.  Most of the first half (plus) of the film is spent trying to convince the protagonist that it is morally imperative to kill the farmers.  Great future, folks.
11. I gave this film one star of five.  I wish that I could have given it negative three (three steps below zero).