Halo | SXSW 2022 TV Series Review

A long gestation period has teased and tortured Halo fans for well over a decade. Filmmakers Neill Blomkamp and Peter Jackson both took a swing at the property (I personally was most intrigued by Blomkamp’s vision), and now we have abandoned a feature film for a big-budget 9 episode series – which is already renewed for season two – on Paramount+, this time shepherded by the legendary Steven Spielberg. Finally, Master Chief has arrived.

We open on the planet of Madrigal, centered on a very Tatooine-looking outpost where the residents are financially strapped and love to spin ghost stories. These tales in particular revolve around the “Spartans”, a team of governmental super-soldiers who police the galaxy, and who this community have come to see as a group of boogeymen. One young teenager, Kwan (expertly cast newcomer Yerin Ha), is fiercely unafraid of exploration as she combs the planet in search of adventure. Unfortunately, her quest bites off more than she can chew and lands her smack at the feet of the Covenant, a culmination of monstrous alien races seemingly bent on the destruction of humanity… and they have found a magical rock of sorts on Madrigal, which could change the tide of the war.

As the Covenant descends on the people of Madrigal, our team of Spartans arrive, and Master Chief receives the superhero landing a character as iconic as his deserves. What follows is one of the more exciting TV action set-pieces of recent years, rivaling Game of Thrones even, where the Spartans take the Covenant head on. There are numerous nods and respects paid to the fans here, including several shots underneath the helmet to give you the Spartan visual gamers are accustomed to, visceral violence and head-popping (oh yea, Halo is not afraid to explode some noggins), and the sound every fan of the games knows oh so well: that glorious effect of a Spartan’s armor recharging. The crowd in the Paramount Theatre at SXSW lost their damn minds during this battle scene, and even on your couch it’s hard not to pump your fist as this insanity plays out. The entirety of this opus was beautifully executed and shot by director Otto Bathurst and his team.

Back at the United Nations Space Command (UNSC), Dr. Catherine Halsey (Natascha McElhone) heads up the Spartan program. As Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) has come in contact with the Covenant artifact, Halsey has noticed a distinct change in his demeanor. His humanity has started to blossom, and the UNSC is concerned. It is here that the series begins to carve its own path in the Halo universe, as Master Chief emerges a protector of Kwan as things take a turn, and orders demand to be ignored.

During a recent conversation on why video game adaptations often fail, an important aspect that continued to come up was the director or showrunner’s incessant need to remain completely faithful to the games. This approach often ignores the fact that television and film are polar opposite mediums which cannot replicate that feeling a game gives you of interactivity and control. Here, showrunner Steven Kane understands this dilemma, and though he has claimed they “didn’t look at the game”, it is painfully obvious they dutifully examined the fandom because the aforementioned nods and respect to the character and world are present in spades.

There will be obvious comparisons to The Mandalorian because people are lazy and, well, “dude in a helmet”. But it should be noted that Master Chief was around long before Mando was, and the similarities are minimal at best. Also, the Halo series does the one thing the game refuses to, it looks deeply at the man under the helmet. This might piss off die-hards, but again, this is a different medium, and the story needs to be expanded to flesh this property out for a broader audience. Pablo Schreiber does an admirable job building Master Chief from merely a voice directing traffic, to a man on a mission to save humanity one life at a time.

Halo has had a bumpy road to the screen, but fans new and old alike should be more than entertained by the explorations of Master Chief and his evolving world. The Easter eggs are here, the appreciation for millions of Halo players are felt throughout, and the uninitiated are also gifted with a fantastical sci-fi sandbox to get excited about.

And as any Halo fan knows, Master Chief WILL finish this fight.

Follow our further discussion on this and over 25 other film and episodic premieres screened at SXSW 2022 via this episode of The Hollywood Outsider podcast: