Well-done story about cadets in the Halo-world military training facility. Would be better if people knew the Cortana and Master Chief story. As it is, slightly weak ending but fascinating storyline and good acting, filming and directing.

The first time I watched Forward Unto Dawn, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. My only exposure to Halo media was the multiplayer function in Halo 2.Despite that, FUD presented me with a story that made me care about the characters, it gave me enough information to understand some of what was going on, but not enough that I felt like I knew everything -- which I'm assuming was the goal, as the perspective we're given is that of the cadets at this officers' academy who also don't know the full story either.Some might call the buildup 'slow' or 'boring', but as a storyteller I can appreciate taking the time for your viewers to make some kind of connection to the characters before you throw them into the action and the chaos.FUD did a very good job of introducing The Master Chief, easily the most iconic character in the Halo franchise. As said before, I knew absolutely nothing about Halo when I started out, but the Chief's first appearance still had me jumping in my seat. It was very exciting, because even I knew that was when it was about to get REAL.I enjoyed the final confrontation with the Hunters at the end, and the appearance of the iconic Halo theme in the background when Master Chief defeated the last one. It was very dramatic, but in a good way.I also liked the inclusion of the other two Spartan-IIs we see in FUD - Fred-104 and Kelly-087. While not given much screen time, it's a nice nod to people who have been fans for a lot longer, who would recognize them.My one qualm is the death of Cadet Silva, as its only purpose seemed to be to inspire Cadet Lasky. Maybe that was just me. My honest rating -- 9.5/10

I found this on Netflix as a 91 minute "movie". As a fan of the video game franchise, I decided to watch it. As always I will evaluate this film as independent of the source material, but I will include some notes about the games.The film starts fairly typically, following the progress of a group of young cadets at a military academy. They are training to do battle with "the Insurrectionists"--a group of "terrorists" who may just be outworld farmers rebelling against taxes.Thomas Lasky (Tom Green) is the central character--a cadet who sees himself as a pacifist and who has trouble living up to the legacy of his military family. But all of the cadets are untested and have no idea how they would react under real fire.Their ivory tower dedication to the cause is jarringly interrupted by an actual attack, but the invaders are like nothing they have ever seen. How can they survive against a superior force of aliens?The photography and the music are both excellent, immersing the viewer into a dynamic and sometimes spooky conflict. But the story is disjointed, with significant parts left unexplained. The actors, though young, become believable as the action unfolds.I cannot give this film a good score, due to the deficiencies in the story. But I can recommend the film to anyone who loves the games, like I do. What fun to see the Master Chief come to life, to see great depictions of the warthog, the grunts and weapons like the needler. The various members of the Covenant, though only briefly depicted in some cases, were a joy to see.

In my opinion , this movie/web-series has been over-rated by Halo fans and in the end it will be to everyone's detriment. If Microsoft/343 Studios get the impression they can release something like this and hit one out of the park we will just see more of it in the future.As a Halo and Movie fan I believe this would be a shame. The source material (the Halo universe) has the potential to bring something truly great to the big screen but this is far from it.I won't go into plot, as it has been covered in many reviews, but I will say it is clichéd. The military boot-camp stereotypes have all been done before and with much more depth. These characters seemed one-dimensional and lackluster development left me indifferent to their fates. Some of the dialogue was corny to the point of cringe-worthy and the actors (including some of the adults) lacked the presence to pull off their roles and really set the scene.Given the relatively small budget some of these things can be understood but the hackneyed plot is not one of them. The special effects were good, despite said constraints, but too many "bullet time" segments bogged the action down. All in all I was disappointed by Halo 4: Forward Until Dawn and I (like many others I'm sure) am still praying for a Blomkamp/Jackson treatment of the source material.I do not believe that 10/10 rankings of an obviously flawed series/movie will get us there.