Halo 3 Short Movie: Marines Vs. Brutes

Remember that little Weta Halo video that appeared at E3 and on Live Marketplace? Well, there’s another one ready to be enjoyed by the Halo faithful. But this time, instead of showcasing how close the ship designs are to the Alien films we see soldiers, Brutes, and a Warthog in action. While the video is clearly not as polished as what would appear in a feature film, it is still damn cool. Where the previous video made me shrug and say, “So what?” This time around I had to change my pants after watching two marines take down a Brute and get away in a Warthog.
The video, which you can find in decent quality below, will be going up on the Marketplace tomorrow. So, the choice is yours: see it now, sort of grainy; or watch it in HD glory tomorrow; or watch it on your smaller computer monitor in HD at this location. Here’s a secret; this doesn’t require HD viewing. Neil Blomkamp, who is a complete unknown director, directs the short film. But us Halo fans remember his name from when Peter Jackson personally chose him as director of the then in production Halo movie. After all these months of little positive word on the film’s fate it seems that Jackson and company are taking a guerilla tactic to getting the film made.
We wondered if the previous short was an indication of Jackson trying to convince wary studios to give the movie a chance. Hell, if they can butcher other games, why not give a try for a decent game to movie adaptation? The problem continues to be that Bungie wisely is not letting their baby out to be castrated by a misinformed boardroom of executives. The video below is only part one, but it’s enough to convince me that this movie needs to happen.
The video looks as good as we could hope for a concept idea. Although we’re still missing some Spartan action, that might come in the second half later on. But we do see some Brutes, and they look fantastic…for two seconds. There is only a brief moment where you see three Brutes walking towards the beginning of the video. The rest of the time they’re at a distance. The amount of money in CG costs would be ginormous for a mere marketing video. Plus, Andy Serkis might have been away on vacation and couldn’t offer his mo-cap skills.
OK, now for the video. Enjoy!
UPDATE: Microsoft sent along some behind the scenes pics, which we've generously shared with you below.
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