Ex-Halo Director Calls Master Chief a Victim

[John Funk]

Ex-Halo Director Calls Master Chief a Victim

Neill Blomkamp, director of the acclaimed District 9, may no longer be involved with the scrapped Halo movie, but he still loves the Master Chief - to Blomkamp, he's "a victim of this military-industrial complex."

Back in July, hadn't lucked out after all [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93447-No-More-Halo-for-Peter-Jackson].

Speaking with Steven Spielberg [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/district_9/news/1842105/2/neill_blomkamp_talks_district_9_rt_interview]), Blomkamp said that it was unlikely, but he was still fascinated by the game's setting and its characters - particularly the Master Chief.

[blockquote]But the flip side is that the reason I wanted to do Halo in the first place, and the reason I was so energised to do Halo, is that creatively I love it. I totally love the universe of Halo on every level. Not only is it this epic space saga but Master Chief is such an awesome character. This guy - whether he knows it or not - is a victim of this military-industrial complex. It's a totally compelling world to be involved in. So on a creative level I'd love to go back there, but I probably would say no.[/blockquote]

The difference between the humans-and-aliens dynamic in District 9 and that in Halo, said Blomkamp, is that one is just our modern-day society, while one is our society hundreds of years in the future. "Most of the work we were doing on Halo - I mean we were designing the Covenant and all of the aliens but predominantly the thing that interested me was the human side of it, which District 9 has none of. The humans are just humans here," he elaborated. "In Halo, it's many hundreds of years in the future with a totally different society - that's really what I was getting into. And the technology and the Pillar Of Autumn and Reach - all that stuff."

A victim of the military-industrial complex, eh? Well... yeah, okay, reading the backstory and the books, I guess one could make that argument. And here I thought he was just some guy in power armor who shot aliens in the face.

(Via MTV Multiplayer [http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2009/09/21/neill-blomkamp-dubs-master-chief-a-victim-of-the-military-industrial-complex/])

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[Katherine Kerensky]

Oh, poor superhuman masterchief, who picks bullets out of his teeth with a crowbar.
and he never gets a second chance, what with all those respawns.
Of course he's a victim. it's always bad to be the equivalent of a [diety] on the battlefield.

 

[Legion]

Oh, poor superhuman masterchief, who picks bullets out of his teeth with a crowbar.
and he never gets a second chance, what with all those respawns.
Of course he's a victim.

In the film I seriously doubt re-spawns are likely... If you look at the story of Halo he is indeed a victim.

When discussing a games story it's best to forget game-play mechanics.

 

[AboveUp]

Oh, poor superhuman masterchief, who picks bullets out of his teeth with a crowbar.
and he never gets a second chance, what with all those respawns.
Of course he's a victim. it's always bad to be the equivalent of a [diety] on the battlefield.

Actually, if I'm not mistaken, the manual of the first Halo game already tells us part of the reason he's a victim.
As a child the government kidnaps him, replaces him with a clone so his family won't know he's gone and then train him to be a super soldier. Most other people died of the training and he's pretty much the only one in decent enough shape to go put in a piece of armor and fight so they push him into the battlefield.
He never really gets a choice in the matter.

I'm not a big Halo fan, but I liked the idea that Master Chief isn't the legendary destined one who gets every good thing thrown at him like a lot of other gaming characters are.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

It disappoints me that I won't see Blomkamp get his hands on that film, it sounded like he could have made something great.

...But I'll be damned if the trade off wasn't worth it.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

Oh, poor superhuman masterchief, who picks bullets out of his teeth with a crowbar.
and he never gets a second chance, what with all those respawns.
Of course he's a victim.

In the film I seriously doubt re-spawns are likely... If you look at the story of Halo he is indeed a victim.

When discussing a games story it's best to forget game-play mechanics.

wait, this is about the movie only? I thought it was about him being a victim, while on the side being about the movie. with him as a victim. I've confused myself.

damn, this isn't my day.
I shouldn't of made that deal last night...

 

[Chipperz]

Oh, poor superhuman masterchief, who picks bullets out of his teeth with a crowbar.
and he never gets a second chance, what with all those respawns.
Of course he's a victim. it's always bad to be the equivalent of a [diety] on the battlefield.

In the story, there are no respawns. You're thinking of the multiplayer based on the story.

I can definitely see Blomkamp's view. This is a guy who was kidnapped as a young child to be raised as a super-soldier, who will never know his family, and who has been forced into a life of constant combat. It's hard to not see him as a victim, really.

 

[Legion]

Oh, poor superhuman masterchief, who picks bullets out of his teeth with a crowbar.
and he never gets a second chance, what with all those respawns.
Of course he's a victim.

In the film I seriously doubt re-spawns are likely... If you look at the story of Halo he is indeed a victim.

When discussing a games story it's best to forget game-play mechanics.

wait, this is about the movie only? I thought it was about him being a victim, while on the side being about the movie. with him as a victim. I've confused myself.

damn, this isn't my day.
I shouldn't of made that deal last night...

He is a victim in Halo's story in general.

What I was saying is that you can't use game-play mechanics when judging a character in relation to the story.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I thought the reason most people like Master Chief was because he had no depth or emotion.

"It's an awesome robot dude with a huge gun! YEEEAAH!"

 

[HentMas]

Oh, poor superhuman masterchief, who picks bullets out of his teeth with a crowbar.
and he never gets a second chance, what with all those respawns.
Of course he's a victim. it's always bad to be the equivalent of a [diety] on the battlefield.

Actually, if I'm not mistaken, the manual of the first Halo game already tells us part of the reason he's a victim.
As a child the government kidnaps him, replaces him with a clone so his family won't know he's gone and then train him to be a super soldier. Most other people died of the training and he's pretty much the only one in decent enough shape to go put in a piece of armor and fight so they push him into the battlefield.
He never really gets a choice in the matter.

I'm not a big Halo fan, but I liked the idea that Master Chief isn't the legendary destined one who gets every good thing thrown at him like a lot of other gaming characters are.

OOOH!!! but you forgot that cortana chose him because he is "LUCKY"

and that sends all the rational arguments out of the window, a big "F**K U COMON SENSE"

and a stupid reason to point out why he is one of the last (if not the last) spartans, he "surpassed the odds" of his missions because of "luck".

but i liked the character nonetheless, it seems just that they could have said something different than "he survived because he is lucky" in my oppinion... character development would have being so much cooler than that.

also, does anyone can geniunely say they would like to see a "Halo" movie??, i mean, looking at the atrocities they had made based on video games i think it would be the last thing the "Halo" universe need... and another thing, focusing in the "human" society for 1000 years in the future seems soo... normal, i would definetly focus on the "alien" aspect seing that a bunch of races so technologicaly advanced as to create life ends up as a bunch of religious fanatics and nutcases looks more interesting than "look!!, he is from the future!!"

 

[TsunamiWombat]

I thought the reason most people like Master Chief was because he had no depth or emotion.

"It's an awesome robot dude with a huge gun! YEEEAAH!"

That is a symptom of Bungie's inability to motherfucking write, not the actual character itself.

 

[Eruanno]

I've always looked on Master Chief as "Oh look, yet ANOTHER space marine..."
And yeah, he absorbs damage like a sponge (if given the time to hide between a waist-high cover so his shields can regenerate), which is kinda cool I suppose. But still, he's a little bland.

 

[Woodsey]

It's such a shame he's been vitcimised as well, because his character is oh so unique...

 

[Proteus214]

It disappoints me that I won't see Blomkamp get his hands on that film, it sounded like he could have made something great.

...But I'll be damned if the trade off wasn't worth it.

The notion of a Halo movie will never leave until it actually get made. Bungie seriously wants a Halo movie...badly, and they will most likely do whatever they can to make it a success. I just hope it doesn't become a bloated fan wank shit fest like Transformers ended up being.

 

[Woodsey]

I thought the reason most people like Master Chief was because he had no depth or emotion.

"It's an awesome robot dude with a huge gun! YEEEAAH!"

That is a symptom of Bungie's inability to motherfucking write, not the actual character itself.

That makes no sense to me.

If a character is purely fictional and the people who created and write about him don't give him any depth, then how can he have depth?

 

[Legion]

I thought the reason most people like Master Chief was because he had no depth or emotion.

"It's an awesome robot dude with a huge gun! YEEEAAH!"

That is a symptom of Bungie's inability to motherfucking write, not the actual character itself.

That makes no sense to me.

If a character is purely fictional and the people who created and write about him don't give him any depth, then how can he have depth?

He has depth, it wasn't translated well into the games.

The same way Gears of War has quite a deep story but it was poorly written into the game-play itself.

 

[wolfy098]

I would love to see a halo movie

I really need to read the books because they seem really interesting

BTW the Arbiter is so sexy

If they made a Halo movie

(this isn't a flame for once)

Unless they ignored Master Chief it would either Involve him killing loads of creatures...
Which would be predictable

Or he would look like he dies
Still predictable

Or he would really die
At which point they would all be shot by Master Cheif fanatics

It's a lose, lose, Megalose situation

 

[Anton P. Nym]

I thought the reason most people like Master Chief was because he had no depth or emotion.

"It's an awesome robot dude with a huge gun! YEEEAAH!"

He's both a floor wax and a dessert topping.

One of the reasons I grew to be such a fan of Bungie in general is that their games often work on multiple levels. Want a slam-bam actioner? Go ahead and skip the cutscenes; the game's still playable. Want a game with a deep backstory? Take a good, close look at the hidden clues in game and read the supporting media.

The Chief can be an empty vessel, if you want, or a heroic victim of sinister forces, if you want. (A look at the backing fiction shows that maybe us Humans aren't the "good guys" we appear at first glance...) And that's what I love about the series.

-- Steve

 

[TotallyFake]

I would love to see a halo movie

I really need to read the books because they seem really interesting

BTW the Arbiter is so sexy

If they made a Halo movie

(this isn't a flame for once)

Unless they ignored Master Chief it would either Involve him killing loads of creatures...
Which would be predictable

Or he would look like he dies
Still predictable

Or he would really die
At which point they would all be shot by Master Cheif fanatics

It's a lose, lose, Megalose situation

You do know you just destroyed your own argument in your first line? The Blomkamp stated before that MC wouldn't be the central character as he would be too predictable. Instead he'd be "the most important secondary character" which I think could be quite cool. Do it as an ensemble piece, show how the marines react to hordes of aliens and this genetically engineered cyborg death machine.