Critics are split on Paramount+’s new Halo series

As networks look for more sci-fi and fantasy television shows, many are turning to video game adaptations. HBO Max is developing The Last of Us, Netflix has Arcane, Amazon is working on Fallout and eyeing Mass Effect and God of War, and so on.

And Paramount+ has Halo. The show has been in development since way back in 2013, long before Paramount+ was even a blip on the horizon. Now it’s slated to be one of the streaming platform’s flagship releases of 2022.

Halo’s March 24 premiere date is just around the corner, which means we’re finally starting to get more looks at the long-awaited show. Case in point: Halo premiered its first two episodes at SXSW over the weekend, and Paramount+ has just dropped a brand new trailer. Here it is, in all its spacefaring, alien-battling glory:

Master Chief isn’t the only important character in Halo

This latest trailer focuses a lot less on the Master Chief (Pablo Schrieber) punching aliens in the face and more on introducing us to the rest of the cast. Which is totally fine, really. We have a pretty decent idea of what to expect from the Master Chief. He’s a genetically enhanced super soldier who fights aliens to protect humanity, full stop.

As for the rest of the story, there seems to be a rift between Doctor Halsey (Natasha McElhone), who is responsible for the creation of the Spartan super soldiers, and the rest of humanity’s military industrial complex. One of the few details we know about this season is that the Master Chief will start breaking from his ingrained protocols and start acting more on his own. The ethics of creating these super-soldiers will likely be a big talking point. The trailer also gives us glimpses of some of the Covenant aliens. They look pretty decent so far.

But for me, the real star of the trailer was the brief bit of the actual Halo video game theme that played over the closing logo. Halo’s iconic theme was notably absent from the show’s previous trailer, so it was nice to hear it here. I hope it features in the show at some point.

Critics are mixed on Halo

Paramount+ also released the first two episodes of Halo to critics. The reviews are starting to roll in, and they’re about as mixed as you’d expect for a big budget series based on a shoot ’em up video game series.

“Creators Kyle Killen and Steven Kane have adapted Halo in a way that basically renders it — with the emphasis on ‘basic’ — a clone of The Mandalorian (or Sweet Tooth or The Road or Lone Wolf and Cub),” wrote The Hollywood Reporter’s  Daniel Feinberg. “Boasting no technological innovation to speak of, few performances to offer meaningful grounding and only limited action thrills, Halo is aggressively forgettable, which is at least several steps up from ‘bad.’”

“It’s worrisome to count zero moments of real awe in the two episodes Paramount+ made available to critics,” Entertainment Weekly’s Darren Franich said. “After 21 years, Halo has enough history for its own endless prequel circling.”

There were some positive reviews, though. “Not everyone that watches the show will have years of experience with Master Chief, but for those that do, it only makes the moments where Schreiber is fully armored up, taking on Elites with precision that much sweeter,” said Comicbook.com’s Rollin Bishop. “Having seen roughly two hours of Halo, I am confident enough in it to say that I will be sticking around to finish the fight.”

In addition to Schrieber as the Master Chief, Halo also stars Natascha McElhone, Bokeem Woodbine, Shabana Azmi, Natasha Culzac, Olive Gray, Yerin Ha, Bentley Kalu, Kate Kennedy, Charlie Murphy, Danny Sapani, Ryan McParland, Burn Gorman and Fiona O’Shaughnessy. The show also has Jen Taylor returning as the Master Chief’s AI companion Cortana, a role she originated in the video games.

Halo premieres March 24 on Paramount+. The show has already been renewed for a second season.

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h/t Syfy Wire