I agree that a Halo Reach style assassination would have been much more enjoyable and fit the scene (the Elite was lethal looking and that sword looked menacing) I think 343i was paying "homage" to the Halo "gun/elbow back to the head" melee. Quick, efficient, anti-climatic and lacking any drama. I was pretty happy to see how Bungie added a ton of specialized melees in Reach but I think here in FUD, like the pistol scene, were paying "homage."
I watched again and they really missed opportunities for some bad ass lines. The games and books have a LOT of great material. John 117 doesn't say much, but when and what he says always fits in well. The
wikia on MC is really cool so there is no excuse for the poor writing. I thought the abandoned movie did it right: if you cannot get good words in MC's mouth then don't have him say anything (in that draft he spend a quarter of the movie being the ultimate hyper-lethal killing machine and when he finally says one small sentence it really resonates that he will back up anything he says). Here, in FUD, he is more of a lumbering robot on a first aid baby sitting mission.
If they ever do make a movie they need to get away from some of the nastalgia and play to the strengths. The pistol scene was fine as it wasn't overt (MC just mowing down peeps with the mag) but the melee on the Elite lacked power. This Elite had just wiped out the base. A better scene would have been this HUGE Elite with a death dripping plasma sword having his head complete wrenched around effortlessly and the lifeless body being tossed to the side to reveal the massive Spartan behind him or something akin to the sword being wrenched backwards and stolen, arm being broken, and then plunged into the back of the Elite upward, lifting it off the ground, and then violently tossed just like the games. Instead MC punches a locked locker. Ho hum.
That said the Elites in FUD are what the games should be striving for. I already said the weapons (sword, needlers, carbines, etc) all look really cool but the Covenant look great:
They look strong, muscular, but agile. They also look completely menacing and not goofy. MC in some shots also looks good,
like this but other times he looks like a guy walking on stilts in a foam suit. The
ODSTs look very good as well.
I personally liked the episode, it reminded me a little of Battlestar Galatactica. I thought the action was good and the young actors OK but I think the script and lines remains stilted. And as good as the props are it seems fairly sterile at times and the world very sparse. But that is what you get from trying to make an action filled made for TV movie. But I like scifi and it scratches the itch for me.
