TheOvereducated

So, what the hardcore gamers watching this show wanted was a TV series that was all the cut-scenes of the Halo games just filmed with real humans. Just like the "fantastic" HBO series The last of us. What would be the point and the originality in that?? Just go watch another gamer on YouTube playing those games while filming themselves for crying out loud!

Instead, the bold, visionary people behind this series decided to create something original and very intriguing BASED on the awesome heroic Master Chief and the great Halo games. Hence, the first season was truly FANTASTIC! Story, characters, acting, visuals... quality TV. I was promoting the series to all my friends. I even got myself a very cool Master Chief figurine to put next to my TV, ha!

Yet, the hardcore gamers' voices got so loud apparently, that the people behind the show decided to switch gears in Season 2 and basically move backwards, aiming to undo Season 1's doings and create a copy of the games for a TV show. In doing so, I was left very disappointed, desperately hoping that at some point they will follow Season 1's original idea again and everything will make sense. At least those hardcore gamers got satisfied, right? You'd think they'd still enjoy a taste of originality.

Maybe I was not the original target audience or maybe those conservative voices were so loud online, that non-gamers got convinced they shouldn't even give the show a chance, dooming it to change its target audience, thus losing its original idea and its motivation, eventually getting canceled. It is definitely a bummer.

PS. Heey I still have the awesome figurine!

As unique and intriguing sci-fi Dune 1 was (10/10), Dune 2 was unfortunately a disappointment. It felt like a cheap copy of Dune 1. Dune 2 has shiny pictures, big actor names, yet no actual content.

There was almost nothing new, just a repetition of what we saw in Dune 1. The world, the story and the characters felt smaller. Seeing the same things (characters' actions, interactions, sceneries) again and again just made it boring. In the middle of the film I thought, I could leave right now and wouldn't care how the film ends. Did it have to be so long? There were a lot of insignificant scenes unrelated to each other that were too long (oh man and slow motion didn't help with that), while others related to character development were too short. It ended and not much of a story or character progress was made and nothing had stood out in my mind. Such a pity.

So many characters were badly developed. At one moment you see two characters still being in the same state they were in Dune 1 and at the next one they're deeply in love.

Why did they turn Bardem's character, a mysterious, strong and interesting character from Dune 1, into comic relief? Did we really need that?

(Too) late in the film we get introduced to Elvis, um sorry a bad guy - a totally generic character - and then we spend an oddly large amount of time just in the bad guy's world, where it feels as if a different film started in the middle of the actual one. Did they just randomly want to pay homage to "Gladiator"? Only Russell Crowe was missing from that scene sequence!

Lastly, they chose popular actors for small roles and cameos for no good reason. Was it for the hype? Christopher Walken's acting abilities were wasted. What did e.g. Taylor-Joy (The Queen's Gambit), Pugh (Oppenheimer) or Seydoux (No time to Die) bring to the table? Poor Seydoux, an actor I like, all her character's scenes were ridiculous, with the culmination being ******SPOILER****** her touching her belly after an implied sex scene and saying "The bloodline is secured."... I felt that the whole cinema wanted to laugh out loud with the ridiculousness of the scene!

I liked the trailer, so I wanted to watch the film. The film exceeded my expectations, I loved it! It has that awesome vibe of classic Disney live-action films and it's for the whole family. It reminded me a little of Casper and Goonies, that I last saw when I was a teenager. I am also impressed with how they managed to make a *supernatural horror* comedy, without it being actually frightening for (older) kids nor childish for adults. It's not at all easy. Classic Disney!

Intriguing story with great character development / Solid acting from everyone / Funny / Great sets / A lot of practical action and good CGI

And all of that just based on a Disney's theme park attraction? How cool is that! (It is about time for me to visit that attraction...) I had a great time at the cinema and I'll definitely watch it again in my home with my family.