Movie Ruminations

You've seen the movie 50... 100 times. But does it make sense? Does it have to? A trooper runs into a hangar with three "grndsprtcrft" and two aliens. He attracts their attention and they follow him out. Later a trooper steals a "grndsprtcrft" from under the noses of two aliens. What's going on?

You got a theory? A good one? We'll post it here!


Eric Meyer writes:

Here's my theory on what's happening at the end of the movie. All times refer to the full "Halo_Big.mov", which is what I used to glean information.
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1:47 The marines arrive on a crest and spot the alien flyer on the riverbank below. (They may have already known it was there, thanks to the console work at the beginning of the movie, and are simply scouting the area for details.)

1:50 We see two aliens, one with a heavy shoulder-mount weapon and one with a smaller hand weapon.

1:56 Marine #2 (#1 is the one who crouched) signals to the jeep driver to move out.

2:08 The jeep shoots past us, but in the background, what's that at the base of the hill? Marine #1! He has apparently either run or jumped down the hill. What puzzles me here is that the aliens don't seem to notice him, but perhaps the jeep roaring down the road kept them distracted.

2:10 Marine #2 goes flying through the air; I assume either cybernetic enhancements of rocket boots. Take your pick. Marine #1 can be seen running from his position the base of the hill.

2:11 As Marine #2 runs toward the alien position, the jeep is just barely visible in the background, kicking up dust and dirt as it continues along the dirt road. We also see, in the same frame, a streak of light. This is the results of the second alien firing his hand weapon at the jeep.

2:11 Just one frame later, the marine is now in frame with the alien, but there's another smear back there-- not the jeep, but something else.

2:12 Marine #2 pulls up to the hand-weapon alien, who's still looking at the jeep. Where's the other alien? Probably the smear seen in the background at 2:11-- he's actually chasing after the jeep!

2:13 The second alien suddenly notices that there's a gun in his face, and decides to surrender. He's probably feeling pretty stupid at this point.

2:15 Marine #1 runs up to the flyer, preparatory to stealing it.

2:23 As the flyer heads into the sun, heavy weapons fire begins. But from where?

2:27 The whereabouts of the second alien are now revealed. Having fallen for the jeep's diversion, the alien now realizes that his chase has allowed the flyer to be stolen, and rather than let it be taken, he tried to shoot it down.

2:28 A reverse angle, which helps clarify a lot. From here, we can see the dirt road down which the jeep drove, and along which the chase alien must have run after the jeep, before noticing the flyer was being stolen. We can't see them in this movie, but Marine #1 and the captured alien must be somewhere to the left of the chase alien's firing position.

2:31 Another skyborne angle, but check out the 'vertical' dirt road along the left edge fo the screen. Up near the top of the frame, there's a vehicle in motion. Could it be-- the jeep? Most likely, but there isn't enough detail in the movie to be sure.

2:38 A Marine waves a flag from what looks like a point on the same crest we saw at the start of the sequence. It might be Marine #1, or just a flag-waving stand-in-- impossible to say.

So, the marines stole the flyer by using the jeep as a diversion: as it drove past at high speeds, one alien chased the jeep outright, thereby leaving the flyer relatively undefended, while the other fired at it. While this second alien was concentrating on firing at the jeep, the other two marines ambushed him and stole the flyer. At that point, the chase alien stopped his chase and fired on the stolen flyer.
Whether this is all completely scripted behavior, or is reflective of the sort of tactics which will be possible in the game, is unknown. I find it hard to imagine how one player could direct all that action with just a mouse and keyboard-- but if anyone can figure it out, it's Bungie.


Guido Baldoni writes:

Do you remember? "The humans must improvise guerrilla warfare". The human race is probably inferior in numbers and must steal from other races.

Or maybe he's stealing it back?


Peter Bohning writes:

So, you're speculating on what is with the ship at the end of the halo trailer...the almighty Bungie boasts that Halo will have a multiplayer "team" aspect...my guess is that the ship at the end is like a flag in capture the flag...the marines job is to develop a strategy that will enable them to take the ship and fly off with it...the aliens job is to protect the ship and kill the marines...in the trailer the marines use the humvee(jeep-thing) to distract the aliens while the other guy jumps out and takes the aliens hostage..in conclusion I would guess that this would be team capture the flag.

But what about the beginning of the movie? Why leave the three "grndsprtcrft" in the hangar with the aliens?


Rick Boyd writes:

So far, everyone has assumed that the control center in the movie belongs to the humans. But when you think about it, that doesn't make much sense. If the control room is human, why is it attached to a hanger for alien "grndsprtcrft" with alien guards patrolling it?

My guess is that we've popped in on the middle of some sort of infiltration mission. The human has snuck into a Covenant base and is accessing their mainframe. On the way out, he waves at the alien guards who have so carelessly let him in. Why? Maybe to taunt them, maybe Bungie just thought it would look cool.


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