I know, I used it to make a point. It’s close to the comic book though.
I just got an idea for a Alyx actor.
:3
Or, we can have Merle Dandrige, the voice actor for Alyx, who is also a credible actor, who is also the base for Alyx’s face (not a complete likeness, but hey, close enough)
HALF LIFE MUSICAL!
FEAUTIRING A FORBIDDEN LOVE BETWEEN A REBEL AND A METROCOP!
I’m guessing no one has seen the sound of music?
I have, its faboluos!
[/LIE]
Jesus Fucking Christ no. An actual actress, with some talent would be better. I very much doubt Merle Dandridge would have much chance being cast in a (presumably) big budget film, unfortunately. Rosario Dawson (who is very hot, looks the part and is a great actress) would be perfect.
I personally think, after having run through HL2 and the 2 episodes again, if you were going to have a movie with characters from the games, the best choice of main character would be Eli Vance.
There is a lot that is unwritten about Eli. How did he lose his leg? What is his relationship with the G-man? How did the G-man “pluck” Alyx from the facility? What was his role in the Seven Hour War?
He is a tragic figure and would do well, in my opinion, to have his story fleshed out in movie form. I’m imagining the prologue of Eli watching Gordon push the “non-standard specimen” into the beam and the G-man bending over to whisper in Eli’s ear: “Prepare for unforseen consequences” before a bolt of green lightning blinds the audience and the opening credits roll.
I respectfully disagree with everything you’ve said.
Main character, Gordon Freeman.
We start with a black screen, when HALF-LIFE fades into our frame. “Good morning, and welcome to the Black Mesa transit system…”
HALF-LIFE rises, revealing our perspective traveling through the research facility. Pan back, Gordon Freeman simply gazes out - and such while the credits role.
Having it any other way would be disappointing. And having ELI as the main character? C’mon.
I think Eli would be perfect
Did’nt a bullsquid bite it off?
That would make an awesome gore/action sequence.
How the fuck would teenagers get into a top secret research facility?
And where would they find weed?
:facepalm:
70’s-80’s gore (like alien), or nowadays gore?
Well… after reading this thread, I’ve decided that getting some feedback on what I think could be in order. I’ve noticed some similar ideas while skimming, so forgive me if I happen to end up being redundant.
First of all, the Half Life series does begin with Half Life 1, obviously, and skipping over that to go to the HL2 world, while very appealing (I’d considered it being the best choice), would do the story justice. While the game itself wasn’t precisely the most movie-friendly plot ever, the backstory established in the expansion packs and HL2 gives enough to work with that a very strong plot could be created. But before I got to the details of this, I’d like to cover the characters.
Gordon- Interestingly enough, in the course of creating the silent protagonist of Freeman, Valve actually did give him a personality. Certain comments such as Alyx’s “Man of few words, aren’t you?” do put forth traits of hi. He’d obviously be quiet, but being silent, as stated before, would be unnecessary. He obviously talked to Barney when they had those “vent crawling” contests. It can be assumed that he’s fairly easygoing, or at least passive. While he does fight competently, one can assume that it’s only because of the aid of his suit and a bucketload of sensibility. Now, goingf rom that, my perfect Gordon would be reserved, calm under duress, and succinct. He’s a natural-born leader when he needs to be, but other people tend to order him around and he follows that need-based chain of command.
Barney- Certainly either a second lead character or at least a leading supporting character, Barney would stick alongside Gordon for much of the movie, (Yes, this would end up throwing out Blue Shift for the most part, but would that really be an issue?) and call the shots while his friend is incapacitated or working alone. The parts where Gordon goes off on his own, such as when he gets captured, could be made much smaller until near the end, where the storyline branches into two.
Eli- Eli, like Barney, Kleiner, and Alyx (In HL2) has a distinct personality. Besides this, he has a background that allows for certain parts of the movie to be fleshed out. His loss of leg could be a good side plot, as could his saving Kleiner from his almost certain doom after the cascade. The two older scientists could even have their own plot in the beginning before they and Barney/Gordon come together. Being the wisest of the group gives him use, and makes him more than just baggage. He’d obviously be able to help in certain places where the other characters are stuck, and, like I mentioned before, his leg would add tension as I’m sure he’d be bleeding out.
Kleiner- Kleiner really ends up being the least important character in the group, but is pivotal nevertheless. He’s incredibly smart, though Eli seems to have a better grasp of the real world than he does, which allows for some character development and interaction between them. Likewise, his intelligence could come in handy as a catalyst for Eli, or vice versa. The two would be characters that have to stay together to work correctly in the movie.
Adrian Shepard- I do think Shepard is an essential character in the film. Much like many other films, showing the side of the “bad guys” adds dimension to the film and allows for sympathy on both sides. Of course, the three-faction battle going on in HL means that these two groups don’t need to have a winner. Everyone loses, of course, when the place is blown to bits. Shepard wouldn’t need much personality, and could go through without even having his Race X plot covered at all. (I don’t like that whole idea, personally, but having the G-Man,in the end, refer to him as someone “dealing… with an…other issue.”
Now, onto plot:
Yes, a lot of the game would have to be cut out. Probably some of the best scenes, even. But as people have mentioned before, a film is different from a game. In the game, everything is covered by interaction. In a movie, the progression of the plot is covered by references and action scenes interweaving together. The beginning would be the most difficult, as knowing what to keep and what to take out is essential. I believe that short train ride is needed, but a credit roll is perfect for… the game’s credit roll. It allows us to meet Gordon, and when he gets to the end, Barney is introduced by a short dialogue before Barney heads off and Gordon walks in to see Eli and Kleiner. The game doesn’t need changed her too much, in all honesty. It plays like a good film, and the events leading up to the initial conflict are paced very well.
The middle of the movie would consist of mostly action sequences, but with actual meaning to them other than solving puzzles. Causing a sense of panic and sympathy for those scientists and even HECU that are killed can be covered quickly. (The elevator scene springs to mind.) The G-Man makes infrequent appearances, like in the game, and only gets mentioned a few times. The core events of the game are as follows:
-The alien invasion and literal collapse of the facility (Introduction)
-The HECU clean-up (Rising action)
-The turn of the tide of battle (Climax)
-The retreat of the HECU (Falling action - also rising action)
-The destruction of Black Mesa (Resolution - more rising action)
-Gordon disappears to face the leader of the alien army (Second climax)
-Epilouge (Resolution)
Now, this is a tad bit convoluted, but allow me to explain. The initial invasion after the resonance cascade is the introduction to the initial problem, the Xen aliens. After evading them for a few minutes and making it to the surface initially, the group meets up with the HECU troops, who instantly make the action more dynamic, as all three groups are fighting and trying to survive. The HECU become more and more dangerous, making the movie more tense as time goes on, and more of the experiments are revealed, such as the part in surface tension where the testing on headcrabs is executed. (Of course, side plots like this are common in good movies, and could certainly not be skipped over, though I hasten to do so myself due to how long my post already is.)
The first climax is when the Xen aliens begin to start winning the battle. This happens near where Forget About Freeman would be in the game, when the group has made it into this setting. This is where more scientists appear, as the more secure parts of the base are coming into play. As far as the HECU go, this is where their side plot falling action occurs, as they begin to pull out. (Adrian Shepard goes his own way here, and wouldn’t need to appear again, except in the cameos he makes in Opposing Force that might be interesting to include. I’ll need to think on this.) As far as Gordon and the rest of the group go, this is where they split up. Barney, Eli, and Kleiner go their own way and make it out of the base to set up elsewhere, and Eli gets medical treatment, presumably. This is that split in the plot that I was talking about before would come in, where Gordon makes his way to the core. This area would be the most action laden, but would also be short. MUCH shorter than in the game, of course.
Once at the core, the climax comes in his showdown with Nihilanth, which would be a more epic battle. I’d say bringing in a horde of alien grunts to fight against him, and he only just manages to get a shot in that kills the Nihilanth before he is surrounded. (An obvious reference to the non-canon “bad” ending.) The G-Man suddenly appears and explains some of the background, but much less than in the game, and that reference to Sheperd could come in here, as well. Thus the game ends with Gordon walking into the white light of the door, and the movie suddenly ends to set up HL2 right where it began.
Overall, I thin a HL movie would work if done well, and with much mroe detail than I’ve included here. Even so, I think this is a start, and being that I wrote this up in a night, I don’t really think it’s so dangerous to hope that someone, somewhere, could write a good translation of the plot. Of course, you alol may hate my rendition and I might just be as bad as Hollywood, but ah well. It was worth the shot, right?
PS: I do think revisions are needed for this, by the way, so if anyone would want to suggest anything, I might just be able to tunr this into… something. Probably nothing Valve would want, but we can dream.
Interesting…
Only thing that I think needs a major alteration in your plot summary is shepherd. You have to think of not just the story, but how long you have to tell the story, you need to think about how many characters your audience needs to keep track of in the plot. The HECU are not the main “bad guys” in Half-Life, rather they are a tool to help support the “questionable ethics”. They aren’t there to save anyone, they are there to cover up the incident. I would go into more reasons, but right now my brain isn’t working. But I don’t think shepherd is necessary or even important to telling the story.
I entirely agree with you there, actually. The character Shepard isn’t at all imperative to HL’s story. He is, by all accounts, faceless and has no established personality, to an extent exceeding Gordon’s by a long shot. However, telling the side of the story from a HECU grunt is fairly important, and having said soldier be named Adrian Shepard is at least a nod to the game, and referring to him at the end as someone who’s on another errand comes as a second punch to Half Life’s fan base. (Not saying that just references to the game and/or background information such as developer’s names being dropped to make a good movie. CoughDoomcough)
Telling the side story of the HECU would serve no logical purpose since they will all die or get turned into mindless combine soldiers by the time HL2 roles around. IMO it would be wasting time to create a side story for something that is not relevant to the plot or extends beyond the thematic concepts that the HECU represent in the Half-Life story. To be honest, I think that to focus on the HECU beyond what half-life does would actually be a hindrance to the story since it would eat up time to tell the main story and convey the main thematic concepts, and potentially loose the audience’s focus/attention to the main plot. When trying to draw an audience into a Scifi world that the majority of the audience has no prior knowledge of, it is best to try to keep it from being to brainy or the story too convoluted to follow.