A Good (and Faithful) Half-Life Movie...Is It Possible?

I actually believe a movie based on either game (HL or HL2) could be done beautifully. It's less about staying true to the game's interactive experience than it is about recreating the same atmosphere present in the game - giving the viewer the same chills and experiences you got while playing through the game for the first time. That could be accomplished I think, but by whom and how, I have no idea. Seems far more likely that were one to be made it would be awful and incite fanboy rage. Still, there are a few directors I would trust with this.

As for a movie just set in the same universe, but not about Gordon and the main storyline, there's a lot more potential there (or rather less potential for fail). Both of those fan videos are awesome, this is another favorite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU_reTt7Hj4
 
Kinslayer said:
Now, I can see them making a movie in the Half Life UNIVERSE, such as a movie set during the Seven Hour War (It was hours, not years). That would work, I think, and also be interesting as long as they keep faithful to the lore.
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Not sure about focusing on the Seven Hour War, but I agree that this is the only way round the Freeman problem.

But if you're doing a Half-Life movie without Half-Life characters, you come across the challenge of... well, why are you making it? What does it add to the mythology? Even if you have some decent ideas, couldn't they just be communicated in the medium the franchise already works best in? You could make a tonne of brilliantly atmospheric disaster, zombie or war-film-styled Half-Life tie-in movies, but then you could pick the few shards of the franchise out and make something completely unrelated with minimum effort.

I actually like the idea of a Valve-endorsed short-subject film, or series of short-subject films that flesh out the universe, but a movie, I don't think it's necessary. I would like to see something official, canonical and cinematic (of course, Live-Action or Animation wouldn't make a difference to me*), but I don't think for a second that such a production would have to be seen in a cinema, on a big whopping screen for it to be valid entertainment.

* And surely it would for mostly everyone else. Nonetheless, I watched the very first Team Fortress 2 promo the other day, and I was shocked at how primitive it was, and how it was even accepted as a point of excitement a few years ago. Even if it's ultimately only to advance animation in games, the character animation that Valve have been doing with the 'Meet the X' series of shorts is very, very interesting. I'd love to see them have a Pixar-like sideline in Short-Animated Films.
 
Noodle said:
If done well, I could see a short film, mabye 15 minutes in length.
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I like the idea up until there.
I think perhaps a series of short films, approximately 15 minutes in length would be great. They could compliment the story, rather than re-tell parts of it.
I'm really terrible at expressing my ideas, so here is a list.

The Featurettes!

  • A man working on the Black Mesa admin department. He's a competent employee. He files his reports, tidies his desk, and leaves on time.

  • A soldier somewhere in the desert. They're approaching a building. They're talking about things as people do. They're nervous. They don't know why they're here yet. They're worried because so many soldiers are active on American soil. An alien grunt appears to come out of the wall. The soldiers are swarmed by hornets and killed.

  • A family sitting by the pool. A bullsquid crashes out of the water and melts the dog with acid spit. More aliens start appearing. The family run away.

  • The seven hour war has just ended. A man takes a photo of a citadel. It'll be in one of the last papers printed.
 
Zaz said:
No it's not possible, because who would want to see a mute guy go around killing aliens and people while scientists and guards stand around being useless? Half Life 2 has a better chance of being a movie, but that's because it actually has characters other than Gman and Gordon.
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You could turn the fact that Gordon is mute into an interesting (if not dramatic) character point however. For example, have it that he has Selective Mutism, a rare anxiety disorder in which the person is fully capable of speech, but due to anxiety and/or fear in certain situations, they don't speak - mainly happens in kids, but it can afflict adults if not treated in childhood - got this idea from a HL2 fanfic that I read awhile back, actually. This could be a really interesting way to develop Gordon's character, since those who are afflicted with this can speak, they just get too anxious or scared in certain situations to do so (i.e. Gordon would have a lot that he wants to say, but he can't because he clams up).

It's called character development - obviously the writer of the script would insert their own ideas (and not everyone would be happy with that particular interpretation), but it can be done (if you're careful and clever).
 
I'm not sure I can believe that a person who hacks and shoots his way through six days of warfare has that kind of anxiety problem though. Jack Bauer hasn't got shit on him.
 
It would only be an issue with talking to others - he'd probably still be fine in combat, since again the anxiety would be linked to speaking (social interactions) & not fighting.
Good point though - it's just a thought to somehow make it that Gordon is mute, but for a reason that's more plausible and more approachable for making a film character; it'd still need more work to make it fully believable obviously.
 
Yeah about Gordon's "mutism"... Well you could make the argument that he never found a situation where it was necessary to speak and being that he's a theoretical physicist it's not highly unlikely he would be one who speaks in an efficient manner(only speaking when absolutely necessary). Who knows, maybe they could find an actor that would portray a silent character very well with facial expressions and etc.
 
Hades said:
And if so how would you do it?

Personally I don't think it's possible. The plot of the Half-Life series is pretty bare bones already and the characters who are so life-like in game would be hard to re-create faithfully on screen.

And of course how can you fit in Gordon? Him speaking would be blasphemy but you simply can't have a lead actor without dialogue.

The only way I see it getting done would be to make non-game characters (like a group of civilians caught up in the events) and story that takes place parallel to the main narrative. For example civilian hears about Black Mesa incident, survives the Seven Year War, ekes out a living under the Combine, etc. etc. Maybe have Gordon make an appearance briefly (sort of the way Jesus does in Ben-Hur).

Either way I think it would be a long shot even with a stellar director and solid cast. Gabe says he doesn't want to give rights away until he's sure that the movie would be done right. Kudos to him for not being a money grubbing skank.
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Look at the the PurchaseBrother's Escape From City 17 - Part 1. Awesome.

Also, Seven HOUR War.
 
they could it be awsome if they can make a halo one they can make a half life one
 
I'll play Gordon Freeman and Tera Patrick can play my girlfriend !
 
Use your imagination

Anyone who says there shouldn't be a Half Life movie lacks imagination. Having seen Cloverfield and District 9 it is definately possible. Who needs stars to make movies, just get a good director. Cloverfield was shot in a way that evokes FPS and having a perspective from the character holding the camera. District 9 has a main character who is an unknown and could easily play a Dr Freeman. It doesn't even require a super sized budget. A Half Life movie is the next logical step for Valve. Then they could start on a Left 4 Dead.
 
Having the perspective of a character holding a camera, and thus simply watching what is going on, is called 'second-person'.

It's very limited in its uses, and only one or two video games have ever actually done it. Skate is one of them. A Half-Life movie would take away from the core of the games- that you are the main character, saving the world, as best you can, with help from friends. Simply watching it all wouldn't be very interesting.

The only way I could see an HL movie being made is if it centers around a different part of the storyline. The Ten Hour War(I believe it's called that) would be a great subject. A chance for new characters; and a fleshing out of the early parts of the conflict.
 
Registered just to post on this topic.

I think the OP is absolutely right. The way to do it would be to leave Freeman entirely out of the movie. He should not even appear.* He should be like Sauron or the G-Man or something--relevant to the story but a peripheral character onscreen.

HL2 especially presents a world ripe for cool stories that have little or nothing to do with Freeman directly. Black Mesa would be a great deal harder to pull off without having George Clooney making wisecracks in an HEV suit or some such (which would suck). You could do a pretty cool movie of a soldier sent in to stop the extra-dimensional invasion, but the killing civilians part is crucial and I doubt it would fly.

The Escape from City 17 stuff is quite good, and shows what an awesome world City 17 is.

*except perhaps fleetingly in silhouette or something
 
It's obvious - you need a spin-off starring ODESSA FREAKING CUBBAGE, and possibly his chum Merriweather, the Cockney antlion with a heart of gold.

They get up to much dystopian tomfoolery, but every time they come out of it having learnt something new, and possibly blown something up. You could have Dick Van Dyke play either Cubbage or Merriweather. It would be awesome.
 
Gman said:
Here's the Supposed to be cast:
Game Character Actor
Gordon Freeman: Hugh Laurie
Alyx: Lucy Liu
Eli Vance: Morgan Freeman
Gman: Christopher Walken
Judith Mossman: Cate Blanchett
Father Grigori: Sid Haig
Dr Breen: Dennis Hopper
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That's an awesome cast and good picked.I'm not familiar with Laurie so I'd like somebody else for Freeman.
Maybe Rosario Dawson as Alyx.
The rest are godly.Walken as G-Man would be out of this world.
 
are you kidding me? huge laurie is 50 years old. gordon is supposed to be 27.
 
Maybe a Robert Downey as Freeman?Or Timothy Olyphant?Or Will Snow?
 
you can make it in the view of an scientist(Kleiner/Magnusson?), maybe the one in the observation room when you put the sample in the particlebeam in hl1. (The first map)
You get your part of Freeman, who doesn't need to say anything, and you'll be getting some core elements in the story.
You can aslo meet Freeman when the scientist say "Good morning, Mr. Freeman" when Gordon is in a rush (Gordon have an excuse not to resond.)

Then everything goes to hell and you follow the scientist's way out of Black Mesa.
FIN!
 
It's obvious we can't go the whole movie without Freeman speaking, so if we have Gordon Freeman as the main character we should just go the whole hog and have Brian Blessed play him.
 
i think it is impossible to start a half life movie cause the way gordan freeman does not seem to show any emotins at all througt the whole game
 
The reason half life is so amazing is the interaction between player and game, which really makes you feel like you are part of it, and makes you care for the characters more, and hope they survive. One reason why people are so shocked and disappointed/upset when characters,such as Eli die. You could never recreate this in a film.
 
Long post, I know

The challenge of doing a Half Life movie is in two parts. The first is the rather thin story. It's a fairly basic setup for video games and we've seen it on film countless times. So how to make it new and exciting? I think the solution would be to focus on the mystery of what was being done in Black Mesa before the accident. Exactly what was being done is almost secondary to the lengths people went to keep it a secret. What sort of experiments could be so horrible that the government would send in troops to execute all involved? In the game, we see several corpses in HEV suits in Zen. How long have they been there? What were they doing before? How much of the truth is Gordon being told? The grunts purposefully shoot the one scientist who knows everything; why? I think introducing the idea that the army is possibly justified in cleansing Black Mesa would be very entertaining, and could form the backbone of the story. You could naturally have the big action sequences with the Tentacle creature and Nihilanth (probably just them, too many monsters and the movie would get crowded), but the most shocking thing in the movie should be the scientists themselves.

With this kind of story in place, we also resolve the other challenge of Gordon himself. No studio would make this movie without a compelling main character, and like it or not that person is Gordon. So he's gotta be there, and he's gotta talk. But how to make him authentic? After all, we all have vastly different interpretations of Gordon, based on how we played the game. Gordon could be anything from a gung-ho muscle man who goes in with guns blazing, to someone who is more stealthy and only shoots when he has to, making use of his surroundings and brains to get himself out of trouble. One of my favorite moments in the first game is that moment when you press the button on the elevator shaft and two scientists plummet to their death. The question that popped up in my head right away was "Did I do that?" The horror of responsibility for the death of my fellow scientists. And I think this would be central to the character of Gordon. An ordinary scientist who has never asked questions and never fired a gun before in his life is suddenly in WAY over his head, and now has to confront the fact that he may have actually caused this tragedy. It might be through his direct actions, or it might just be through his complicity, but one way or another Gordon might be responsible for the Black Mesa incident, and how he handles that could make for a very interesting character.
 
it is possible, but i think that half-life should remain a game. a movie would suck, just like all movies made from games. and half-life is a movie, an interactive movie, where the player is the main character, which, in my oppinion, is better than any movie, because after an hour in game or maybe less, you feel like you are part of that universe. gordon is just a vessel. and he is not mute, he is just the player, and maybe the other npc understand him like he would speak. and i dont want to be mean, but the purchase brothers's movie is not so cool... for a fan made it's ok, but if it would have been hollywood made, it would compete with uve boll...
 
Perhaps a new restriction on new members should be that it is impossible for them to post in threads that haven't been posted in for over a week. :l
 
i don't under stand why shouldn't they make gordon speak so what all the characters in the games was muted but they spoke in the movies of the games and i think they were allright but they need to make the ending kind off endles so that they can make room for the game to continue

and they can make a mix between hl and hl2
like make the first scenes and about black mesa and the accident don't show how gordon exactly escapes black mesa and skip like some times(to hl2 events) and make some famous actor like morgan freeman say like " they call it the seven days war all the humanity's deffences has fallen in seven days..." to explain any skipped event like any movie
and then start some scenes like suddenly gordon appears on the screen and start fightin some combine to get the idea that he is still alive and he is a great part of the resistance and then zombies appear, combine zombies (getting harder like the game) making all this in one actin cool scene this is all ofcource in just 15-20 min and then start the main events of the film and just like i said leaving the end open and so what if they change some facts about the game to adapt it to be a good movie i think it will work just fine
but they need to play the whole half life series :p hell i think i've just directed a whole film :D
 
Making the game endless still means it has an end.

That end would just be confusing and infuriating.
 
It has the chance of being a good movie but they need to do it right. Anything can be good if done right.

One way is to not center it around Gordan Freeman. Like in Escape from City 17. He could still be in it but the biggest problem is that he doesn't talk, if he did it would ruin the character, if he doesn't then is might make for a boring protagonist (at list movie-wise).

Or they could place it before HL2 takes place. I'd love to see the 7 hour war :D
 
If they make a Half Life movie, I think I would like it to take place during the Black Mesa Incident, and follow a squad of HECU soldiers. Perhaps covering the initial entry, the initial success, and then towards the middle-end, covering the chaotic retreat, encounter with Black Ops, and the escape.

With a good budget and crew, I think this good be a good movie
 
Any Half Life movie could work as long as it doesn't follow any of the main characters of the games.
 
optisamy said:
hell i think i've just directed a whole film :D
Click to expand...

Hell I think you just bankrupted the company you were working for.

A Half-Life film or mini series (which would be better) can work if it doesn't involve at least Gordon Freeman, but even involving the other main characters such as Barney, Alyx and Eli then you are moving into dangerous territory as the characters represented in the game are their own person now, actors will likely get the characters wrong and that in turn degrades the experience.

If it were set away from everything we have seen for ourselves as people have said, it could work wonders.
 
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