G-Man Releases Final Version of Beyond Black Mesa
- Thread starter Tom Goldman
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I'm going to go out of my way here and assume the zombies were a result of budget restrictions, while I can see how everything else they put in to the movie could be worked in to the budget the headcrabs would be really difficult.
Also the parkour/ninja moves are perfectly acceptable... If we assume that it's not Shepard. While I find it believable that a free runner woulb be a competent fighter and a survivor in a post apocalyptic future, the concept of Sheperd who's main training would have been weapons training and non-flashy hand to hand being able to pull off ninja maneuvers is a bit ridiculous. I think that the Combine soldiers level of fighting skill was acceptable.
So in conclusion my 2 issues with the movie are:
1) Choosing a pre-existing character the be the main character.
2) The fact that after the Asian was killed the Combine started acting more human (prior to this the Combine soldiers were portrayed perfectly).
Also the parkour/ninja moves are perfectly acceptable... If we assume that it's not Shepard. While I find it believable that a free runner woulb be a competent fighter and a survivor in a post apocalyptic future, the concept of Sheperd who's main training would have been weapons training and non-flashy hand to hand being able to pull off ninja maneuvers is a bit ridiculous. I think that the Combine soldiers level of fighting skill was acceptable.
So in conclusion my 2 issues with the movie are:
1) Choosing a pre-existing character the be the main character.
2) The fact that after the Asian was killed the Combine started acting more human (prior to this the Combine soldiers were portrayed perfectly).
I would've enjoyed it more if it had stayed truer to the actual HL universe, like using the very much SMG1 like MP7 and a Stunstick instead of that swordthing. The zombies could have just been fast zombies too. That being said, I still enjoyed it immensely and think that, if a HL feature length movie were to be made, I would have them be part of the team.
And the ninja scene was corny, but hey, I'll let that slide.
And the ninja scene was corny, but hey, I'll let that slide.
Have you seen the revised trailer? They fixed the Zombine to look much scarier and less Plushy like.lewiswhitling said:Thing is, it must be so hard to put head crabs on people which dont look absolutely ridiculous.. the teaser trailer for the second part of escape from city 17 had a zombie in it.. looking like someone was wearing a headcrab plushie n making groaning noises
This one just doesn't work well as a Half Life Film. Escape from City 17 manages to make the transition perfectly in my opinion however.
I would like to see all the people saying "meh" make their own film on a shoestring budget and do better.
Yea the fight scene was a bit too kung fu, would have been better if it was stripped down and more gritty, but the choreography was impressive either way.
Kudos to people that take their time money and effort into even trying to do something that is quality for a project like this. Sure have seen many fan made things that are 10,000 time worse despite their best intentions.
Yea the fight scene was a bit too kung fu, would have been better if it was stripped down and more gritty, but the choreography was impressive either way.
Kudos to people that take their time money and effort into even trying to do something that is quality for a project like this. Sure have seen many fan made things that are 10,000 time worse despite their best intentions.
Some of those locations look right out of STALKER, awesome locations. I was pretty good a few bad points. I Dont care about there being no headcrabs, they would look cheesy, but the combine in that were bigger muppets than Star wars storm troopers. "Lets just slowly walk towards them, firing randomly, and let the fat asian kid take his sweet time aiming."
Props and costumes were bitchin.
Props and costumes were bitchin.
The actor looked to me to be at least in his 30's. The movie's opening narration stated that this takes place five years after the Black Mesa Incident. In the games we are introduced to Adrian Shephard as a 22 year old U.S. Marine during the Black Mesa Incident. By the end of Opposing Force, the G-Man "conveyed" Shephard away from time and space for an unknown period of time. Using real world logic he would be 27 years old at most, if any thing he would be too old. That is unless the G-Man used him for another mission where he aged a decade then sent him back in time.donutsftw said:
Speaking of time I enjoyed the 12 minutes I spent watching this, despite it lacking plot and not really fitting too well into the canon HL universe. It was a good fan effort and had amazing props, costumes, special effects, cinematography and action sequences for the budget they used. I'm not really a big fan of that Zack Snyder style hyper-realism or the super-saturated palettes that have been popular in contemporary films. However I'm big on cinema verite.
Big brownie points for health pack prop and all the little easter eggs.
How did I know that they were going to insert some hand to hand martial arts fight scene into there? That the chubby Asian techie sidekick would be the first of the group to die? Or that the hot rebel girl would end up being rescued by the main hero?
The headcrab-less zombies were just wrong, but otherwise the short was great. Well, apart from a major flaw:
The fact that Shepard died at the end. Two reasons:
1. I can't stand to see such an important character die in only 12 minutes, after he survived for several hours throughout Opposing Force. It's just not congruent with Shepard's character to go down so easily.
2. The directors killed off the girl and Shepard only a minute after they saved her. That's just bad storytelling, and a way to artificially build dramatic tension
However, this can easily be reconciled in a future video if the G-Man saves him and the girl by teleporting them away before the grenade explodes. For now, I'll have to use my imagination.
1. I can't stand to see such an important character die in only 12 minutes, after he survived for several hours throughout Opposing Force. It's just not congruent with Shepard's character to go down so easily.
2. The directors killed off the girl and Shepard only a minute after they saved her. That's just bad storytelling, and a way to artificially build dramatic tension
However, this can easily be reconciled in a future video if the G-Man saves him and the girl by teleporting them away before the grenade explodes. For now, I'll have to use my imagination.
You beat me to the punch. Everything you said, I completely agree. It was nice, but not earth shaking. Well done for so little money. I wonder if that was out of pocket or donated funds.Ellen of Kitten said:That was pretty decent.
RE: SpoilerSamus Aaron said:
It's a film trick, and a cheap one that's fairly effective, to do visually something just before credits, go black, and fill in the rest with sound. What happened?! Only the director/writers really know. Your mind fills it in. And there's no right answer. If you felt Shepard died, and this had any emotional effect on you whatsoever, the trick worked. For better or for worse, it worked.
I thought he was trying to rocket jump, hence him grabbing Not-Quite-Alyx' hand. Wouldn't be out of place after that ninja fight, combine executing a prime transhuman candidate instead of sending her off to Nova Prospekt, the entire army standing around like idiots after the "Obviously not a Combine" turned out to beSamus Aaron said:
The Macho protagonist was spot on I reckon. Adrian Shepard was supposed to be a full on marine.AWAR said:
When does having a hot damsel ever ruin a movie
But yeah, everything else is true. Especially the L4D zombies. I guess it's because they provide slightly more intensity then the slow ass zombies. Despite the whole, not being a part of Half Life lore.
I think that the girl getting shot in the back of the head would have been a better move in terms of story. It would show the brutality of the combine, give that same feeling of futility that was always pervasive in the resistance and show Shepard to not be a total moron. Seriously, this was the same guy that survived Black Mesa for longer than even Gordon Freeman did, and it wasn't cause he went out of his way to save people. It would show Shepard to be a more calculating and pragmatic hero which is how he always appeared to me, instead he just sort of fills the generic male hero model.