Poll: Do you think people would get mad if Gordon Freeman spoke in a Half Life movie?

[ICanBreakTheseCuffs]

He should be played by the guy from the freeman's mind because he sounds so alke but we don't no what he sounds like

[edit]I hve been ninja'd five fucking times today I just can't fucking believe it

 

[The Austin]

How the hell can you make a movie without having the protagonist say anything?

So, yeah, I think he should speak.

 

[kickyourass]

Probably, I mean an action centered movie where the main character never talks wouldn't be very fun to watch. But then if they screw it up it wouldn't really matter if he talked or not would it?

 

[TheTinyMan]

Everyone saying that you can't have a silent protagonist in a movie - Wall-E was *almost* silent, and everyone loved him!

Not that that really answers the question, because silent protagonists represent different things in different games. Link and Crono, for example, are generally implied to speak without the player seeing the words, whereas Gordon is explicitly referred to as silent by the people around him. I thought it would be most ideal if the fact that Gordon doesn't speak an actual plot point - maybe his voice box is damaged and he hates voice synthesizers, or he took a vow of silence when his work tore Black Mesa apart or something. On the other hand, I wouldn't be too upset if he spoke, and although it would be hard to pull off an unexplained muteness I suspect that would be do-able too in a sufficiently artsy-fartsy film.

 

[shogunblade]

Have him not say anything, and at the end, he looks up at the camera and says...

"It Begins" or something prophetic, and Voila!, a sequel, he'll talk then and there you go.

 

[Judgement101]

I think they should make it a FPM (First Person Movie) BRAND.NEW.GENRE. (He he shouldn't speak, he's a mute)

 

[Echo136]

A movie where the main character doesnt talk at all. BORING. Unless theres an explaination for it like he had his throat slashed or something it would be ridiculous. Its fine to play a game without him having any dialogue but I wouldnt be able to watch a silent movie.

 

[The Black Vegetable]

"Maybe, but the movie would have to be really really good." was my choice.


Putting Gordon Freeman in a movie that isn't good (regardless of him having a script or not) is Blasphemy to begin with.
I can get the silent protagonist thing, because it can enhance the first person experience. But not giving him anything to say in a movie, that would be like morphing The One Free Man into something resembling an european traffic light. Movies aren't supposed to be first person.

Also, which voice? Which accent? Maybe leaving him in the virtual world is the best thing to do.

 

[Burningsok]

I would be fucking awesome if the movie was badass enough to have Gorden Freeman not speak till the end of the movie like as he is about to defeat Breen or something he could Pull off the coolest one-liner ever.

 

[Fidelias]

I have NEVER watched a decent movie where the main character doesn't speak. Maybe he shouldn't speak much, I don't know. I really don't know why everyone loves that Gordon Freeman doesn't have a voice, since this means that he also DOESN'T HAVE A CHARACTER. Anyway, yeah, he should definitely speak, anyone who says otherwise is an idiot.

 

[unoleian]

Best bet with a movie like that would be to not have Gordon as a central protagonist. Cameo, perhaps...but connect the movie with events in the games without involving him heavily at all.

That's my opinion.

 

[Blue Musician]

The games have been based around him not speaking, so I don't think he should.

EDIT: They are making a Half-Life movie, but it's based on Adrian Shepherd.

May I ask the source of that intel please?


OT: Only if the movie's good enough...

 

[HK_01]

I think people would get mad if they made a half life movie period.

 

[legion431]

The games have been based around him not speaking, so I don't think he should.

EDIT: They are making a Half-Life movie, but it's based on Adrian Shepherd.

May I ask the source of that intel please?


OT: Only if the movie's good enough...

I'm sorry, I don't have a source. I do know it's going to be a low budget movie based on the trailer, I think, but for a low budget it still looks pretty damn good.

EDIT: I also think I saw the trailer on an Escapist forum not too long ago, but I can't find it.

 

[Blue Musician]

The games have been based around him not speaking, so I don't think he should.

EDIT: They are making a Half-Life movie, but it's based on Adrian Shepherd.

May I ask the source of that intel please?


OT: Only if the movie's good enough...

I'm sorry, I don't have a source. I do know it's going to be a low budget movie based on the trailer, I think, but for a low budget it still looks pretty damn good.

EDIT: I also think I saw the trailer on an Escapist forum not too long ago, but I can't find it.

Ah, I know what you are talking about, and indie movie right?

If I am thinking about the same one, I must say that isn't really based on Opposing Force, it's after it, but sure it's sweet.
It shouldn't be considerate an official work though.

 

[Extraintrovert]

Best bet with a movie like that would be to not have Gordon as a central protagonist. Cameo, perhaps...but connect the movie with events in the games without involving him heavily at all.

That idea is fantastic. Have the film switch between various characters, some from the games (Barney especially, yesplz), some original characters (for example a random scientist at Black Mesa, or a random rebel fighter), with the only thing they have in common being that they are caught in the middle of the chaos and have a brief encounter with Gordon Freeman before he goes to mercilessly slaughter something else. It would work for a film, be original enough to stand on its own merits and still be closely related to Half-Life. Everyone wins.

On topic, I think Gordon should only speak short sentences, and infrequently at that, portraying him as a quiet, shy person (which has a duel purpose of contrasting with his unstoppable murder machine activities). I found this truly, ridiculously awesome novelisation of both games that did that, and it worked perfectly.