Paramount have released another trailer for upcoming series, Halo.

Having premiered at the Austin South by Southwest festival we also now have some early reviews.

This trailer gives us a bit of a taste of the season one story and there's certainly potential there.

But does it live up to that potential?

The Reviews

"Aggressively forgettable" is how The Hollywood Reporter describes it.

That was the first review we found and read.

Though they compare it unfavourably to The Mandalorian.

While we've never described The Mandalarion as "aggressively forgettable", for us, that shoe fits.

A sad man with a helmet fixation paired with a tragically obvious plush toy marketing opportunity.

So could they be wrong about Halo?

Maybe, but they're not alone in not loving it. IndieWire didn't hate it but weren't big fans.

Polygon staff had such varied views that they published them separately in their review.

IGN and Variety were more favourable but not glowing.

Both Variety and Polygon criticise the appearance of the aliens.

Variety simply being unimpressed by them and one Polygon staffer suggesting that too much effort has been made to make them look game-accurate with the result being that some look "outlandishly cartoonish".

On the clearly positive side Variety reports that you don't need to have played any of the games to understand it and also speaks glowingly of Australian actress Yerin Ha who plays Quan Ah:

With more solid characterization to grasp onto, it’s Ha who steals the show as she embodies Kwan’s defiance and visceral pain once everything she holds dear is irrevocably lost.

Her character name spelling? Many, including Wikipedia, are spelling it Kwan but IMDb and the show itself, Quan.

All reviews considered, it doesn't sound perfect but may be enjoyable at least for sci-fi fans, which we are!

So we'll be watching this one.

Halo releases on Paramount+ on March 24.

[ Main Image: Halo Trailer - Yerin Ha as Quan Ah. Credit: Paramount via YouTube. ]

References

Feinberg, Daniel (March 14, 2022). Paramount+’s ‘Halo’: TV Review | SXSW 2022. The Hollywood Reporter.

Framke, Caroline (March 14, 2022). ‘Halo’ Series Introduces Conflicted Master Chief, Sci-Fi Universe That Feels Less Awe-Inspiring Than Familiar: TV Review. Variety.

Halo on Paramount+ [@halotheseries] (April 18, 2019). More News: Newcomer Yerin Ha also joins the cast as a new character within the #HALO world: #QuanAh. Twitter.

IMDb.com. Halo. (viewed March 16, 2022)

Paramount Plus (March 16, 2022). Halo The Series (2022) | Official Trailer 2 | Paramount+. YouTube.

Polygon Staff (March 14, 2022). The one thing we all agree on about the Halo TV series is that we all have thoughts. Polygon.

Schedeen, Jesse (March 15, 2022). Halo: Series Premiere - "Contact" Review. IGN.

Travers, Ben (March 14, 2022). ‘Halo’ Review: Paramount+ Series Neatly Mimics Brutality and World-Building of Better Shows. IndieWire.

Wikipedia. Halo (TV series). (viewed March 16, 2022)