Neill Blomkamp, Director Of Halo And Alive In Joburg

A few issues back, Res magazine's free DVD included the short film Alive in Joburg. Clearly the work of somebody much in love with CG - which is no bad thing - the film depicted a horde of armoured troops letting off countless rounds at carefully composited FX elements. No wonder, perhaps, that Neill Blomkamp, the film's director, has now been tapped to direct Halo.

Of course, there's another side or two to Alive in Joburg. There's the fact that, to be polite, it is somewhat narratively challenged - not a lot happens, and it doesn't happen clearly. And there's the quite crass, and rather superficial, attempt to give the film some political and social dimension. The Zs were lining up in my think bubble within the first couple of minutes. I found to be the worse kind of obvious showreel piece.

Frankly, I'm now more sure than ever that Halo will, at the very best, be a machine-tooled version of Doom. And that's not only not good enough, it's also a very generous estimation of what might just be 2008's most redundant movie.