"Seven Seconds to Kill" title card.
Seven Seconds to Kill is a Halo 3 machinima made by Powerhouse Studios. It is the sequel to Never Dream of Dying. The film was released January 7th, 2011 on Special Edition DVD and January 11th, 2011 on YouTube. This is the first and only time Powerhouse Studios has used Halo 3 for machinima.
Plot[]
The film starts in media res. In the forested hills of an unnamed location, James Bond is furiously tracked by assailants in Brute Choppers. He is able to out-maneuver them, but Bond stumbles upon an outpost loaded with more assailants. After yet another chase and more dispatching of thugs, Bond leads the last thug speeding in a brute chopper into his own base - setting off a explosion chain reaction. Bond travels to what is only labelled an "MI6 Outpost," and hands the nuclear generator back to an MI6 agent (thus ending the Never Dream of Dying storyline).
After the title sequence, M tells Bond that he's earned a vacation after his ordeal. Bond prefers the coasts of Albania, and is sent there for a fortnight's leave. It doesn't take long for Q and his assistant, Smithers, to show up and interrupt Bond's vacation. Q knows that Bond is going to be sent on a mission sooner or later, giving Bond his gadgets now would save everyone sometime later down the road.
After Q is finished supplying Bond with necessary gadgets (a gravity lift, a GPS positioner, bubble shield, a flare and incendiary grenades), an assasin hiding in a raised location snipes Q and his assistant. Bond immediately reacts and chases the sniper through a wooded area, where more thugs await. After a footchase, Bond is left with no choice but to shoot and kill the assassin.
Bond, right after killing the sniper assassin.
In the aftermath of it all, Bond calls M and reports on what has just happened. Bond has found the assassin's laptop which turns out to have potentially vital information. The name Drake Malprave, a CEO of a pharmaceutical company, is all over the laptop's files, and a schedule is found listing a meeting with a new director of accounting. Bond informs M that he could pose as the new accounting director to sneak his way to Malprave's headquarters. M is reluctant, but as there is no other alternative option, he is forced to accept Bond's plan.
Bond travels to Malprave's HQ in Norway, punches out the real accounting director, and takes his identity. Bond is able to get past a few layers of security when he is stopped. A thug informs Malprave, "he's here," and it is implied that Malprave knows Bond's true identity. Regardless, Malprave sends Bond up to meet with him anyway. Bond is only able to cover his identity for seconds, as Malprave calls him out quickly into their meeting. Bond is surrounded by two thugs, but is able to take them out and escape. Right on Bond's heels is a particularly imposing spartan by the name of Rook - he carries a giant spartan laser. Malprave simply informs Rook, "Don't let [Bond] leave." Bond is able to fight his way past security, but is eventually knocked unconscious by Rook.
Back at the MI6 outpost, M and an MI6 agent are trying to track Bond down. They are having little success.
Bond is taken to a Malprave's secret base in Syria and immediately put in a cell. Malprave meets with three business partners and thanks them for completing a "product." He transfers millions of dollars into each of their accounts and sends them on their way. Right behind the exiting business partners, however, is Rook. Once out of the base, the business partners drive away in a Warthog and Rook spartan lasers all of them. The money is assumingly never transferred.
Malprave then travels to Bond's cell. It is eventually revealed that Malprave has made a particuarly nasty virus and plans on using his pharmaceutical company to develop a cure and turn huge profits. It is mentioned that Malprave was behind the 2009 outbreak of swine-flu (which was only apparently a test-run), and had briefly teamed up with Victor Achan (the villain in Never Dream of Dying) to manufacter the virus quicker. When Achan's nuclear generator was intercepted by Bond, Malprave had to turn to alternative methods of manufactering. Malprave takes Bond to his main warehouse where dozens of virus canisters are revealed. Malprave tells Bond that he intends to keep him alive only so Bond could see the aftermath of what he failed to stop.
Bond (left) and Malprave overlooking the virus warehouse.
A thug escorts Bond back to his cell, but Bond uses his flare to blind the thug, knock him out and take his weapon. Bond wrecks havoc in Malprave's base, and is eventually cornered in the virus warehouse. Just when Malprave and Rook think they have Bond cornered, Bond notices a hole in the ceiling of the warehouse. He throws an incendiary grenade at an unfortunate thug as a distraction, throws an incendiary grenade at the virus cansiters, tosses out his gravity lift and flies out the top of the warehouse. Rook follows him.
Bond manages to steal an ATV and is chased by Malprave's thugs. Bond is able to hit a conveniently placed ramp, and hijack a Hornet. As he is firing upon the thugs below, Rook is able to jump on the top of the Hornet and attempt to shoot Bond out of it. Meanwhile, the fire started by Bond has gotten out of control, and Malprave flees.
As Rook continues to harass Bond, the virus warehouse explodes and Malprave's plan has been folied. Malprave isn't finished, however, and pilots a Hornet of his own. Malprave flies over to see Bond's hornet and Rook on top of it in mid-air. Malprave fires his missles towards Bond's hornet. Bond is able to eject himself out in time, but it is too late for Rook. The missiles collide with Bond's empty hornet and kill Rook.
Rook on Bond's hornet.
Bond lands on the ground, and finds Rook's spartan laser on the ground. He picks it up and blasts Malprave out of the sky. The virus is destroyed, and Malprave and his forces have been terminated. Bond uses his GPS positioner to signal MI6 for a pickup.
Sometime later, M has apparently checked Bond into the "Hotel Zanzibar." Just as M calls Bond to inform him of yet another crisis, a female maid walks into Bond's room with Bollinger champagne. Bond spins around to reveal that the maid has pulled a gun on him. She orders him out of the room.
Outside of the hotel waits - of all people - M. The maid is revealed to be Agent Mendizo, 003 (an MI6 agent). M's explanation to Bond: "You wouldn't have come back if we asked you politely." They drive off to another MI6 HQ. When they arrive, Bond and Mendizo begin to flirt and instead of following M up to debrief, Bond and Mendizo drive off to presumably have a good time together.
Influences[]
As Never Dream of Dying was heavily influenced by Casino Royale, Seven Seconds to Kill was heavily influenced by Quantum of Solace. The film utilizes the Quantum of Solace motion picture score as well as the Quantum of Solace video game score. In addition, both films have a climax in a desert base.
Trivia[]
- Seven Seconds to Kill was a troubled shoot. Despite filming beginning in December 2008 (with a plan of an early 2009 release), numerous delays forced Seven Seconds to Kill to be pushed back to Summer 2010. When that deadline was not met, the entire film was nearly scrapped. After an eleventh hour push, Seven Seconds to Kill was finally finished in January 2011.
- The character of "Drake Malprave" is a name combination of two James Bond video game villains: "Adrian Malprave" from Agent Under Fire and "Drake" from 007: Nightfire.
- The character of "Rook," whose name is taken from the henchman in 007: Nightfire, was written in and out of the film several times. He was eventually guaranteed a spot when producers were trying to decide how Malprave would kill off his own business partners.
- Malprave's plot of spreading a virus and selling the cure only came to be in the very last draft of the script.
- There is one shot in the entire film that uses Halo 2 - the shot of "Hotel Zanzibar."
- Malprave's Norway HQ is four different multiplayer levels. The exterior is "Avalanche," the recpetion area is "Complex," deeper in the interior is "Citadel," and Malprave's office is "Orbital."
- A line of dialogue where Malprave discusses various criminal organizations that Bond has faced (SPECTRE, Quantum) was cut.
- The original title was "High Time to Kill," coming from Raymond Benson's novel. It was almost changed to "Sixty Seconds to Kill," referencing Gone in 60 Seconds.
- Drake Malprave's all-time favorite film is Psycho.
- The idea of having Malprave behind swine-flu was a last minute addition to the script. Producers felt people would have more reason to hate Malprave.
Distribution[]
A special edition DVD of Seven Seconds to Kill was released on January 7th, 2011. The disc comes with two behind the scenes featurettes and a trailer.
The film was released on YouTube in three parts on January 11th, 2011. Seven Seconds to Kill also has a Facebook Page , making it the first film of Powerhouse Studios to have one.
Seven Seconds to Kill - Part 1 - YouTube