Warcraft Review

PG13: Extended Sequences of Intense Fantasy Violence 

Universal Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Blizzard Entertainment

2 hrs and 3 Minutes

Cast: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ruth Negga, with Daniel Wu, and Clancy Brown

The peaceful realm of Azeroth stands on the brink of war as its civilization faces a fearsome race of invaders: orc warriors fleeing their dying home to colonize another. As a portal opens to connect the two worlds, one army faces destruction and the other faces extinction. From opposing sides, two heroes are set on a collision course that will decide the fate of their family, their people, and their home.

REVIEW: It has been a decade since a film based on the World of Warcraft game series was announced. This film has been delayed and pushed back as much the much anticipated Duke Nukem Forever was. And just like Duke Nukem Forever, it had a lot of potential but just ultimately sucks.

THE GOOD: Well for one thing director Duncan Jones is a great director when it comes to adventure like when it just comes down straight to action. With Warcraft, he made a brilliantly looking world that looks like the real life version of the realms you’ve seen on your computer screen. There was a lot of thought into the set designs and settings which have their own look to it. The CG in the film is 65% outstanding especially (well particularly) on the Orcs. 

The first shot you see of the film is Durotan and the first thing you’ll most likely say will be “damn look at that detailing.” I’m sorry Lord of the Rings, but these Orcs have a much better look to them than those movies ever does. Even then, they are actual characters in this and they are the ones that display most of the emotion. The movie does a great job of showing emotion mainly from the side of the Orcs. You feel for Durotan and the struggle he goes through trying to protect his people while being the role of the chief. The reason I keep talking about Durotan is because of his actor, Toby Kebbell. Koba from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the pr-orc-tagonist who does a great performance. Nearly up to a level of Andy Serkis.

Another highlight of the film is the action. The combat sequences are fun to look and especially in the IMAX 3D format, it is incredibly impressive. At times the film doesn’t shy away from blood, but then in other times it does because it has to retain to its PG13 rating. There are several moments of actual fun in this movie, yet it doesn’t last for much long.

THE BAD: For all the good things I said about the Orcs the opposite goes to the humans. The humans in this film are dull and have no dimension whatsoever. While other fantasy films like Lord of the Rings had great effects on Dwarves and Elves, it feels that the film spent too much money on the orcs that by the time they had to show Dwarves and Elves they barely had enough money in the budget to make it look real. The other 35% of the CG in this movie is rather unnatural and odd. You can tell from the outline out of how several characters move the rendering of the CG isn’t fully complete. The Dwarves moves very much like a video game character, the elves’ ears look like strapped on wax makeup, and the other effects like lightening, storms, and rocks are just as cheap as they look in the Last Airbender film. 

The editing in this film extremely bad. Instead of having this movie play out like a movie, most of the scenes end like a cutscene you just skipped to get to the next level. It is very hard to follow what the hell is going on in this movie especially with the story it presents. Where you think the story would go somewhere to be a Orc/Human team-up that the trailers try to present to you, they just squash it to give us a force romance that goes nowhere, a mystery villain that you know who it is once he is introduced, and most of all a very disappointing last act. When it comes to “epic” films NEVER KILL OFF YOUR BEST CHARACTER! See when you have a character that you care about and he gets killed, you feel bad, but in this the characters that gets killed are played like a martyr. But there is one in particular that is killed to prove a statement that should by common sense mean something and start a rebellion, but instead they play it like it was nothing and hypocrisies the rules it tries to build up. 

There is barely any sense of fun in this movie. It’s there but its in snippets due to the fact that the film takes itself way too damn seriously. At least with other fantasy films there are memorable sequences, in this you don’t remember any of the action sequences because most are generic. And when it comes down to the last act, it goes haywire and attempts to set up a sequel that you don’t [and won’t] care at all for.

LAST STATEMENT: Though it does create a beautifully designed world and prospers from the CG motion capture performance by Toby Kebell, Warcraft is just another video game to film adaptation with a lot of potential and a lot of flaws.

RATING: 2/5 | 41%

Super Scene: Durotan Vs. Gul'Dan