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May 24, 2016
Dragonlord's Review of WARCRAFT (No Spoilers)
It's a well-known fact that there hasn't been a truly great feature film adaptation of a video game. The best we have come close to recently is the terrific Wreck-It Ralph but that was a movie about video games, not a video game movie. When they announced the Warcraft movie a few years ago, many were optimistic that this would be the one to break the video game curse. Sadly, it failed.
Right from the get-go, Duncan Jones' Warcraft has a problem with its rushed pacing with scenes in badly need of marinading. What should have been a slow, dramatic build-up in tension with the orcs' arrivial, it was all neatly truncated in the form of a brief report from the scouts and messengers. There's also a overwhelming sense of disconnectivity around the movie. Whether it's the meh story or the uninolving characters, you watch everything unfold but you just don't care.
Travis Fimmel as Lothar was just serviceable but he shines prominently when he's in action and slicing and dicing orcs. Dominic Cooper as King Llane Wrynn was pretty good while Ben Foster as the sorcerer Medivh was okay but both roles should have gone to someone older. Amusingly, Cooper and his onscreen wife played by Ruth Negga are also a couple in AMC's Preacher. Ben Schnetzer, who plays a major role as the young mage Khadgar, was pretty bland and he's just a dull pretty face. There's also an orc character in there whose constant allegiance flip-flopping became tiresome.
Paula Patton as the half orc Garona was one of the few bright spots in the movie. Her character was very engaging every time she's on screen and you instantly connect with her arc. From the moment she shows up, I couldn't help but think that she would make a great She-Hulk.
For the longest time, I've always wanted to see the orcs portrayed as massively as they did in the Warcraft games. "Be careful what you wish for," as they say because that is precisely what I got in the movie and it doesn't look good. The orcs' design is distracting and extremely disproportionate especially when they're side by side with the humans. It's like looking at an army of Hulks running around.
The special effects are a mixed bag. Azeroth and the cities look amazing. There are some gorgeous CGI spectacle and some nuanced orc facial gestures but some of the orcs' effects looked fake or too cartoonish. Durotan's design is very manipulative as evidence by being the only orc with gentle eyes and soft facial features, sometimes on the verge of being too sappy. Durotan is one of the few interesting characters in the movie, just wished it wasn't too obvious or too calculated. Durotan's wife, Draka, and all the other female orcs just look bad.
The final battle was pretty good though and I especially liked the complicated aftermath and tragic undertones. With a runtime of 123 minutes only, Warcraft needed at least an extra 30 minutes to solve its rushed pacing but unfortunately the time length still would not be able to fix the problems of their unexciting characters, miscasting and so-so story.
We'll just have to wait and see if the upcoming Assassin's Creed movie will be the one to finally break the video game curse. But I do hope there will be a Warcraft sequel because aside from wanting to see more of that world and hopefully the other races, I know they can do better.
Rating: 6/10
Dragonlord's Review of WARCRAFT (No Spoilers)
It's a well-known fact that there hasn't been a truly great feature film adaptation of a video game. The best we have come close to recently is the terrific Wreck-It Ralph but that was a movie about video games, not a video game movie. When they announced the Warcraft movie a few years ago, many were optimistic that this would be the one to break the video game curse. Sadly, it failed.
Right from the get-go, Duncan Jones' Warcraft has a problem with its rushed pacing with scenes in badly need of marinading. What should have been a slow, dramatic build-up in tension with the orcs' arrivial, it was all neatly truncated in the form of a brief report from the scouts and messengers. There's also a overwhelming sense of disconnectivity around the movie. Whether it's the meh story or the uninolving characters, you watch everything unfold but you just don't care.
Travis Fimmel as Lothar was just serviceable but he shines prominently when he's in action and slicing and dicing orcs. Dominic Cooper as King Llane Wrynn was pretty good while Ben Foster as the sorcerer Medivh was okay but both roles should have gone to someone older. Amusingly, Cooper and his onscreen wife played by Ruth Negga are also a couple in AMC's Preacher. Ben Schnetzer, who plays a major role as the young mage Khadgar, was pretty bland and he's just a dull pretty face. There's also an orc character in there whose constant allegiance flip-flopping became tiresome.
Paula Patton as the half orc Garona was one of the few bright spots in the movie. Her character was very engaging every time she's on screen and you instantly connect with her arc. From the moment she shows up, I couldn't help but think that she would make a great She-Hulk.
For the longest time, I've always wanted to see the orcs portrayed as massively as they did in the Warcraft games. "Be careful what you wish for," as they say because that is precisely what I got in the movie and it doesn't look good. The orcs' design is distracting and extremely disproportionate especially when they're side by side with the humans. It's like looking at an army of Hulks running around.
The special effects are a mixed bag. Azeroth and the cities look amazing. There are some gorgeous CGI spectacle and some nuanced orc facial gestures but some of the orcs' effects looked fake or too cartoonish. Durotan's design is very manipulative as evidence by being the only orc with gentle eyes and soft facial features, sometimes on the verge of being too sappy. Durotan is one of the few interesting characters in the movie, just wished it wasn't too obvious or too calculated. Durotan's wife, Draka, and all the other female orcs just look bad.
The final battle was pretty good though and I especially liked the complicated aftermath and tragic undertones. With a runtime of 123 minutes only, Warcraft needed at least an extra 30 minutes to solve its rushed pacing but unfortunately the time length still would not be able to fix the problems of their unexciting characters, miscasting and so-so story.
We'll just have to wait and see if the upcoming Assassin's Creed movie will be the one to finally break the video game curse. But I do hope there will be a Warcraft sequel because aside from wanting to see more of that world and hopefully the other races, I know they can do better.
Rating: 6/10
