The quest for a decent video game to movie adaptation has been going on now for quite some time. It's been going on for so long that some of you weren't even born when this quest began. With the extremely talented Duncan Jones at the helm of the beloved Warcraft movie, surely now, the quest is complete? Like fuck it is.
For full disclosure, I haven't got a notion about all things Warcraft, so this review is all about an actual movie. And what a bad movie it is. I'm at a loss to explain the plot, so here's the official synopsis
Looking to escape from his dying world, the orc shaman Gul'dan utilizes dark magic to open a portal to the human realm of Azeroth. Supported by the fierce fighter Blackhand, Gul'dan organizes the orc clans into a conquering army called the Horde. Uniting to protect Azeroth from these hulking invaders are King Llane, the mighty warrior Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) and the powerful wizard Medivh. As the two races collide, leaders from each side start to question if war is the only answer.
The plot is so contrived and all over the place that this isn't really a movie. It's more like 2 hours of a bunch of scenes hobbled together. And with a few set piece exceptions, these scenes make no sense and it's incredibly difficult to figure out what the fuck is going on.
Obviously the Warcraft franchise is a massive entity and for a bunch of studio execs to think that something so big could be translated into a successful movie is ludicrous. And unfortunately, it's Duncan Jones is the scapegoat here. Try as hard as I could, there isn't one part of Duncan Jones in this movie. Not one. Jones is an incredibly talented director, but Warcraft is studio committee movie making in my eyes. And yes, Jones' name is over the door, but considering his previous bodies of work, Source Code and Moon, it's hard to believe he'd come up with something like this.
If the actors were any more wooden, they'd sprout leaves in the spring time. None of them look remotely interested in their job and as for performances? Well, you'd find better down a back alley at 4 in the morning. Ironically enough, the computer generated Orcs are incredible. Boasting more emotions and performance than the entire human cast put together. This is some of the greatest motion capture work yet. Especially in the opening few minutes. However, as great as the visuals are, they too begin to grate on the viewer. They get too cluttered and there is far too much happening on screen to take it all in. And this is not helped by the cluster fuck, convoluted "story"
Even a few decent looking set pieces can't save this. Ultimately Warcraft continues the trend of video games making appalling movies. Serious contender for the most disappointing movie of the year.
For full disclosure, I haven't got a notion about all things Warcraft, so this review is all about an actual movie. And what a bad movie it is. I'm at a loss to explain the plot, so here's the official synopsis
Looking to escape from his dying world, the orc shaman Gul'dan utilizes dark magic to open a portal to the human realm of Azeroth. Supported by the fierce fighter Blackhand, Gul'dan organizes the orc clans into a conquering army called the Horde. Uniting to protect Azeroth from these hulking invaders are King Llane, the mighty warrior Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) and the powerful wizard Medivh. As the two races collide, leaders from each side start to question if war is the only answer.
The plot is so contrived and all over the place that this isn't really a movie. It's more like 2 hours of a bunch of scenes hobbled together. And with a few set piece exceptions, these scenes make no sense and it's incredibly difficult to figure out what the fuck is going on.
Obviously the Warcraft franchise is a massive entity and for a bunch of studio execs to think that something so big could be translated into a successful movie is ludicrous. And unfortunately, it's Duncan Jones is the scapegoat here. Try as hard as I could, there isn't one part of Duncan Jones in this movie. Not one. Jones is an incredibly talented director, but Warcraft is studio committee movie making in my eyes. And yes, Jones' name is over the door, but considering his previous bodies of work, Source Code and Moon, it's hard to believe he'd come up with something like this.
If the actors were any more wooden, they'd sprout leaves in the spring time. None of them look remotely interested in their job and as for performances? Well, you'd find better down a back alley at 4 in the morning. Ironically enough, the computer generated Orcs are incredible. Boasting more emotions and performance than the entire human cast put together. This is some of the greatest motion capture work yet. Especially in the opening few minutes. However, as great as the visuals are, they too begin to grate on the viewer. They get too cluttered and there is far too much happening on screen to take it all in. And this is not helped by the cluster fuck, convoluted "story"
Even a few decent looking set pieces can't save this. Ultimately Warcraft continues the trend of video games making appalling movies. Serious contender for the most disappointing movie of the year.
