Warcraft (2016) Movie Review

Warcraft is the latest video game-to-movie adaptation based on the series of the same name. Blizzard Entertainment, the developers of the series, was heavily involved, and it was directed by Duncan Jones, who worked on the critically-acclaimed films Moon and Source Code, neither of which I've seen. It's the latest effort to break that boundary for video game movies and... we'll have to wait a little longer. Unsurprisingly, it was slammed by critics.

I've never played a single Warcraft game, since real-time strategy isn't really my thing. Because of this, I will not have any trouble in judging the film by its own merits. After watching the film, I didn't think it was as bad as the critics made it out to be. There was definitely a lot of effort put into the film, but I would be lying if I said Warcraft didn't have problems, which I'll get to.

A race of Orcs, led by some magician named Gul'dan, escape their dying world and travel to the realm of Azeroth. There, they invade small parts of the land and kidnap a lot of people to use as a sacrifice to open up a portal to bring more Orcs in. The humans try to fend off their land in the process. However, an Orc chieftain named Durotan is thinking that the humans and Orcs could co-exist with one another.

I think what the film has potential for is to create this nice-looking world full of humans, dwarves, and elves, with a lot of stuff to geek out about like magic and creatures. There is even a sense of awe when one of the main characters, a mage named Khadgar, actually takes a bit of time to observe the world around him. I found myself pretty interested in this world almost the same way I found Middle-Earth in The Lord of the Rings fascinating.

I was pretty entertained through some parts of the film. One thing I have to talk about right away is the action. There is none of that rapid editing or shaky cam to ruin it. You can tell what's going on and still be engaged. Plus, the fights between the Orcs and humans are pretty intense. When an Orc strikes an armored human with a giant weapon, you feel the weight the attack thanks to the sound editing. One moment that stood out to me was this one shot where an Orc crushes a man's neck with his bare hands like he was nothing. I actually cringed, but in a good way. You don't want to mess with an Orc.

The visual effects are amazing. The motion-capture for the Orcs are some of the best that I have seen. It's obvious that they're CGI, but they blend so well into the movie that it kind of fits. They even looked pretty darn real without going into the uncanny valley, which is quite an achievement. Not once does it look like the actors are talking to thin air; I can actually believe that they are interacting with each other. Now those are all of the praises that I have.

My biggest problem with the film comes to the characters. I'll get this out of the way first: I liked the character of Durotan, played by Toby Kebbell. He is sympathetic as he has a wife and a newborn child, hoping to find some peace and just raise a family. This makes the war between Orcs and humans less black and white and add some dimension to them, which sadly isn't fully realized. I also liked Ben Schnetzer as Khadgar, a mage in training who got a couple of laughs out of me. Yeah, one thing I should also mention is that despite its serious tone, it does have a few funny moments here and there, which is a good change of pace.

I didn't care for the rest of the characters. We got Travis Fimmel as Lothar, a charismatic warrior who is otherwise pretty bland. I guess we're supposed to be invested in the character because he has a son who's also warrior, but they barely interact with one another, so what's the point?

Then we have Paula Patton as a half-breed named Garona. The character is an interesting idea: a half-human and half-orc woman who could serve as a bridge between the two races. Unfortunately, she doesn't have much of a personality and says stuff that's worth putting in a movie trailer. The rest, I don't remember that much because they're not as fleshed out or memorable enough.

Another gripe I have is that I feel that there are extra scenes missing. After one scene, we jump into some characters or a new world that was given little to no mention or build-up, making the editing seem really off. I know I'm repeating something Jeremy Jahns said in his review, but I agree that there should be an extended cut to fill in all the gaps.

Lastly, the movie ended rather abruptly. I wasn't sure how to feel at the end. Hopeful? Happy? Excited? I have no idea. I wasn't all that satisfied because I couldn't care for what's going on. The script was a bit of a muddled mess for all the reasons I listed. I'm just not all that excited for a sequel that it's hinting at.

Warcraft is a bit of a step forward, but a couple of steps back. While I was interested in the world that was crafted and I thought Toby Kebbell gave the best performance, it was bogged down by a messy script. With maybe one or two rewrites, the story would have been more cohesive and had better-written characters to make the audience invested in this conflict and its world-building.

It's an okay movie that I was able to enjoy, but I don't have a desire to relive it. Audience reactions may vary. General movie-goers could either enjoy it or not, but I think at least fans of the games might like it. Since I don't think the film is horrible or great, it earns my rating of...

THINK FOR YOURSELF

It was close, but no cigar. All that is left now for video game movies this year is Assassin's Creed. Fingers crossed.