The time has come! Warcraft, based on the worldwide successful MMO open world video game series, has been unleashed on the world. Director Duncan Jones crafts a simple story to capture the hard-core fans of the series as well as the passing fans who just like good fantasy. What Jones did was take a video game with a straightforward story and turn it into an epic fantasy adventure with amazing special effects, interesting characters, and a solid footing for more movie adventures in an awesome world.
Right up on front street: I don’t play the Warcraft game. Well, I tried it a few times and was bored out of my mind. So I don’t have much of a working knowledge of the world and characters that may be better known to a more skilled fan. So coming at it from a newb standpoint, the movie worked well. Speaking as someone who is a passing fan of fantasy films, the sword and sorcery genre if you will, this movie was an epic adventure. I had a check list for things I needed/wanted to see and it hit every box with minor issues that never took away from the overall experience.
The basic plot is that Draenor, the home world of the orcs, is dying. An orc named Gul’dan unites the orcish clans into an army called the Horde, promising to lead them to a new, lush world: Azeroth. However, the strange magic that Gul’dan wields, called the Fel, requires draining life to sustain the portal. Once across the portal the orcs capture humans and other races to continue their black-death-magic to bring forth the rest of their army. This leaves our band of heroes no choice but to try and stop the orcs at any cost.
At it’s core, it’s is a very basic story and plot. It’s generic, but it’s trying to speak to both hard-core gamers and the general public. By giving it a simple story that most people can understand it ends up giving the audience more time for character development and depth, which is really the most interesting portion of the film. Our heroes and villains do a magnificent job of acting and motion capture.
It’s a green screen movie for sure. Yes, there are many sets and things that the actors can interact with that add life to the movie, but overall the entire movie could be an animated feature like Avatar. There are more creature effects and full scenes with more monsters than actual humans, but when the two combine on screen it looks amazing, quite flawless reallyy. There’s some minor issues here and there with the effects but nothing that pulls you out of the flick. In general everything looks great and you really do feel like you’ve been immersed into a world that looks alive and thriving.
Now I have been told that certain characters from the game are in the movie, but for someone who doesn’t know that it doesn’t matter. We meet our awesome heroes and we get to know them very quickly. Each actor does an amazing job of transforming themselves into what their archetype is for the movie. Travis Fimmel as Sir Anduin Lothar is the main protagonist on the human/Alliance side. He is strong-willed, a skilled fighter, and Fimmel’s portrayal makes you want to follow him though hell and back. He’s the hero you want to follow in a fantasy movie. So is his mage friend Khadgar, played by Ben Schnetzer. He is the everyday man of the film. He points out the strangeness of certain things, even though he’s the main magic user we spend time with. He’s funny, caring, and really brings warmth to the movie.
Ben Foster as Medivh, The Last Guardian, Dominic Cooper as King Llane Wrynn and Ruth Negga as Queen Taria Wrynn are all great. Each brings a special quality to their roles. Cooper plays a great king, one who is all heart. And Negga is great as the queen who knows her role is to care for her people first. Foster is a bit odd in the film, as good as he is. He plays the role of Medivh well, but there are times where it feels like he might be asleep during filming. I’m not sure if it was an actor’s choice or if he was having trouble finding his character that day of filming. Either way, they all are great in the movie and each gets a “hero moment”.
Now the orcs are something to behold. Due to the fact that they are all motion capture acting, you sometimes get a little glimpse of the actor in the orc face, but overall we spend time with full CGI monsters. Durotan, orc chieftain of the Frostwolf clan and played by Toby Kebbell, is brilliant! He’s super strong, loyal and just. He’s not an evil orc; he goes against his orcs ways to try and find peace with the humans. He understands there needs to be balance between the races if each is to survive. Rob Kazinsky as Orgrim Doomhammer, Clancy Brown as Blackhand, and Daniel Wu as Gul’dan all are just as awesome as their orcs. Each is more badass than the last. They look and feel like aged, used, and tried warriors. Each orc has their own look and feel, which adds so much to the movie on a whole.
Last but not least in the cast is Paula Patton as Garona. She is a half orc/human. She doesn’t belong in either world, but she finds comfort in the human world as she and Lothar clearly have a thing for one another. She is strong, confident and overall just one badass warrior woman, and Patton conveys all of that with just one look or gesture. She really is a great actress in this. My only real issues with the movie tend to do with her character. The filmmakers/writers have Garona make some difficult choices that make her life way harder than it needs to be. But I’m sure that’s all plot development and set-up for the sequel. Her story is tragic and must remain so for the time being.
My hope is that the movie does well because the filmmakers really left this world open for more great movies. And I want to see more of them: more movies, stories, races and more monsters! Today’s special effects are perfect for fantasy films. Let them come.
The movie has lots of nods to the game and some fun fan moments that make it that much better. This isn’t a perfect movie, but it is a damn fine popcorn summer blockbuster that can be enjoyed by both the hardcore and passing fans.
