WARCRAFT - Drums, Horns, Strings... WAR is coming! (NO Spoilers)

[Guardian]

I would like to share my thoughts on WARCRAFT (the movie) which will be released on June 10 in the US.

This text will be absolutely SPOILER-FREE!

First of all I would like to note how frustrating it is to see all those "official" reviews from critics who think they know how to really rate a movie. It is absolutely preposterous what some of them write. I can't for the love of god understand why this movie currently has a rottentomatoes score of 19%. By looking at other ratings like for example IMDB you can see that it is doing rather well with an 8.1 rating after 16'000 votes. This should and is the rating you guys need to keep in mind.

WARCRAFT is visually one of the best films I've seen in recent years. The animations and special effects are absolutely gorgeous and it is one of the very first movies that shows magical effects and spell-weaving in this glorious fashion. You can really see where the money went and this is a good thing. And don't worry the CGI looks nothing like the poor CGI quality in the trailers. Also noteworthy is the original Score. Ramin Djawadi did a wonderful job with the soundtrack and now and then you really get goosebumps during the movie! Click here for a first sample of the original score.

In terms of story WARCRAFT is first and foremost a movie for the fans of the Warcraft-universe but it is also a very nice fantasy/action flick for people who don't really know this rich universe. The fans who know the lore will have an even bigger blast seeing it, that's how good and genuine to the source material it is made! Of course there are some changes to the story from the books and the games but that is intentional and they always said they would not follow the known lore to the letter.

Those 2 hours and 3 minutes just fly by the viewer and when it's over you don't want to believe you already have to exit the movie theater. One valid point in a lot of reviews is, that the movie should be longer and a more detailed explanation of certain things would have been nice. It is a good possibility that people with no prior knowledge of this universe will have a hard time connecting a few dots. Sadly this is by no way the fault of Duncan Jones because his original version was 40 minutes longer! I could really slap those studio executives from one room to another for these decisions. They did not believe in a movie with 2 hours and 40 minutes runtime so Duncan had to cut nearly 40 minutes... I really hope there will be a director's cut one day on blueray.

The cast is doing a very good job and I really liked Travis Fimmel's performance. Sometimes you could detect a little bit of Ragnar in his performance but I liked it nonetheless. The real stars are Toby Kebbell as Durotan and Ben Foster as Medivh, both performances are stellar.

I can't point out enough how good this movie is done in terms of special effects and the visuals in general, they are simply breathtaking. The level of detail on the Orcs and Humans armor and weapons is just phenomenal and the landscapes in general are just wonderful to the eye. This movie is a glorious summer blockbuster and I highly recommend it to all fantasy/action/science fiction fans out there! Go see and enjoy the movie and make your own opinion of it, that is way better than trusting those awful critics.

[Carabas]

This is the very first positive review I have seen for this film.

I haven't seen it, so I wouldn't know if it is any good or not.

[Dark Soul]

I have finally seen the movie and I think it was done very good. I would not call it a masterpiece but you can really see they put a lot of work and heart into it. Some of the actors - mostly the Human ones - were a bit weak and I think Lothar is a miscast. He moves and plays Lothar very similar to Ragnar Lothbrok from the series Vikings.

Overall I enjoyed the movie. I think it was not too short but neither too long, it was ok like this.
I regret all this negativity against this movie, I think the people just need something they can bash.

[Guardian]

Well as mentioned before I don't really understand why people think Travis Fimmel was a miscast... Maybe he was not the typical shiny knight, he was in some scenes rather sarcastic. I really liked his take on the role but of course I am also a fan of his portrayal of the viking king. But ok, I think some like him and others don't, because I've read a few reviews where people said the same thing, that he was a miscast.

WARCRAFT has now grossed $124.2m in the first 3 days in China and those were Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. So there is still Saturday and Sunday to come. It broke the record for highest gross in the first 3 days in the history of China's boxoffice.

[Drz]

Excellent post. I'm also happy that it seems Warcraft will take #2 on its 1st weekend, no shame in losing to Conjuring 2 which is a sequel to a popular and established horror director. The movie is also doing strongly on Europe and Legendary Pictures is owned a Chinese company, so the money its making on China should greatly quarentee the owner to have Legendary work on the sequel(s).

Here's my ramble on the movie:

Warcraft is based off the popular game franchise from Blizzard entertainment, I would like to state that Blizzard Entertainment used to be one of my all-time favourite video game companies and that I’ve been an avid fan of Warcraft since early childhood. Therefore, this blog post will not be written by the want-to-be “movie reviewer” but instead the inner fanboy inside.

Warcraft follows the story of the Orcish Horde who have to travel to the planet Azeroth, to find a new home for themselves and thus forcing themselves into a war against the Human Kingdom of Stormwind.

Unbeknownst to both the Horde and Kingdom of Stormwind is that there is a greater threat manipulating said events, and it is up to the protagonists Knight Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) and the Orc Chieftain Durotan (Toby Kebbell) to find peace between the warring factions.

Right out of the bat, I have to say that the Orcs not only looked absolutely stunning, but they we’re all distinct and unique looking behemoths. No expense was spared on the visual effects, and the same goes for the set pieces build for the movie.

It was a great decision to have CGI characters act in real locations, instead of rendering everything into a special effects extravaganza. It truly felt like you were in the world of Azeroth.

The Horde just steals the show, no question about it. You have Toby Kebbell portraying this honourable Orc Warrior and on the other side of the coin you have the darker, more menacing warrior Blackhand the Destroyer (Clancy Brown) alongside the terrifying and outright monstrous Gul’dan (Daniel Wu), you also learn what it’s like to be an outcast in the Horde with the half-orc reject Garona (Paula Patton).

it just is a more interesting perspective on the matter of conflict and they do a great job ensuring that the audience doesn’t see the Orcs just as these generic monsters.

Fortunately besides the valiant knights, you also learn about the Mages of Kirin Tor and we’re introduced to both Medivh (Ben Foster) & the apprentice Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer). Both characters bring more magic to the screen and the spell casting looks just as stunning as the Orcs do and give some cool action scenes to go along the sword fights.

There we’re some great action sequence shots, I especially appreciated the “god’s view” shots of the massive armies fighting all around the Kingdom, it was a clever way to reference the game’s roots as a real-time strategy war game.

However, the movie isn’t all shine and polish unfortunately. There has been a quotation from director Duncan Jones that 40 minutes of footage was cut from the movie. I’m going to assume a lot of the Human side of the story got removed, because compared to the Horde, I truly felt the Kingdom of Stormwind lacked as much character.It also didn’t help that King Llane by Dominic Cooper felt highly miscast, a king should have a presence of authority and charisma, which Cooper simply lacked in this movie altogether.

However I’m not saying the movie needs to be longer, because it builds Azeroth from the ground up for the audiences, so it already feels immersive.

Despite all of this, I had the most wonderful time at the cinema and it was a dream come true to see the Warcraft universe in the big screen. If you’re a fan or aware of the game series it is definitely a must see, but if you’re a fantasy action fan as well I would definitely recommend to see the movie as well.

I’m jubilant to see this franchise finally begin and cannot wait to see what’s next in store.

[Luke Cage]

Saw Warcraft with the Fam, and it was a solid film. Definitely setup multiple sequels.

[Guardian]

Excellent post. I'm also happy that it seems Warcraft will take #2 on its 1st weekend, no shame in losing to Conjuring 2 which is a sequel to a popular and established horror director. The movie is also doing strongly on Europe and Legendary Pictures is owned a Chinese company, so the money its making on China should greatly quarentee the owner to have Legendary work on the sequel(s).

Conjuring 2 is a very good example for a movie that is apparently perfectly made for the US audience. We talked about this before, where fantasy movies like Warcraft are much more appealing to Europe and Asian markets than the US. But then Movies like Conjuring or Conjuring 2 are a big success in the US but are barely known in Europe.

Great review you've written there for Warcraft, I could not agree more.

[AndrewHuerta]

First let me say, I am familiar with Warcraft ( I'm more of a Starcraft guy) so I'm not really into the series all that much. With that said, the movie was ok to around pretty good at times.

For me, I've would've preferred if the whole movie was CGI. But my biggest gripe was how cheap the costumes and sets looked for the live-action parts of the film. I also feel they shouldn't have adapted some of the designs 100% on to film. For instance the elves looked really silly and fake.

Other than that, the story, orcs and fights were well done. Bring on the sequels, and hopefully, a Starcraft movie.

[Drz]

Conjuring 2 is a very good example for a movie that is apparently perfectly made for the US audience. We talked about this before, where fantasy movies like Warcraft are much more appealing to Europe and Asian markets than the US. But then Movies like Conjuring or Conjuring 2 are a big success in the US but are barely known in Europe.

Yeah but I still find it weird, you'd think out of those 3-4 million US subscribers or Warcraft gamers you'd get a bigger percentage to come to the theater, oh well it's never a 1:1 situation with these things.

Still the good thing is, just like Pacific Rim. Legendary Pictures doesn't really have that many franchises, so PR2 is happening and Warcraft is already doing strong in China so i'd wager Warcraft 2 will happen as well.

Great review you've written there for Warcraft, I could not agree more.

Thank you kind Sir.

[Sighphi]

im going to bring this happy-fest DOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUNNNNNNN!

I can see where casuals had problems. The movie does a horrible job at setting up the world, seeing time passed, and things of that nature.

They throw around a bunch of names of towns but if you never played the games they mean nothing. So there is actually no real sense of what is going on and how much danger are they all in.

If people make fun that LoTR was just about walking this was the complete opposite. Every scene just takes places on the next location. I can see how a casual could get completely lost because it sort of seems like all the events are taking place in small pocket universe. It's just, and now we are here, and how were are here, and now we are here.

I can really see how people that dont know anything about the game or are into these sorts of worlds and game can get easily lost.

The Orc stuff was great. In fact, i think they should've just done a movie from the Orc perspective. The humans didnt really have anything going. They were pretty much just there fighting because they had to fight.

[Goggindowner]

im going to bring this happy-fest DOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUNNNNNNN!

I can see where casuals had problems. The movie does a horrible job at setting up the world, seeing time passed, and things of that nature.

They throw around a bunch of names of towns but if you never played the games they mean nothing. So there is actually no real sense of what is going on and how much danger are they all in.

If people make fun that LoTR was just about walking this was the complete opposite. Every scene just takes places on the next location. I can see how a casual could get completely lost because it sort of seems like all the events are taking place in small pocket universe. It's just, and now we are here, and how were are here, and now we are here.

I can really see how people that dont know anything about the game or are into these sorts of worlds and game can get easily lost.

The Orc stuff was great. In fact, i think they should've just done a movie from the Orc perspective. The humans didnt really have anything going. They were pretty much just there fighting because they had to fight.

See, this is what I expected. And as someone who has zero knowledge of the game universe I'm afraid it just isn't going to click.

I feel like most video game to film adaptations make this mistake. They make assumptions that the audience knows the world and the tropes of their universe and so they skip important world building elements. If you are familiar with the game, you're fine, but if you aren't you are lost.

I MIGHT still see this, but it isn't likely. I'm at least willing to give it a chance. I'll definitely see it once it makes the rounds on HBO or Cinemax.

[daisetsu100]

so after reading all those negative comments about this game movie, my expectations lowered. but after watching it i realized, those negative comments were too much. the video game movie adaptation negative stigma just took over and people automatically dismissed this already likening it to total crapfests like Doom or house of the dead movies. c'mon the warcraft movie wasn't that bad. its enjoyable enough and got me interested in playing the game again. they have laid the foundation and i would expect the sequel would be so much better and im looking forward to it. in terms of the fantasy genre. this was way better than any of the hobbit movies in my opinion. hell i think the 3 LOTR movies would be the only ones better than this. all other fantasy movies i would rank lower than warcraft.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Its doing awesome in China. $145 Million in 3 days. Its basically dying in America however as projections is it will finish in mid $20+ million opening weekend. Its gonna be one of those films where its gonna have to make all its money outside the US to get a sequel if it happens.

[regnak]

I won't say the movie is good. I will say liked it a lot in spite of certain plot holes.

[Guardian]

See, this is what I expected. And as someone who has zero knowledge of the game universe I'm afraid it just isn't going to click.

I feel like most video game to film adaptations make this mistake. They make assumptions that the audience knows the world and the tropes of their universe and so they skip important world building elements. If you are familiar with the game, you're fine, but if you aren't you are lost.

I MIGHT still see this, but it isn't likely. I'm at least willing to give it a chance. I'll definitely see it once it makes the rounds on HBO or Cinemax.

Unfortunately that's absolutely true for the movie. Well perhaps I would not say you are totally lost if you don't know the universe or the lore but it makes it really hard to connect all the dots.
I am almost certain that this would not be a problem had the studio not decided to cut so much out of the movie. Duncan Jones said he had to cut nearly 40 minutes of the movie! Imagine what we could have seen or maybe had been explained in those 40 minutes... It's really a shame those stupid studios so often want no more than 2 hours runtime because they think that would scare the moviegoers.

It's now at nearly 290 million worldwide, thats solid. Unfortunately only 10 million from the US on Friday.