Filmology Rating: 1.8 out of 4

Before delving into Warcraft I will preface my review by stating that I have not played either Warcraft or World of Warcraft. Although I do have an extensive background in video games, I have not had the pleasure of playing either of these games. Even without knowledge of the Warcraft universe I was excited to see this film. I’ll admit that Warcraft has spirit, but it fails to be a well-rounded film. 

The plot of Warcraft focuses on two major sides. On one side we have the warlike Orc race who seek a new home, and on the other we have the races of humans, elves, and dwarves who have enjoyed a long period of peace. One member of the Orc race named Guldan has found a way to utilize green Fell magic to open a portal to the human world. Although most Orcs only wish to conquer and fight, one Orc chieftain named Durotan clings to the old ways and recognize the harm that Guldan is creating. Surprisingly, the CGI Orcs are by far the most interesting characters in the movie. The humans by comparison are exceptionally bland and lifeless. My emotional investment in Durotan eclipsed all of the human characters combined. We are rapidly introduced to a human commander by the name of Lothar who serves with his son under King Lane. Other pivotal characters include a rebellious mage named Khadgar, a guardian mage named Medivh, and a half-Orc, half-human named Garona. I won’t go into detail on these characters backstories because the director did not feel very compelled to do so. These two sides clash as the humans seek to protect their people, while the Orcs wish to carve out a new home in a new land. 

Warcraft suffers deeply from a total commitment to building its universe. Although setting up a new fantasy universe is no easy task, it is essential that you do not abandon the telling of a good story to build your universe. Warcraft falters in this regard. An exceptionally small amount of time is spent developing the human characters and their relationships. The writer and director feel obligated to flesh out a single Orc family, but they don’t believe it is necessary to develop the human characters in the same way. A lack of character development makes all the story beats and important events seem entirely dull. In spite of the lackluster characters we are presented with a film that is, for the most part, gorgeous. The CGI is top notch and the motion capture is some of the best that I have seen in any film. The production value alone gives the film a creative energy that makes it feel distinct. Possessing such skillful execution of the visual arts makes me wonder why they didn’t just abandon the telling of a traditional story and do something truly unique. After two hours the film leaves us with an ending sets up future films in a sloppy fashion. It is clear that director Duncan Jones struggled to balance the building of the Warcraft universe with the story that needed to be told. 

Warcraft is ambitious. The film falls entirely flat when it comes to the telling of its story and the treatment of its characters, but it does build a CGI fantasy universe that feels special. Hopefully in the future we might receive a sequel that knows how to balance its story and it universe.

Rating: Rent It 

-Tyler

“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.” (I copied and pasted that from freemoviesbucket.com because I didn’t care enough about this movie to actually write a synopsis of my own….)

So if you didn’t guess from that previous sentence, I did not like this movie. I could not wait for the movie to get over with to be honest. I was honestly bored out of my mind and pondered walking out. However for the sake of writing a review, I sat and finished.

Alright, so I'm pretty sure most everyone has heard of World of Warcraft at some point or another. Personally it is not my bag of chips but I know it’s one of the most popular games ever made. So I had really no expectation going into this movie, that being a big fanboy or someone already hating the franchise. I thought that it looked interesting and would have some good special effects. Well….. I was kind of right about the special effects. Warcraft looked like a cheesy and arcade version of Lord of the Rings. So think of Lord and of the Rings and Warcraft was a crappy version of that. Warcraft had decent at best special effects and mediocre action sequences. Other than that…. this movie was a complete bust.

To start off, the movie just jumps right into it without a buildup or anything. Right from the start the pacing just felt off. This thing happens and then this thing and then this thing without really any building to the next thing. Events were just thrown at you without too much explanation of reasons to be really engaged. This was added even more because of the characters. I didn’t care about any of the characters. None of them were really relatable and due to this, I wasn’t ever emotionally engaged with the people. The writing and directing was so poor that I never laughed once, I never was amazed by a shot or scene, and I really never had anything more than a borderline sad or angry face I assume.

Relationships and friendships feel so forced that it is almost laughable. Nobody really has any chemistry together and it is just gives off an awkward feeling to the film. I kept waiting for a character or a group of people to give me something to latch on to and enjoy but i was left hanging. Everything is so rushed and events just happen that you are forced by the director and writers to accept and it just didn't work.
These are just some of the bad things. I could have a huge list of things but I just don't want to. I feel drained from the movie.

Even if you are a fan of the video game, I would still suggest skipping this film. It just isn’t worth it. If I could summarize this movie, it would be a really awkward handshake. You know, one of those were you go in for a handshake and they go for a fist bump and then you both switch at the same time. Then one of you awkwardly just grabs and holds the others hand..... Yeah it felt like that. Everything just kept missing and never was on the same page as the audience.

Rating: Let It Burn 

-Nick