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Sooo, got a free ticket to watch the film in a cinema. Good thing too, probably wouldn't have paid money to watch it otherwise.
Now I'm a fan of the Warcraft franchise, I played all of the strategy games, and WoW for years.
Anyway. I will first mention the good things about the movie.
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KH--zeFyGI]The music.[url] Oh the music. It was magnificent. It was beautiful and perfectly fit with the setting. I enjoyed the soundtrack greatly.
The CGI was magnificent as well. Orcs looked freaking real. Azeroth looked freaking real. Stormwind...it was breathtaking. Ironforge too, for the brief moment it appeared. Magic was awesomely done, the way magic should be done in every movie from now on. Visible, physically there and powerful.
Khadgar was good. The guy who acted him clearly decided to earn his wage. Durotan was good as well.
The stuff that sucked.
The story. I don't mean that the story sucked. It was the story of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, adapted to more resemble Warlords of Draenor. I mean that the script was very poorly written. Very.
The acting. Acting was terrible. I mean terrible. Gul'Dan, Durotan and his wife and Orgrim Doomhammer were also ok. The dude playing Lothar...sorry Ragnar in alliance clothes, just gave me a good reason never to start watching Vikings. Dominic Copper was terrible as king, and Ruth Negga was clearly phoning her performance in.
[spiler] Ben Foster as Medivh was OK, but maybe I am used to a more nuanced performance of him.
Anyway, I would give the movie a 4/10, maybe 5/10 because the action scenes were really well done. But the poor acting and the overly simplified story detracted from my fun. And I walked into the movie theater with absolutely no expectations.
I kinda of expected as much. Man, I was wanting something good from this. I've a big fan of pre-WoW Warcraft.
Also, why does WoW have to go back and change the past stories? They were fine as they were.
Angry Birds was better than this sounds.
What a world we live in. (ಠ_ಠ)
I'm not much of a fan of Warcraft, but I was hoping this would be good/do well.
With The Hobbit/LotR long done, I really wanted another franchise to pick up the torch and maybe do to the medieval fantasy genre that Marvel Phase 1 did for comic movies.
Guess we will see what's on the horizon, still holding out hope for The War of the Lance to be filmed.
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I caught a sneak preview of this tonight, after reading a recent review comparing it to Battlefield Earth in awfulness. Frankly, it wasn't even close to that bad.
It was, in my opinion, an enjoyable turn-off your brain Summer Popcorn Flick. I'd compare it to Pacific Rim in that regard.
It was waaaaaaay better than the original Dungeons and Dragons movie. I know some High Praise, there (chuckle).
The animation of the orcs and the magic (spell effects and such) were really, really good.
Not-quite Ragnar Lothbrok as the hero was admittedly a little annoying, and the movie might have benefited from a different actor as the protagonist. The acting, as a whole, was on par with something you'd see in a Kickstarter-funded film made for YouTube, but if you're only going for cool battle scenes and magical ka-booms, it's not bad enough to make you care.
I think I may purchase the soundtrack; talk about serious game-night mood/setting/background music!
Vendor - Fantasiapelit Tampere
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Just saw for the first time, and I'm going to watch it again. Worth the money for sure. It's not the greatest movie ever and it has some serious flaws, but I really enjoyed it. CGI is amazing in this, some of the best I have ever seen. And it was cool to see magic done like this in a movie. It is visually my favorite movie of this year so far.
As a avid fan of the franchise I admit that it was fan-servicey as heck and that's part of why I liked it. It was really cool to see these characters and locations and events on a silver screen. I got huge chills several times in the movie. Also it's attention to detail was astonishing. Just the different orcs in their shapes, gear and teeth size was amazing.
All the orc actors do great, and from the humans Khadgar and Medivh are the best. Travis Fimmel does his Ragnar-performance bit more toned down, and it is a bit distracting at times. But he is still hella cool.
Paula Patton and Daniel Wu were my favorites in this. They are done cool and Gul'Dan is really menacing.
Music is absolutely gorgeous, must-have for game music.
Pacific Rim was actually a good comparison to this. IT's dumb fun but really, really fun and exciting.
If the main theme to the movie was the music they played when you booted up the orginal WoW game (warlords of Draenor) I would be so stoked..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60qeyZWB79s
but in any case I will go see it as the popcorn entertainment I expect it to be.
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Garona really needed to have more CGI than just the green skin. She was just a green human with bad teeth and hair.
The Alliance dialogue was bad. Sometimes you hear about great actors elevating bad material...this was not one of those times.
I'll give a pass to Travis Fimmel who I could at least buy as Lothar, even if he was phoning it in. Dominic Cooper was not a good King Llane.
The orcs were great across the board tho - Durotan, Ogrim, Blackhand, and Gul'dan all looked amazing and their actor's performances really shone thru the mocap, which was the best I've seen. No uncanny valley at all.
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Watched it. Enjoyed it. Doesn't deserve the negative reviews it's been getting.
All the acting was fine in my opinion, cgi was great. My only complaint was the end felt a bit rushed. I give it 7/10.
I watched this Monday night. I really enjoyed it. Of course, I am a fan of the Warcraft universe, so I knew the overall story and wasn't left in the dark about why the heck the orcs are invading. If I didn't, I may have been more confused and not liked it much.
The orcs were very well done, and the voice actors were great. I didn't care much for anyone Alliance side, though Lothar wasn't the worst. I liked seeing Grom and Kargath there at the end of the movie, when Gul'dan was raging. I also recognized Grom a number of times throughout the movie.
I also liked how they made the random orcs, and how much they looked like the grunts from the RTS barracks units. Overall it was a good movie. The human acting could have been better, and the glowing eyes of the high elves and (who I assume to be) Antonidas was rather silly. Like mentioned earlier, the CGI was amazing, which isn't unexpected when it comes to something with Blizzard.
I enjoyed this as well. Not the greatest, but enough to have me interested in the next one.
I do have some nits about the effects that everyone is praising:
In at least one place (somewhat after the middle if I remember correctly), the human lips of the actor for one of the orcs showed through whatever combination of CGI and makeup was used to make the orc's mouth, giving rise to an effect somewhat similar to that of Aliens (yes, THE Aliens).
The amount of sexual dimorphism in the orcs is up to the ridiculous level, but I guess this part of the portrayal was constrained to be faithful to the portrayal in World of WarCraft.
Orc tusks: Never mind the realism aspect, that just looks painful. (Same deal for Demonic/Tiefling horns in D&D and Pathfinder art.)
Edit: More thoughts:
The Music: Not bad, but the next WarCraft movie had BETTER have the WarCraft II music, especially the Orc soundtracks, which constitute the best video game music ever.
Dark Portal design: Again, constrained by the portrayal in the games, but Gul'Dan really should have made the portal more wide than tall instead of the way it is -- could have gotten a lot more forces through at a time.
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I'm not much of a fan of Warcraft, but I was hoping this would be good/do well.
With The Hobbit/LotR long done, I really wanted another franchise to pick up the torch and maybe do to the medieval fantasy genre that Marvel Phase 1 did for comic movies.
Guess we will see what's on the horizon, still holding out hope for The War of the Lance to be filmed.
I enjoyed the film being a fan of the games. The movie made a lot of money overseas so we may still see another movie. They need to remember that movies are about story telling.
I watched this movie yesterday, not bad, though I hope if they ever do more we get see the other races have some fun with little or no orcs.
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Dark Portal design: Again, constrained by the portrayal in the games, but Gul'Dan really should have made the portal more wide than tall instead of the way it is -- could have gotten a lot more forces through at a time.
Magic doesn't have to make sense. After all Arthur C Clarke never explains WHY the 1:4:9 ratio dimension of the Monolith is necessary in his novelization of 2001, the StarChild simply realizes that it is, and that's that. Maybe the Dark Portal simply has to have that much height for whatever width it is.
Need 1:4:9? No problem -- just turn it sideways.
Large things intimidate and impress. That's why the Dark Portal is so huge. It's imposing. At least, that's what I think may be the reason why the Dark Portal is so massive.
^No disagreement there -- the Dark Portal is fine at the size that it is. It just needs to be rotated 90 ° on the axis passing through it in the same direction that troops pass through.
Magic doesn't have to make sense. After all Arthur C Clarke never explains WHY the 1:4:9 ratio dimension of the Monolith is necessary in his novelization of 2001, the StarChild simply realizes that it is, and that's that. Maybe the Dark Portal simply has to have that much height for whatever width it is.
I seem to remember that 1:4:9 (as the squares of the first 3 base 10 numbers) would be one of the basic mathematical concepts that alien species would use as the foundation of a Rosetta Stone for communication with new species.
It's magic - it might not just need those dimensions, but in exactly a specific order. Or maybe the portal was designed originally to let something REEEAALLLY tall through, and since no one knows how to research one of their own, they are stuck following the existing design. But most likely rule of cool - it looks more awesome and imposing that way, at least according to the director or special effects crew.Need 1:4:9? No problem -- just turn it sideways.
I think massive and very wide would look cool by way of matching up well with the screen aspect ratio, as well as letting through a more impressive army within a given amount of time. But letting through something REALLY TALL might be the answer -- the Demonic Eredar Archimonde and Kil'jaeden may have demanded that Gul'Dan and Ner'zhul build it tall enough so that they wouldn't have to stoop to come through (later on).
But the monoliths are far higher than they are wide. 1x4x9 is just bullshit. =)
Magic doesn't have to make sense. After all Arthur C Clarke never explains WHY the 1:4:9 ratio dimension of the Monolith is necessary in his novelization of 2001, the StarChild simply realizes that it is, and that's that. Maybe the Dark Portal simply has to have that much height for whatever width it is.I seem to remember that 1:4:9 (as the squares of the first 3 base 10 numbers) would be one of the basic mathematical concepts that alien species would use as the foundation of a Rosetta Stone for communication with new species.
Save that communication was not part of the Monolith's functions. Assesseent, modification, and transport. (the novel also added things such as visual teaching aid.)
In the original short story the Sentinel, the Sentinel's (which was just an alien machine of no particular shape) only had one function. (won't spoil it for you.) That original story pretty much begins and ends in one scene of the movie.
I saw it on the 10th, and I had fun. It was flawed, but I went in not expecting much. So, I'm pretty happy that it was a fun action flick with gorgeous special effects. I do hope we get a sequel. (I just don't get the people who are claiming it was unwatchable trash. And goodness, all the negative reviews before it even released in the US.)
The numbers generated guarantee the heavily hinted at sequel. The movie did very well.
It's not a great film, but it's a comfortably watchable romp. And it is a movie WORTH going to see in IMAX 3D, unlike the Marvel flicks.
Keep in mind that there are critics heavily pre-disposed to trash films based on fantasy, gaming, or anything that's simply popular.
ht not just need those dimensions, but in exactly a specific order. Or maybe the portal was designed originally to let something REEEAALLLY tall through,
Like a certain Dark Titan, maybe?
I liked it... even though I did not really know what to expect and was not as invested in it as some of my friends (who play the game). I have to agree it was fairly mediocre in a couple of years where cinema has been pretty exciting.
Bring on Doctor Strange!
Apparantly I was sorely mistaken about the movie's numbers.
Even with it's showing in China the movie stands to end at 15 million in the hole... which pretty much kills the chances for any sequel.
Watched it when it came out on Blu-Ray last week. Unexpectedly fun. I wasn't expecting the relatively small scale, the relative lack of action sequences and the strong focus on the characters and story. I'd heard a lot of criticism of Michael Bay-style confusing CGI shots and there was none of that in the film at all. The direction was actually very solid and the script put Durotan and Lothar's respective, paralleled journeys up and centre and followed through the story very well.
My major complaints would be some rather variable acting (the guy playing Khadgar was very wooden, Dominic Cooper was sometimes great and sometimes looked confused) and the ending which was way too sequel-baiting. But mainly, some very solid stuff.
Looking at the numbers, a sequel is certainly possible. It made more than PACIFIC RIM on a smaller budget, and PR is getting a sequel so WARCRAFT likely will as well. However, it's possible that the sequel will be smaller in budget - which is exactly what you don't want for an adaptation of TIDES OF DARKNESS with its aerial and naval battles - and more marketed and focused on the Chinese market. I suspect it happening will depend on getting Chinese co-financing and Blizzard getting its new dedicated film production company off the ground.
I recently saw it. I felt there was a decent fantasy movie buried somewhere beneath all the dodgy CGI and the Warcraft trappings.
I kinda of expected as much. Man, I was wanting something good from this. I've a big fan of pre-WoW Warcraft.
Also, why does WoW have to go back and change the past stories? They were fine as they were.
Presumably to make a story that was actually filmable as a single piece.
And it's not like that the WOW folks haven't changed things before. In the movie Garona has gone back to being a half-human hybrid (how is this possible again with the lack of humans on Draenor?) from being changed to a half-draenei hybrid after Burning Crusade.
BTW, major lore reveal on the Titans in Legion.
Magic doesn't have to make sense. After all Arthur C Clarke never explains WHY the 1:4:9 ratio dimension of the Monolith is necessary in his novelization of 2001, the StarChild simply realizes that it is, and that's that. Maybe the Dark Portal simply has to have that much height for whatever width it is.I seem to remember that 1:4:9 (as the squares of the first 3 base 10 numbers) would be one of the basic mathematical concepts that alien species would use as the foundation of a Rosetta Stone for communication with new species.
Except that the Monolith wasn't designed as a communication device. There's no reason to assume that the one on the Moon is the same one that was used to modify the man-apes in Primeval Africa.
In the books they're not the same device. The monolith in Africa is dug up between the events of 2061 and 3001. The Africa monolith was designed to increase the intelligence of the hominids who found it, whilst the one on the Moon was a signalling device to confirm that humanity had gotten intelligent enough to reach the Moon and dig it up.
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I kinda of expected as much. Man, I was wanting something good from this. I've a big fan of pre-WoW Warcraft.
Also, why does WoW have to go back and change the past stories? They were fine as they were.
Presumably to make a story that was actually filmable as a single piece.
And it's not like that the WOW folks haven't changed things before. In the movie Garona has gone back to being a half-human hybrid (how is this possible again with the lack of humans on Draenor?) from being changed to a half-draenei hybrid after Burning Crusade.
He doesn't outright say it, but I feel it is strongly hinted at. For the longest time, "strong and noble" is basically what Metzen liked to describe the orcs of the Warcraft universe. So it wouldn't surprise me if Garona was his daughter. At least, in the movie universe. And I am sure the movie universe "canon" isn't canon for the games/books, since the orcs didn't drink demon blood to turn green.
In the books they're not the same device. The monolith in Africa is dug up between the events of 2061 and 3001. The Africa monolith was designed to increase the intelligence of the hominids who found it, whilst the one on the Moon was a signalling device to confirm that humanity had gotten intelligent enough to reach the Moon and dig it up.
Have you ever read the Sentinel? The whole story is pretty much that scene in the lunar crater. Only basically the "proof" that humanity was worth noticing was when the Humans finally breached the Sentinel's force field and stopped it's continuous signal. The story ends at that point.
It's pretty much the joint work of Clarke and Kubrick that expands the story into the movie you know now.
Trivia quiz... What Marvel super hero is a direct spinoff from the 2001:A Space Odyssey storyline?
And I am sure the movie universe "canon" isn't canon for the games/books, since the orcs didn't drink demon blood to turn green.
Yup, the movie canon is completely divorced from the game/book one (which itself is rather incoherent anyway). I think Metzen saw it as a chance to start again from scratch with a new version of the history and story that makes sense from the start. Although now Metzen has retired, it's anyone's guess how that will go with the alleged sequels.
