There are two different types of people in this world. People who will go see the Warcraft Movie with little to no knowledge of World of Warcraft Video Game, and then other person. The person who at some point in their life was emphatically devoted their heart, should and play time to the most successful MMORPG ever. Each of these people will have drastically different opinions about the Warcraft Movie.
Full disclosure, as you know, I have played every version of Warcraft from Orcs vs Humans to World of Warcraft. I am currently leveling multiple toons to level cap in Warlords of Draenor to go with my maxed out toons that I already have. I am a Warcraft fan. I was also blessed to attend the Red Carpet Premiere of this film, which was an amazing experience. I am truly grateful for that. I love Warcraft. I have spent far too many hours immersed in the World Blizzard created so many years ago, when they introduced their first RTS game, and I have been along for the ride ever since. Why? Because the World of Azeroth offers a highly engaging Fantasy World filled with Lore, Adventure and High Drama. So, imagine how high my expectations were for this films.
Many of you saw that I attended the Red Carpet Premiere and you have asked me for a review, so, here it is. Warning, I included some spoilers in this article, I indicate clearly where they are at so you can skip around them. So, without further adieu, here is the review.
It is not lost on the author that this is a film has received incredibly poor reviews. As I write this review, Rotten Tomatoes rates the film at 18%, which if you do not know is absolutely terrible. I believe that 18% rating reflects how the non-Warcraft enthusiasts or your average audience member will view this film.Non Warcraft Fans who go see this film will likely fail to understand a majority of what is happening on-screen. They will see it as a big loud confusing mess, because at times that is exactly what it is, but the tried and true fan will NOT have that problem. They will be able to follow the rhythm of the film and take the big leaps necessary to follow a story that for the lay person might feel a bit disjointed.
As I walked out of the premiere screening of the film, I found a mixed bag of reactions among my fellow audience members. Some folks either Loved it 100%, while others simply felt it didn’t meet all their expectations and there were clearly some flaws in the film. But no one I spoke with said the movie was awful or even gave it a sub 3 star rating. Keep in mind I saw it with a bunch of Warcraft Players, and this was their reaction. For me, I fell into the later category. Warcraft is a film that does some things very well, and other things not so well.
The story revolves around the beginning of the conflict between Humans and Orcs. For Warcraft fans, this is the First War Story. The Orc homeworld of Draenor is dead and dying, and the Orcs must flee their home world to a new world. Their Leader Gul’Dan, played by Daniel Wu, leads a war band of Orc Warriors from various tribes to Azeroth through the Dark Portal empowered by the deaths of countless Draenaii. Their mission begin is to lay the ground work for the greater invasion of Orcs into this world. This brings them into conflict with the Human Kingdoms of Azeroth, who must despite impossible odds must rally to fend off this invasion that has come from out of no where. This is the central plot line to the story.
Throughout the film we meet Durotan, the leader of the Frost Wolf Clan, who takes his pregnant wife Draka through the Portal as part of Gul’Dan’s preliminary invasion force. We also meet Lothar, a commander for the human armies of King Lane, the Monarch who resides over the human kingdom of Azeroth from the City of Stormwind. We also meet Medivh the Guardian of Azeroth and his potential successor the young rogue mage Khadgar. Lastly, we are introduced to Garona, a woman who is half orc and has been bound as a slave to Gul’Dan.
***SPOILERS! PLOT DETAILS***
If you do not want further details of the Plot Revealed, please, scroll down to the section marked ‘Final Review’. The film essentially splits itself into several storylines in support of the primary conflict, where the Humans must stop the Orcs from unleashing an invasion from Draenor. The first of which is Durotan’s mistrust of Gul’Dan. Durotan has brought some of his Frost Wolf clan through the Dark Portal, but instantly realizes that the destruction of his homeworld was brought about by Gul’Dan and his use of ‘The Fel’, a dark magic that has an unknown price for the use of its power. Durotan quickly realizes that the Fel is what destroyed his homeworld, and that if his people, his clan are to survive he must stop Gul’Dan. Durotan’s stakes are high as his wife gives birth to his son Go’el immediately after crossing from Draenor to Azeroth (a moment that illicited actual cheers in my viewing).
Across the aisle we have Lothar, who has served as a loyal soldier to King Lane. Lothar is thrust into battle as the Orcs begin to gather humans whose life energy is the fuel necessary to open a second portal from Draenor to Azeroth. Lother pairs up with a young Khadgar to investigate and discover what exactly is happening, and just who has destroyed the Peace Azeroth has held onto for quite sometime. Lothar is meant to be our central HUMAN Hero, while Durotan is our central ORC Hero.
However, we also explore the story of Medivh, The Guardian of Azeroth who has secluded himself in his Tower (Karazhan) for unknown reasons. And we explore Garona, who is essentially the character that bridges the gap from the Orcs to the Humans. She is captured in an early encounter between the Orcs and Humans and she essentially tells the Humans Gul’Dan’s nefarious plot. She eventually is welcomed in by King Lane and Lothar as a confident and ally. She also forms a relationship of sorts with Lothar throughout this film that quickly escalates into romance.
King Lane relies greatly on Medivh as both advisor and source of military power in his quest to stop the Orcs. However, Medivh has himself been corrupted by the Fel, and we find out that Medivh (perhaps consciously or subconsciously) had summoned the Orcs and Gul’Dan from Draenor to Azeroth. Why? Well, that’s something for the sequel to elaborate upon.
This eventually leads to a double cross that crescendos in the final battle between King Lane’s forces and the Orc war band. The further details of the plot I will not go into here, as I do not need to do so. You can see the film for yourself to get those details if you would like.
***FINAL REVIEW***
The Warcraft Movie succeeds greatly and fails miserably all at the same time. The Movie succeeds marvelously in creating the visual style and aesthetic of the Video Game that Blizzard Entertainment has been making for the last few decades (Warcraft and World of Warcraft). Azeroth is realized in glorious detail on the big screen with numerous Easter Eggs that will absolutely geek out the hardcore Warcraft fan. The film DOES CHANGE CANON (that’s what happens when you adapt any property to film). However, don’t worry, the changes are good, and trust me the RED SHIRT GUY signed off on them, so you should feel okay about. Seriously, he told me he liked the changes. I’m not kidding. He even wants them Ret-Conned into the game!
The VFX Department knocked it out of the park. The VFX team and Director Duncan Jones craft terrific battles and nail-biting action sequences that are simply astonishing at times. The CGI characters feel incredibly real and grounded while maintaining that bigger than life Blizzard Aesthetic. The Performances by the actors portraying the Orcs are really top-notch. The Costume and Property departments just kill it in this film, taking the core ideas of the video game and expanding on them to create a vibrant World. Warcraft fans will feel right at home in this Azeroth.
However, this is where the film ceases to succeed. There is a reason why this film has not been received well by critics. It fails to get some of the most important things right, especially for the casual viewer. The Story is fractured and at times confusing. There is no central Protagonist. There are essentially five main characters, all with compelling stories, but there is no way the film can deliver on every story line well and not be a four-hour movie. Each story line, whether it be Durotan, Lothar, Garona, Khadgar or Medivh feels rushed and clipped. Huge chunks of necessary exposition are missing, but clearly necessary in order to catch the casual viewer up. They are simply left in the dust in favor of a quickened pace, and this hurts the film.
The quick pacing leaves you with a narrative that feels completely plot driven and never driven by relationships. Despite casting talented actors in the roles of Lothar, Medivh, Khadgar and King Lane, the actors never develop any real chemistry in order to demonstrate their love, affection or loyalty to each other. They are left to simply progress from one scene to the next in order to manifest the next plot detail so the story can continue to move forward at its break neck pace. The writing and dialogue at times feel canned and lagging.
Paula Patton as Garona is constantly saddled with dialogue that portrays her character as primitive and frankly dumb, instead of strong and clever (how she should be portrayed). Patton’s Garona is strikingly realized on film visually, but she just does not deliver the visceral emotion of her character on-screen. She whimsically transitions from Slave of the Horde, to prisoner of War, to Ally, to Betrayer to Horde Hero so quickly, you could lose track as to what is happening with her character.
Dominic Cooper (who I love in plenty of other projects) delivers the a painfully wooden and uninspired performance as King Lane. It is as if he cannot be bothered to emote in any way shape or form. As the Human King he should be inspiring and strong, and instead he comes off as weak and passive throughout the film. When he leads his forces into the final conflict, you have absolutely no belief he will lead them to victory.
Travis Fimmel is a terrific performer, but his choices feel indulgent. He pushes the emote button a bit too hard at times to add artificial weight to his scenes. His wild-eyed performance is such a stark contrast to Cooper’s limp King Lane, that it throws the scenes off completely, when they are on-screen together.
Ben Foster is compelling as Medivh, and delivers a performance that strikes the right balance of aloofness that creates the mystique you would expect from the Last Guardian of Azeroth. Ben Schnetzer makes a very compelling Khadgar, and at times he saves many because he somehow comes off as a real person. And this is a problem over-all with many of the performances. They feel like bad Shakespeare, where an actor is trying to portray the idea of a character instead of simply being themselves within the role. Schnetzer succeeds in producing the later and not the former. He is my second favorite character in this film.
Shockingly, the most striking performances are delivered by the computer generated characters. ILM takes the core performances of Toby Kebbel, Clancy Brown, Daniel Wu, Rob Kazinsky and Anna Galvin and enhances them to make them live up to the power and strength one would expect from and Orc. However, ILM does this while preserving the soul of each performance. Daniel Wu delivers bone chilling weight as the films villain, while Clancy Brown’s Black hand brings brutality to the Horde War Chief. Galvin is the best female character in the film, as Soldier, Mother and Wife. Her Draka is relatable and strong. Kazinsky nails his role as Ogrim Doomhammer, the conflicted friend of Durotan.
Kebbel shines as Durotan in this film, and his relationships with Draka and Ogrim Doomhammer demonstrate the tremendous potential of the Warcraft story on the screen. Durotan is the kind of hero we all want in a traditional protagonist. A person trying to do the right thing despite terrible odds. Femmel pulls this off masterfully. At times, I wished the film had simply focused on Durotan and his story, and the Alliance was never a focal point to begin with in the film.
Alas here lies the problem. In many ways, I feel Warcraft was simply doomed to fail as a film. Going into both my viewings (one in April of 2015 and my viewing this week) I knew the project would struggle if it tried to tell two narratives, one for the Alliance and one for the Horde. Yet that is exactly what the film attempts to do, and it is simply too tough of a challenge. In the end, it is tough to watch. No matter how compelling a World is visually, without a solid story performed well by the cast, the film never realizes its potential.
The folks at Legendary and Blizzard clearly put a ton of effort into making a film that would live up to the expectations of Warcraft Fans, but it may have come at the price of isolating the casual movie goer. The film succeeds is in delivering a big bold adventure with tons of great action set against a vibrant fantasy World. However, the film fails to deliver the heart and soul that takes this from a simple popcorn adventure film and turn it into a Cinematic Phenomenon.
It is clear that this film was meant to be the beginning of a cinematic journey, but if this is the beginning of a film franchise, then the franchise is off to a shaky start. However, if you are a Warcraft fan, I have a hard time telling you to skip this film. I feel that Warcraft fans will get a lot out the movie, and they will enjoy it, and some will even love it! While I did not enjoy the story of the Warcraft Movie, I thoroughly enjoyed the universe it created. I want to go back there. I think there is more to the story. Hopefully we get a chance to return to this Cinematic version of Azeroth one more time.