All the countless hours I have spent battling, questing, gathering, looting and killing across Azeroth I have waited for this day; a day when a Warcraft movie came to us. Now I have to start by saying, I am a pretty avid fan. I am in no means a grandmaster of knowledge in all things Warcraft but I have read the lore, played Warcraft 3, the expansion Frozen Throne. I started as a wee Human Paladin in Elwynn Forest and revisit WoW almost every year. With that said, let's get down to business.Post Date: 6/15/16
This is an origins story or so it seems. It often gets caught up in itself, going between Human and Orc characters so often. You don’t hear a name until about thirty minutes into the film so newcomers to Warcraft may be a bit lost. There are a few changes to the lore, none of them mind breaking so I don’t feel the need to mention them here. A lot of familiar faces show up from the Alliance you have King Llane Wrynn, Anduin Lothar, Medivh and Khadgar holding down the Eastern Kingdoms. They are joined by a motley crew of Dwarves and High Elves (before they were tainted and became the Blood Elves). For the Horde you have Durotan, Garona, Draka, Orgrim, Blackhand and Gul’dan they become the invaders and hostiles in this film. I have to say that the CGI on the Orcs is top notch, you really can see and feel the expression coming off of each of them. You soon learn not all Orcs want to war, kill and pillage. Some being Durotan, his wife Draka and the half-orc Garona. Durotan is everything you want in a leader proud, honest and strong. Each character is varied, facing their own internal conflicts and for the most part well written. Now playing on Khadgar in WoW, I wanted him to be the old veteran mage who is all powerful and takes the mantle of guardian of Azeroth. This was not so much the case, he is a young, bumbling novice who has a lot of faults. They give him great power and responsibility but also make him look like a fool, it seems like the director didn’t commit one way or another which is one of my critiques. Lothar is a definite high point, his one liners had the audience chuckling, he was likable and badass. The action was also on point, the fighting and duels in this film were well choreographed.
Another issue I seemed to be having was believing in the world director Duncan Jones created. Some set pieces seemed fake, the armor was well done but this kept us a bit out of the film. I know he had to cut a good chunk of the film (about 40 minutes worth) to keep it down to two hours but the film moved so fast, you met so many characters and went so many places it was hard to swallow it all at once. The biggest reference to a movie this size and this epic is The Lord of the Rings. Now those books and films are no small feature and knowing nothing going into them they certainly have a believable world and story. It’s fantasy but doesn’t feel overly so. I feel that Warcraft tripped on itself too often and therefore wasn’t as believable. That’s not to say Jones didn’t have a huge undertaking in the Warcraft name. There is so much lore, so many characters, so many landmarks it had to be almost impossible to pick what to keep, change or throw away.
Now comes the music, done by Ramin Djawadi who also does the music for Game of Thrones. The music is his own but a keen listener hears the epic Stormwind theme woven when you first visit the city. This is done throughout the film that you definitely hear a nod to the videogame counterpart. In the end the film was meant as a beginning, an origin to the Warcraft cinematic universe. I only hope it does well enough to warrant a trilogy or more films. I for one would love to see Night Elves such as Malfurion, his brother Illidan and the rise and fall of our beloved Arthas. There are many characters that a film can flesh out, I only hope that they are done with a bit more finesse and polish.
- Warcraft or World of Warcraft
- Won't be outraged by any changes to the lore.
