Warcraft (2016)

Director: Duncan Jones

Writer: Duncan Jones, Charles Leavitt (Screenplay) Chris Metzen (Story and Characters)

Starring: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Robert Kazinsky, Clancy Brown, Daniel Wu

 

Plot: The peaceful realm of Azeroth stands on the brink of war as its civilization faces a fearsome race of invaders: orc warriors fleeing their dying home to colonize another. As a portal opens to connect the two worlds, one army faces destruction and the other faces extinction. From opposing sides, two heroes are set on a collision course that will decide the fate of their family, their people, and their home.

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Good Game Adaption

 

Story: Warcraft starts by addressing the war between humans and orcs but also from a time before they knew they were enemies. We meet Durotan (Kebbell) an orc warrior about to be going through the portal to the human world created by sucking the life out prisoners.

From the human side of the story we meet the great warrior Anduin Lothar (Fimmel) who has to turn to the King Llane Wrynn (Cooper) to summon the Guardian Medivh (Foster) to learn what they are up against.

With the Orcs starting to take control Lothar joins forces with the mages who use magic to defeat a small attack capture Garona (Patton) as the battle between the two comes down to two fathers trying to find safety for their families.

Warcraft is a fantasy film that will always be a problem having to Game of Thrones as a big fan favourite. I will say I have never played the game so my judgment is only based on what I know from the South Park episode. The drawing lines are set up for something bigger in this film which is a big hate towards the young adult genre so that doesn’t help. The story does tell both sides of the story well though because we get to understand both sides of the conflict. I do also feel that if you haven’t played the game you might struggle to understand certain parts of the film. In the end this just doesn’t each all the potential it could have.

 

Actor Review

 

Travis Fimmel: Anduin Lothar is a great human warrior one of the most feared of all of the men when it comes to combat. He has to lead the battle against the orcs being the first they see as combat. Travis is good in this role showing he could be an action star in the main stream for the future.

Paula Patton: Garona is the cursed orc treated as a prisoner only to be freed by Durotan. She is the communication between the two sides helping the humans while trying to impress the orcs. Paula is good in this role too.

Ben Foster: Medivh is the Guardian of the land who has to push his limits to the mage skills that almost take his life. Ben is an actor I do love watching in films but you do know he will always be the villain of the piece.

Dominic Cooper: Llane Wrynn is the king of the human realm trying to keep everyone protected during this reign. He isn’t afraid to get involved with combat side of this either. Dominic is solid but I do feel like he gets held back too much in this role.

Support Cast: Warcraft has a large supporting cast with Toby Kebbell as the orc hero and Ben Schnetzer as the comic relief early on only to get all serious for the second half. The rest of the supporting cast are solid but we just don’t get enough of them all.

Director Review: Duncan Jones – Duncan a solid job with this big budget but the world of fantasy is such a difficult one to get something every single fan will enjoy I do feel certain parts miss.

 

Action: Warcraft has plenty of fantasy action going on with epic like battle sequences.

Adventure: Warcraft throws our characters into an adventure that could be similar to the actual game.

Fantasy: Warcraft creates the fantasy world that only the players of the game wold understand.

Settings: Warcraft makes us believe that we are part of the game with the settings created.
Special Effects: Warcraft does use great effects to create the mix of humans and orc along with the creates in the world.

Suggestion: Warcraft is one I do think you can only watch if you are a fan of the original source material otherwise large amounts will be hard to fully translate. (Game Fans Watch)

 

Best Part: Visually it is very good.

Worst Part: Hard follow.

 

Believability: No

Chances of Tears: No

Chances of Sequel: It could.

Post Credits Scene: No

 

Oscar Chances: It might get a few effects related awards.

Runtime: 2 Hours 3 Minutes

Tagline: Two worlds. One home.

Trivia: Duncan Jones said that the original script was very one sided in terms of the two factions (Horde and Alliance). after signing on to direct, he made major edits to the story, as well as the script, so both factions could tell their side of the story.

 

Overall: One of the better video game adaptions which could work out to be a franchise.

Rating