Warcraft review: “A massive misfire on an epic scale”

Warcraft review: A CGI-heavy, very uninvolving adaptation that could epically end the franchise before it even really begins.

Warcraft review by Paul Heath, May 2016.

Warcraft review

We’re not sure if we’re meant to be referring to Duncan Jones‘ new adaptation of the famous game World Of Warcraft as simply Warcraft or Warcraft: The Beginning. Our press screening offered the former during its title crawl as opposed to the threat of the latter, but this big-budget summer tent-pole has the definite intent to lay down the foundations for future instalments.

The film is based on Blizzard Entertainment’s global phenomenon of the same name, a world of conflict where orcs and humans are at odds with one another, intent on colonising each other’s neighbouring worlds, which are connected through a mysterious portal. Wacraft largely takes place on the human realm of Azeroth where this portal, opened by Gul’dan, and orc shamen who has organised the orc clans into an all-conquering army called the Horde. Uniting to protect Azeroth from the invasion are Dominic Cooper‘s King Llane, the mighty warrior Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) and the powerful wizard Medivh, played by Ben Foster – and so starts a relentless battle for supremacy and power…

Warcraft review

The film opens with a mood piece that we actually saw at the San Diego Comic Con back in 2013 – quite a decent nameless orc on human face-off that proceeds the title card here, backed by a fact offering voice over providing just a little background of the history of the conflict between horde and alliance. It’s certainly a decent opening, full of promise, which the rest of the film unfortunately fails to deliver upon.

Everyone had high hopes for Warcraft – the adaptation that would be the one to end the run of bad video game movies – after all, Duncan Jones is at the helm, and with a track record of the mighty one-two of Moon and Source Code, what could go wrong? Well, quite a lot. A 120 day shoot, over 20 months of post-production have sadly contributed to CGI-laden, over-complicated, mess of a movie that spends more time setting up future instalments that if forgets to deliver anything of substance here.

Warcraft review

Jones delivers a film that is actually well balanced in terms of both sides, but in doing this he has failed to give any one character to fully invest in. At various points during the movie, as perhaps a viewer who is not as familiar with this world, I found it difficult to establish who was affiliated with which side – whose loyalties belonged to who, and what their end game was. Warcraft, the movie, relies on the viewer having a basic understanding of this world in which we’re visiting as it doesn’t provide much background, if any, to many of the characters which we’re introduced to.

Warcraft review

The film flutters from each side, orc and human, on numerous occasions and it is really rather difficult to keep up with what is going on – it is really rather frustratingly confusing. The CGI, described as cutting edge prior to release, is indeed rather good, but the 3D really doesn’t compliment it. The visuals, at least in the screening in which we viewed the film, were on countless occasions a blurry mess. The film must be 80% computer generated with its endless motion-captured characters (with the likes of Toby Kebbell, Robert Kazinsky and Daniel Wu donning the skin-tight lycra), it’s too much, and I only slightly invested in the characters that weren’t computer generated, such as Paula Patton‘s orc/human Garona, Fimmel’s Lothar, Pride star Ben Schnetzer‘s Khadgar and most of all Ben Foster’s wizarding Medivh, the actor gloriously relishing a very different role on his growing exciting resume.  All three of them deliver good turns in their respective roles, though the likes of Ruth Negga (who is superb in the upcoming Loving, and a huge contender for Best Actress come next awards season) and Dominic Cooper (who teams with Negga on new AMC show Preacher), aren’t given enough to do or

Warcraft review

I really wanted to like Warcraft, but it fails on so many levels. It fails to engage and fails to provide any want for any more, which is a shame. I had no emotional investment, and even from thirty minutes in, no interest in what I was witnessing before me. Unfortunately one of the biggest misfires of the year… Expect Warcraft: The Beginning, if that’s what they chose to go with, to ultimately become Warcraft: The End.

Wacraft review by Paul Heath, May 2016.

Warcraft is released in UK cinemas from Monday 30th May, 2016.