I had no expectations and wasn't encouraged by the bad reviews, but color me stunned, I thought it was solid. Some people will definitely never get past the designs and CGI. But I thought the story was well told, had serious stakes, wasn't afraid to kill characters off and rarely took the easy or predictable way out. I wouldn't hesitate to give it 7/10. I agree that comparing it to Battlefield Earth is ridiculous.
Here's hoping Jones can improve in the sequel (unlike some people; looking at you Zack Snyder), which will likely happen given those foreign box office preorders.
Do we know yet what races are in this? I know we've at least got orcs, humans, dwarves and draenei. Are there night or blood elves, goblins or gnomes? Tauren or trolls? I assume undead wouldn't be in this one...
Also, the C in Warcraft is not to be capitalized. GAF usually has better standards in |OT| thread titles
Some of the reviews from gaming sites and some of the YouTube movie channels I watch have said this is definitely made for the fans and serious movie critic's / non fans probably won't get it, so I wouldn't take bad reviews as a sign thatvit's really bad.
From what I've heard the cast do a decent job and the Orcs are done really well, with some good CGI too. Definitely going to see it.
The movie is out here in Switzerland and I will write here a lot of my thoughts. Spoilers behind black bars obviously.
Wow.... This movie has definitely surprising. Whatever I expected to see from Warcraft the movie both the good and bad, my expectations were definitely subverted (both positively and negatively).
Let me start with the overall impressions: it's GOOD. If you've ever played Warcraft you should go and see that movie, just to experience this universe on screen, and, oh boy, is it a marvelous place to see. This movie will NOT review well, however, as it has a number of easy to pile upon issues which cannot justify an all-positive review. However, should we get a sequel this movie is just a few really bad things away from a marvelous experience and I'm sure they can get it right because the highs are very high but the lows are too low.
Let me start with clear positives. Whatever the tralers showed, whatever your initial impressions of CGI and audio, it's all much better than you thought. Even at its boringest point the movie looks awesome the backgrounds are often flatout gorgeous, the orcs look real, the human armor doesn't stand out from the background as I feared, even the CGI baby does just fine. Visually this movie is a treat and, as I stated previously, if you want to see Stormwind or Dalaran appear on big screen, they are a sight to behold. Costumes are amazing. Orcs are huge and feel real. Warcraft even makes magic look and feel real. What an immersive visuals and sound effects.
I count is as a positive but it may be divisive for some: this movie is not for kids. This movie is brutal, serious and has scenes of torture, viscious deaths and just pure evil. I was not expecting this movie to have this level of seriousness and brutality. Apart from two clear comic relief scenes, this movie is making a very grounded and believabel world out of magic portal, gryphons and flying cities. No "Zug Zug" orcs in here, only scary brutal (and sometimes honorable) orcs. This movie is tougher than Lord of the Rings by far and these are the most brutal fantasy probably brought to big screen (I mean mainstream) so far.
The overall plot in its design is also good. This is not a story which falls apart when you think about it. Most of you probably know the largest plot points of the movie, but it does introduce interesting interplay between characters and there is no Chris Metzen silliness here. Everything sounds proper and character actions make sense. A lot of care went into this movie, and it's clear the Duncan Jones loves this franchise. Did I say orcs were scary? Gul'Dan is the evilest villain that Marvel ever hoped to get into one of their movies. This guy is just terrifying and a threat which is both palpable and his heinous acts always hit hard. The twist in the end
which obviously sets up for sequels
is very clever, the whole design of plot, the dialogue it's all very well written.
And now straight to what holds this movie back: while the plot is good in design, its execution is not stellar. The plot and dialogue is "too well written" to the point of being unrealistic at times. The movie has clear pacing problems: after a promising intro scene, the first act moves a bit too much between the locations (a bit like Civil War, to be honest).
We go from Ironforge to Stormwind and then to meet the King in Goldshire (why??) within minutes
. In the second act everything slows to a crawl and this is the single biggest flaw of this movie.
In one of the later scenes the king forms a battle plan explaining where to put the legions. Then Medivh appears and asks what's going on. Guess what: the king repeats the whole plan again down to the placement of every legion.
. There is definitely stuff that could be cut, the movie is long and doesn't need the amount of detail it has (I can't believe I'm saying this because those detail are cool, but still).
Without anything to break a litany of dialogues al the other issues start to pop up, the most important of which is: emotional scenes fall between "flat" and "utterly predictable". It speaks loudly when the most interesting and emotionally well-acted characted is CGI Durotan. His scenes with his wife, his friend and his son are the emotional highlight of the movie. The human actors do very poorly in this regard.
Lothar has a pretty important storyline with his son, whose mother died at childbirth. The son dies during the orc ambush. This is truly the plotline to help give some gravitas to Lothar, but it just tedious to watch. After his son dies, Lothar has a scene where he supposedly passed out drunk in the tavern and instead of having an emotional breakdown he just speaks out his monologue lines and lets Garnoa sniff him. By the way, Garona and Lothar romance is a mistake and should've been at best a respectful friendship between warriors. I hope after Zootopia studios will understand that there are other forms of interaction between male and female leads other than romantic involvment. The king and queen act nice but in their scenes it's all choreographed to the point of not caring.
During the movie's second slow act it also become apparent that the whole seriousness of the movie may be a bit too much and a comic relief would be nice. Lothar went to Sarcasm 101 class, the skill he shows off often to his mage friend Khadgar. However it's not nearly enough. Khadgar gets a single truly funny scene in the movie
hint: Polymorph
which begs the questions: why is there only one and why does it come so late in the movie?
Music is a hit and miss. I was initially sold when I heard a hint of the Stormwind theme in the beginning of the movie (chills!), but, once again, the more emotional tunes are missing from the orchestra. I know it's the Game of Thrones guy who wrote it, but maybe he's gotta stick to TV for now. It tries to highlight the realism by going for "less is more" which definitely works during brutal (you gotta see it just for the fight scenes) combat, but the rest of the movie begs for more.
And here it is. I'm sorry for a long post, but I wanted to give my full and honest impressions of this movie. In a nutshell, the movie excels at visual design and combat scenes, but it's seriousness and slow pace do wear you down. The funny thing is, this movie is much more serious and realistic than people expected, but that's exactly the problem - a bit less talk, a bit more forward momentum and a lot of other flaws could be disregarded. It's a solid 7 at least, in my book, don't go expecting the moon and you'll be pleasantly surprised, this is truly a movie for Warcraft fans and not for critics, who will murder it for all its flaws and realism (sorry for borrowing BvS defense).
Edit: For reference I'd rather watch this than the Hobbit.
I've never been into Warcraft but I'm kinda curious about this movie. For those that maybe aren't fans of the series or arent huge fans would you say it's worth the watch or at least entertaining?
Edit: Maybe I shoulda read the thread first but, some first hand experience would be nice.
I've never been into Warcraft but I'm kinda curious about this movie. For those that maybe aren't fans of the series or arent huge fans would you say it's worth the watch or at least entertaining?
Edit: Maybe I shoulda read the thread first but, some first hand experience would be nice.
Read my review, but I would say maybe if you want to watch a serious brutal fantasy movie with pace issues and strong villain. You will obviously miss a large number of references and it can get a bit hectic with the locations.
There's nothing to deny or accept. The Battlefield Earth name drop is ludicrous from what I've heard from friends who saw the movie in France this week (and that includes people who have no idea what the lore/games are).
Will it be average or err slightly on the bad side? Probably
Will it be shittastic? Highly doubtfull
Will it be worse than Battlefield Earth? That's downright impossible
I'll see it on Monday and I'm pretty sure I'll like it despite its shortcomings. I'll notice them, I'll accept them and hopefully I'll be able to blissfully ignore them.
I'll see it on Monday and I'm pretty sure I'll like it despite its shortcomings. I'll notice them, I'll accept them and hopefully I'll be able to blissfully ignore them.
Read my review, but I would say maybe if you want to watch a serious brutal fantasy movie with pace issues and strong villain. You will obviously miss a large number of references and it can get a bit hectic with the locations.
Brutal, violent fantasy, great CGI and seriousness are all things I wasn't expecting from this movie so you've got my interest and it seems like a lot of care went into making a good movie for it audience so Id be willing to support that.
People need to watch Battlefield: Earth again. There is literally no aspect of it that is redeemable. The cinematographer can't even keep the camera straight.
People need to watch Battlefield: Earth again. There is literally no aspect of it that is redeemable. The cinematographer can't even keep the camera straight.
He can't keep the camera straight, the plot is fucking stupid, the actors are somehow doing a worse job than if they had phoned it in and there are absolutely no likable characters in the entire film.
Unless someone thinks Battlefield Earth is actually better than it was, NOTHING is capable of attaining this level anymore. You could have the Directors, writers, cinematographers, actors, basically the whole crew, try to make it bad on purpose and it would STILL not be to the level of Battlefield Earth.
I could always point to individual moments in those first two movies as pretty okay. But as a whole? They're pretty disappointing movies. The third is just dumb dumb dumb.
I haven't seen the film, but I've heard several changes the film makes that actually improves upon the source material, unlike the Hobbit films (Ex. The love triangle).
I like those too actually, they're not as good as the original trilogy but I feel like this movie the Hobbit movies are another series of movies that feel victim to people pretending like they were way worse than they actually are.
I actually really enjoy An Unexpected Journey. There are specific moments from DOS and BOFTA that I like as well, but they were both pretty big disappointments.
I like those too actually, they're not as good as the original trilogy but I feel like this movie the Hobbit movies are another series of movies that feel victim to people pretending like they were way worse than they actually are.
I actually really enjoy An Unexpected Journey. There are specific moments from DOS and BOFTA that I like as well, but they were both pretty big disappointments.
I think the whole project would have been much better if they kept to the original two film plan. Most of the bad stuff they added in after expanding to three films.
I have tickets for next wednesday, and I will go in with low expectations. At least I hear the cinematography is good, so if all else fails, we'll see pretty pictures, and I can enjoy a film for that (Sucker Punch, Watchmen, The Fall, The Cell, Alice in Wonderland).
I like the movie there a some flaws but realy, the most negativity ist pure hyperbowl.
CGI is miles better than i thougt and interactions Humans vs. Orcs is not so Bad i woul thought after the Trailer. It works well on the Big Screen in 3D.
Lorefanatics will hate the movie, but as Duncan said this movie is his own Universe and the Story works suprisingly well in the Movie. There a bad scenes but not Hobbit Bad.
The real Problem is the pacing, the Movie is to short with to much Content, it would have been better if it runs 15-20 min more to take his time.
I
CGI is miles better than i thougt and interactions Humans vs. Orcs is not so Bad i woul thought after the Trailer. It works well on the Big Screen in 3D.
That's what I noticed a few weeks ago as well with the trailerin IMAX. I looked weird in YouTube, better in the uncompressed version, but absolutely well in IMAX. Any movie-buffs care to shine on a light on how this is possible?
Let me start with the overall impressions: it's GOOD. If you've ever played Warcraft you should go and see that movie, just to experience this universe on screen,
That's an incredibly flawed assumption, I played the games and I don't know how anyone would be interested in their boring, uninteresting, tropey universe and lore.
Nah. The first two were both great. And the second one would have been even better had they not lopped off the ending and stapled it to the beginning of Five Armies to create a super forced cliffhanger.
Five Armies was the only bad one, and it was very much bad.
Is it the oppressing kind of downer like BvS?
Then again it's a different thing because we don't exactly expect certain kind of values from these Warcraft characters..
That's an incredibly flawed assumption, I played the games and I don't know how anyone would be interested in their boring, uninteresting, tropey universe and lore.
That's just like your opinion man. The subtext here is of course if you've enjoyed playing Warcraft. There are millions of people who are interested in this universe, clearly, including me (so now you know one). If you find fantasy lore boring, then why are you even this thread, this is not the movie for you clearly?
I did not go see BvS, just saw parts of it, but suspect that this movie is taking most characters just as seriously, and Lex pales in comparison to GulDan
and far FAR from happily ever after of Stardust
. Read my full text above in this page.
Edit to your edit. This movie is oppressive from start to end. One-two laugh out loud jokes for 2 hours of runtime, I'm surprised that this "fantasy violence" didn't slide into 18+ territory.
The movie is out here in Switzerland and I will write here a lot of my thoughts. Spoilers behind black bars obviously.
Wow.... This movie has definitely surprising. Whatever I expected to see from Warcraft the movie both the good and bad, my expectations were definitely subverted (both positively and negatively).
Let me start with the overall impressions: it's GOOD. If you've ever played Warcraft you should go and see that movie, just to experience this universe on screen, and, oh boy, is it a marvelous place to see. This movie will NOT review well, however, as it has a number of easy to pile upon issues which cannot justify an all-positive review. However, should we get a sequel this movie is just a few really bad things away from a marvelous experience and I'm sure they can get it right because the highs are very high but the lows are too low.
Let me start with clear positives. Whatever the tralers showed, whatever your initial impressions of CGI and audio, it's all much better than you thought. Even at its boringest point the movie looks awesome the backgrounds are often flatout gorgeous, the orcs look real, the human armor doesn't stand out from the background as I feared, even the CGI baby does just fine. Visually this movie is a treat and, as I stated previously, if you want to see Stormwind or Dalaran appear on big screen, they are a sight to behold. Costumes are amazing. Orcs are huge and feel real. Warcraft even makes magic look and feel real. What an immersive visuals and sound effects.
I count is as a positive but it may be divisive for some: this movie is not for kids. This movie is brutal, serious and has scenes of torture, viscious deaths and just pure evil. I was not expecting this movie to have this level of seriousness and brutality. Apart from two clear comic relief scenes, this movie is making a very grounded and believabel world out of magic portal, gryphons and flying cities. No "Zug Zug" orcs in here, only scary brutal (and sometimes honorable) orcs. This movie is tougher than Lord of the Rings by far and these are the most brutal fantasy probably brought to big screen (I mean mainstream) so far.
The overall plot in its design is also good. This is not a story which falls apart when you think about it. Most of you probably know the largest plot points of the movie, but it does introduce interesting interplay between characters and there is no Chris Metzen silliness here. Everything sounds proper and character actions make sense. A lot of care went into this movie, and it's clear the Duncan Jones loves this franchise. Did I say orcs were scary? Gul'Dan is the evilest villain that Marvel ever hoped to get into one of their movies. This guy is just terrifying and a threat which is both palpable and his heinous acts always hit hard. The twist in the end
which obviously sets up for sequels
is very clever, the whole design of plot, the dialogue it's all very well written.
And now straight to what holds this movie back: while the plot is good in design, its execution is not stellar. The plot and dialogue is "too well written" to the point of being unrealistic at times. The movie has clear pacing problems: after a promising intro scene, the first act moves a bit too much between the locations (a bit like Civil War, to be honest).
We go from Ironforge to Stormwind and then to meet the King in Goldshire (why??) within minutes
. In the second act everything slows to a crawl and this is the single biggest flaw of this movie.
In one of the later scenes the king forms a battle plan explaining where to put the legions. Then Medivh appears and asks what's going on. Guess what: the king repeats the whole plan again down to the placement of every legion.
. There is definitely stuff that could be cut, the movie is long and doesn't need the amount of detail it has (I can't believe I'm saying this because those detail are cool, but still).
Without anything to break a litany of dialogues al the other issues start to pop up, the most important of which is: emotional scenes fall between "flat" and "utterly predictable". It speaks loudly when the most interesting and emotionally well-acted characted is CGI Durotan. His scenes with his wife, his friend and his son are the emotional highlight of the movie. The human actors do very poorly in this regard.
Lothar has a pretty important storyline with his son, whose mother died at childbirth. The son dies during the orc ambush. This is truly the plotline to help give some gravitas to Lothar, but it just tedious to watch. After his son dies, Lothar has a scene where he supposedly passed out drunk in the tavern and instead of having an emotional breakdown he just speaks out his monologue lines and lets Garnoa sniff him. By the way, Garona and Lothar romance is a mistake and should've been at best a respectful friendship between warriors. I hope after Zootopia studios will understand that there are other forms of interaction between male and female leads other than romantic involvment. The king and queen act nice but in their scenes it's all choreographed to the point of not caring.
During the movie's second slow act it also become apparent that the whole seriousness of the movie may be a bit too much and a comic relief would be nice. Lothar went to Sarcasm 101 class, the skill he shows off often to his mage friend Khadgar. However it's not nearly enough. Khadgar gets a single truly funny scene in the movie
hint: Polymorph
which begs the questions: why is there only one and why does it come so late in the movie?
Music is a hit and miss. I was initially sold when I heard a hint of the Stormwind theme in the beginning of the movie (chills!), but, once again, the more emotional tunes are missing from the orchestra. I know it's the Game of Thrones guy who wrote it, but maybe he's gotta stick to TV for now. It tries to highlight the realism by going for "less is more" which definitely works during brutal (you gotta see it just for the fight scenes) combat, but the rest of the movie begs for more.
And here it is. I'm sorry for a long post, but I wanted to give my full and honest impressions of this movie. In a nutshell, the movie excels at visual design and combat scenes, but it's seriousness and slow pace do wear you down. The funny thing is, this movie is much more serious and realistic than people expected, but that's exactly the problem - a bit less talk, a bit more forward momentum and a lot of other flaws could be disregarded. It's a solid 7 at least, in my book, don't go expecting the moon and you'll be pleasantly surprised, this is truly a movie for Warcraft fans and not for critics, who will murder it for all its flaws and realism (sorry for borrowing BvS defense).
Edit: For reference I'd rather watch this than the Hobbit.
Great Review! I totally agree with you about most of the things. If someone is not convinced, reading this review, will help them to understand what they can expect.
Music is a hit and miss. I was initially sold when I heard a hint of the Stormwind theme in the beginning of the movie (chills!), but, once again, the more emotional tunes are missing from the orchestra. I know it's the Game of Thrones guy who wrote it, but maybe he's gotta stick to TV for now. It tries to highlight the realism by going for "less is more" which definitely works during brutal (you gotta see it just for the fight scenes) combat, but the rest of the movie begs for more.
Saw it yesterday. I liked it. While there were some rather slow scenes the movie was entertaining and didn't feel like 2 hours.
I am interested in the Warcraft universe though I haven't played much of it and most I know about it is from Hearthstone and Wikis. Seeing some things with a little bit of knowledge was great. I watched it with a few buddies and I was the only one to recognise
Grommash Hellscream was just a random dude in the background
was great.
The movie is fun to watch, some things felt a little bit short but I'd like to see a second movie even if I'm of the opinion that a TV series would probably be a better fit.
I had no expectations and wasn't encouraged by the bad reviews, but color me stunned, I thought it was solid. Some people will definitely never get past the designs and CGI. But I thought the story was well told, had serious stakes, wasn't afraid to kill characters off and rarely took the easy or predictable way out. I wouldn't hesitate to give it 7/10. I agree that comparing it to Battlefield Earth is ridiculous.
This was always going to be a movie for the fans, so it's no surprise that it's reviewing terribly from critics.
Maybe they should have done this differently and try the LOTR approach, but I haven't seen the movie yet, so it's hard to compare them.
This was always going to be a movie for the fans, so it's no surprise that it's reviewing terribly from critics.
Maybe they should have done this differently and try the LOTR approach, but I haven't seen the movie yet, so it's hard to compare them.
Disagree, the entire marketing push has been to tout this as a new fantasy epic, pulling in the LotR and Potter crowd. They very carefully avoid mentioning video games in most materials.
