Warcraft is based off the popular game
franchise from Blizzard entertainment, I would like to state that Blizzard
Entertainment used to be one of my all-time favourite video game companies and
that I’ve been an avid fan of Warcraft since early childhood. Therefore, this
blog post will not be written by the want-to-be “movie reviewer” but instead
the inner fanboy inside.
Warcraft follows the story of the
Orcish Horde who have to travel to the planet Azeroth, to find a new home for
themselves and thus forcing themselves into a war against the Human Kingdom of
Stormwind.
Unbeknownst to both the Horde and
Kingdom of Stormwind is that there is a greater threat manipulating said
events, and it is up to the protagonists Knight Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel)
and the Orc Chieftain Durotan (Toby Kebbell) to find peace between the warring
factions.
Right out of the bat, I have to say
that the Orcs not only looked absolutely stunning, but they we’re all distinct
and unique looking behemoths. No expense was spared on the visual effects, and
the same goes for the set pieces build for the movie.
It was a great decision to have CGI characters act in real locations, instead of rendering everything into a special effects extravaganza. It truly felt like you were in the world of Azeroth.
The Horde just steals the show, no question about it. You have Toby Kebbell portraying this honourable Orc Warrior and on the other side of the coin you have the darker, more menacing warrior Blackhand the Destroyer (Clancy Brown) alongside the terrifying and outright monstrous Gul’dan (Daniel Wu), you also learn what it’s like to be an outcast in the Horde with the half-orc reject Garona (Paula Patton).
it just is a more interesting perspective on the matter of conflict and they do a great job ensuring that the audience doesn’t see the Orcs just as these generic monsters.
Fortunately besides the valiant knights, you also learn about the Mages of Kirin Tor and we’re introduced to both Medivh (Ben Foster) & the apprentice Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer). Both characters bring more magic to the screen and the spell casting looks just as stunning as the Orcs do and give some cool action scenes to go along the sword fights.
It was a great decision to have CGI characters act in real locations, instead of rendering everything into a special effects extravaganza. It truly felt like you were in the world of Azeroth.
The Horde just steals the show, no question about it. You have Toby Kebbell portraying this honourable Orc Warrior and on the other side of the coin you have the darker, more menacing warrior Blackhand the Destroyer (Clancy Brown) alongside the terrifying and outright monstrous Gul’dan (Daniel Wu), you also learn what it’s like to be an outcast in the Horde with the half-orc reject Garona (Paula Patton).
it just is a more interesting perspective on the matter of conflict and they do a great job ensuring that the audience doesn’t see the Orcs just as these generic monsters.
Fortunately besides the valiant knights, you also learn about the Mages of Kirin Tor and we’re introduced to both Medivh (Ben Foster) & the apprentice Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer). Both characters bring more magic to the screen and the spell casting looks just as stunning as the Orcs do and give some cool action scenes to go along the sword fights.
There we’re some great action sequence
shots, I especially appreciated the “god’s view” shots of the massive armies fighting
all around the Kingdom, it was a clever way to reference the game’s roots as a
real-time strategy war game.
However, the movie isn’t all shine and polish unfortunately. There has been a quotation from director Duncan Jones that 40 minutes of footage was cut from the movie. I’m going to assume a lot of the Human side of the story got removed, because compared to the Horde, I truly felt the Kingdom of Stormwind lacked as much character.It also didn’t help that King Llane by Dominic Cooper felt highly miscast, a king should have a presence of authority and charisma, which Cooper simply lacked in this movie altogether.
However, the movie isn’t all shine and polish unfortunately. There has been a quotation from director Duncan Jones that 40 minutes of footage was cut from the movie. I’m going to assume a lot of the Human side of the story got removed, because compared to the Horde, I truly felt the Kingdom of Stormwind lacked as much character.It also didn’t help that King Llane by Dominic Cooper felt highly miscast, a king should have a presence of authority and charisma, which Cooper simply lacked in this movie altogether.
However I’m not saying the movie needs to be longer, because it builds Azeroth from the ground up for the audiences, so it
already feels immersive.
Despite all of this, I had the most
wonderful time at the cinema and it was a dream come true to see the Warcraft
universe in the big screen. If you’re a fan or aware of the game series
it is definitely a must see, but if you’re a fantasy action fan as well I would
definitely recommend to see the movie as well.
I’m jubilant to see this franchise
finally begin and cannot wait to see what’s next in store.
