“Wherever Gul’dan works his magic, the land dies.”
ZombieDog’s rating: For the Horde!
ZombieDog’s review: Making a movie based on a videogame is a dubious proposition at best. Games are something that you actively participate in, while movies are passive. The experiences are not always interchangeable. What’s more, many movies that have been based on video games have failed miserably. For example, 1993’s Super Mario Bros, 2015’s Pixels, and the horrible attempt at Assassin’s Creed in 2016.
This isn’t to say that they all were bad; I think there were a few notable successes like the Resident Evil and Tomb Raider series. To be fair, their success is probably related to the incredibly good-looking main actors specifically designed to appeal to males between 13 to 35 years old. It seems that when you look up films inspired by video games you get a larger than average dose of solid B-movies.
Enter Warcraft — the movie, not the game. The popular game franchise is set in a fantasy environment medieval type setting. In the film there are two separate groups of people/civilizations (the Horde and the Alliance), and as they state in the first line of the movie, “There has been a war between orcs and humans for as long as can be remembered.”
It’s a classic storyline where two classically warring factions must come together to fight a common evil that is threatening to destroy them both. A very powerful type of corrupting magic has come to the world of Azeroth that offers great power to anybody who wields it while simultaneously destroying the surroundings. Neither side can trust each other because of constant warfare. However, when the Alliance takes a captive slave after a forest battle, an opportunity presents itself. The slave, not welcome in either world, offers up the possibility of mediation between two powerful armies.
There is a small amount of lore at play here. Once we see that both sides understand the need for cooperation, we start to get exposed to factions within each group and the ideas that they adhere to. This is far from deep-water geek stuff; I would call it a kiddy-pool at best so that the viewer doesn’t have to endure too much background. In the end, though, it actually works and allows for a fair amount of character building. They didn’t stray too far from established canon. And what’s more, I felt as though I gained insight into characters that have been around for quite some time.
There’s something odd about Warcraft as everything in this movie is good — but not great. The story is good, but it could be better. The actors are decent, yet not that well known. The computer graphics are acceptable, although not really representative of the state-of-the-art. Even the physical sets are passable while looking like they put in the minimal effort.
These observations lead me to form an opinion which is a little pessimistic. There’s no doubt that the filmmakers were aware of Lord of the Rings and were probably hoping to make another series of films based on a popular IP. The producers of this movie were obviously counting on the millions of World of Warcraft players to buy a ticket. And maybe, just maybe, you would also pull in some viewers who don’t play the game. Unfortunately, this causes a problem. You can dumb down ideas for new viewers which could bore people in the know, or you could expect your viewer to know exactly what’s going on and alienate people who don’t.
What you wind up with something in the middle. Something good but not great.
At least economically, this movie worked. With a budget of $160 million, Warcraft made $440 million at the box office. If this doesn’t scream Netflix (or other streaming service) candidate, I don’t know what does. Netflix made The Witcher, which has three seasons at this point. I myself am a Warcraft player and have played since the original version of the game. Don’t forget this game is nearly a quarter-century old at this point. I am just kind of surprised that there haven’t been more attempts to develop content from this property.
Warcraft checks a lot of boxes for me. First and most importantly, at least for the website, I think this is a wonderful B-movie. It has enough hack-and-slash to keep anybody entertained. It took a chance and made a movie that probably would’ve never been made. I realize this is a calculated risk, it’s just that I like it when they try new things. It gave a bunch of upcoming actors a chance. Actors can have an unpredictable effect on a movie. Take, for example, Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight. His take on the character permanently changed the portrayal of villains in superhero movies. I am all for getting new actors and seeing what they can do. Most importantly, it was enjoyable.
Don’t go into this film with a lot of expectations. If you are a Warcraft (game) fan, leave it at the door. This movie is not Lord of the Rings, and that’s a good thing. The swashbuckling medieval type movies have been around forever. They’re just as much fun now as they have ever been which is why think it’s worth people’s time. My dream would be to see more Warcraft where we can see two sides smashing each other. In my mind, we would get to see the epic spectacle of the Horde finally conquering the Alliance.
Quick recommendations:
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