DIRECTION: Duncan Jones; STARRING: Travis
Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Daniel Wu, Ben
Schnetzer; STORY: Chris
Metzen based on the animated video game;
SCREENPLAY: Charles Leavitt, Duncan Jones; CINEMATOGRAPHY: Simon Duggan; EDITING: Paul Hirsch; PRODUCER: Charles Roven, Alex Gartner,
Stuart Feneran; GENRE: Action Fantasy; LOCATION: Azaroth; DISTRIBUTOR: Universal
Pictures; RUNNING TIME: 123 minutes
Technical
assessment: 2.5
Moral
assessment: 2.5
CINEMA
rating: V14
MTRCB
rating: PG13
Gul’dan (Wu), an Orc warlock, wants to lead
the Orc race out of their dying world, Draenor, into the world of men and
elves, Azeroth. But Gul’dan’s magic, called the Fel, which opens the portal to
the new world is fueled by the life force of captives. In order to have more
sacrificial prisoners, Gul’dan leads a small army into Azeroth. Despite their
doubts, Durotan (Kebbell), the chieftain of the Frostwolf clan, his pregnant
wife Draka (Galvin) and his friend Orgrim join the army. Meanwhile, Sir Lothar
(Fimmel), military commander of the kingdom of Stormwind and the King’s
brother-in-law, captures Khadgar (Schnetzer), a young mage investigating the
raids on human villages. He notices that the villagers’ death was caused by the
Fel and convinces Lothar and the King to consult with the guardian Medivh
(Foster) about the sinister magic. Following his instincts, Khadgar discovers
that the orc could not have opened the portal without help from Azeroth while
Durotan realizes the Fel consumes the very world were Gul’dam resides and in
time will turn Azeroth as decayed as Dreanor. In time, Medivh is revealed to
have been consumed by the Fel and the traitor who opened the portal for the
orcs.
Warcraft has a ready
market—the hundreds of DOTA players familiar with the characters and quirks of
the game. This must have been the rationalization of the film’s producers for
wanting to come up with this franchise. However, banking on the online players
might have been a mistake more than an advantage because the game does not have
a narrative—the film’s attempt to add drama felt feeble, forced, and dragging.
The game is about strategy; the movie wants to venture on drama. The result is
a storyline so simple, unoriginal, and confusing for non-players, as there are
just too many names and concepts to follow. The performances are mediocre and
fail to endear any of the characters to the audience. Nobody cared for anyone—not
even the cute little baby orc left to float in the river by its mother. But
what it lacks in content is salvaged by its elaborate visual styles, rich
textures, and amazing integration of motion capture that maintains soulful and
expressive eyes. Overall, there are some good technical elements here and there
but not enough to qualify for a movie. In the future, the producers should just
stick to the video game.
Warcraft tries to tackle concepts familiar to epic
adventure genres. In broad strokes, it delivers the importance of honor over
victory, brotherhood and loyalty over ambition and courage over hopelessness,
but the violence that is pre-packaged because it is based on a war game
supersedes whatever moral or ethical values the film may have.
