Movie Review: WARCRAFT

My introduction to Blizzard’s popular Warcraft universe happened at a friend’s house. We couldn’t put the game down because we just wanted to see the next in-game cinematic. In the late 90’s that was the reward for playing a game. The animation is crude by today’s standards but at the time I thought it was the most radical thing I’d ever seen. Check out any of Blizzard’s more recent work and you’ll see what I believe to be some the best CG animation in the video game industry. It’s safe to say that I was excited when Blizzard announced plans to make a full-length Warcraft movie…10 years ago.

Directed by Duncan Jones (Source Code, Moon), Warcraft takes place in the realm of Azeroth. A peaceful civilization on the brink of invasion by the Orcish Horde, who must flee their dying homeworld to colonize another. A portal between the worlds sets the two races on a collision course that will bring either the destruction of the humans, or the extinction of the orcs.

When I learned that the animation was going to be outsourced to Industrial Light & Magic I thought it was a huge mistake. Not letting Blizzard’s in-house team exercise their talents on a feature length film seemed like a terrible misuse of resources. ILM did however, do an excellent job and stayed true to Blizzard’s style. Warcraft is possibly 80% CGI and that 80% looks great. There is a ton of detail packed into every character and location. I saw the film in IMAX 3D and while I personally believe 3D to be somewhat gimmicky, it is probably the best way to see Warcraft. The depth of field really does help to show off the scale of the environments. During the fight scenes, of which there are many, you could choose to focus center stage or your eye could wander to any other part of the frame and you would see an equally entertaining fight happening in the background. It’s like a CG beatdown buffet. The only complaint I have is with the live actors. Their look just doesn’t seem to fit in with the film. Instead of being cinematic they look more like something you would see on afternoon television. I think it would have been more cohesive if the live actors were rendered in CGI as well.

Lothar flying into battle.

The story doesn’t hold up as well though. The only way I was able to really understand what was going on is due to the fact that I’m familiar with the games. Any person that didn’t already have a grasp on the lore of Warcraft will most likely have a rough time keeping up with what’s happening. It was a strange choice to base this off of the earlier games and not World of Warcraft. The game responsible for so many ruined relationships, and a few high profile news stories about video game addiction. The only reason for doing this would seem to be as a way to quickly introduce an audience to the Warcraft universe in the hopes that a sequel would follow. This causes the film to seem like three separate stories laid out next to each other and then a game of Chutes and Ladders is played on top of it to decide what plot points to hit. There is so much jumping around that it’s hard to get comfortable with either side of the main conflict and more importantly…care. Especially, about the relationship between Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) and Garona (Paula Patton) that seems to appear out of thin air. Surprisingly, Warcraft was fairly light on fan service for the WoW loyalists. Many of the more prominent locations from the game are represented in accurate detail but there isn’t much in the way of “in-jokes”. WoW has a culture all it’s own and not showcasing that seems like a missed opportunity.

“I’m going to use this whole teleportation thing as the main plot device.”

You won’t be impressed with any of the performances either. It’s hard not to realize that the live actors are standing in a blue room, talking to someone in a skin tight suit covered in ping pong balls. They just seem empty and unmotivated.

“So do you like like me?”
“I literally have no idea.”

Warcraft on its face seems like the perfect candidate for a film adaptation. But due to its extensive and ongoing lore it can be a challenge to focus on certain plot points that don’t rely on another piece of the mythology in order to make sense. Although the film does serve as a healthy dose of eye candy there’s just too much catching up with itself going on to really keep anyone that isn’t a diehard fan from getting lost. So basically, if you want to see some really well-executed CGI and don’t mind having to read a FAQ afterwards check it out. One of the few times I will also recommend seeing something in 3D.