NOTE: Saw the film on May 17th, 2016 at a prescreening. This is an early review.
"Super Mario Bros.", "Bloodrayne", "Resident Evil", "Max Payne", "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time", must we continue? It would be an understatement to say that feature length video game adaptations have not had a good track record. The genre is mostly known for producing either cheaply made ("Bloodrayne") or expensively made garbage ("Hitman: Agent 47"). The trend sadly hasn't been redeemed to this day, even with "The Angry Birds Movie" debuting last weekend to a lukewarm response from critics and audiences. It seems that all hope for the video game film genre has been lost... Until "Warcraft"? This epic fantasy film is based on the "Warcraft" video games that are all set in the fictional world of Azeroth. Much like "The Lord of the Rings", this series, to the everyday moviegoer, will contain a long list of fantasy jargon about spells and monster and make-believe cities, but it also may provide them with entertaining escapism if done right. With director Duncan Jones behind the picture, will "Warcraft" be the shining light in the pit of darkness that is the video game film genre?
"Warcraft" stars Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Robert Kazinsky and Daniel Wu, and is directed by Duncan Jones. The film begins with Durotan (played by Toby Kebbell), an orc, explaining that there world is dying due to a magic spell known as the Fel. Because of this, the orcs have begun transporting their kind to the human world of Azeroth in order to survive. Meanwhile, Sir Anduin Lothar (played by Travis Fimmel) must aide the human race to beat the invading orcs from destroying their lands and way of life. But when the orc leader, Gul'dan (played by Daniel Wu), becomes corrupted by the Fel's magic, Durotan makes an alliance with the humans to save his people. As someone who hasn't played the video games and is seeing the film with fresh eyes, this was a devastatingly disappointing film. With bland characters, an unengaging script, a droning soundtrack, visually uninteresting cinematography and maybe one or two good performances, "Warcraft" is one holy mess of a film that feels like a waste of good source material.
One of the few saving graces in "Warcraft" would be Travis Fimmel as Sir Anduin Lothar because of his instant likability and undeniable charm. Although he is a thinly written character, Fimmel is able to push through the mediocre dialogue he is given and delivers something credible. As one of the two moral centers of the story, "Warcraft" ceases to fail completely due to Fimmel's performance. Suave, witty, compassionate, strong and engrossing, Lothar somehow managed to hold the attention of the audience that is quickly being beaten down by talks of orcs and magic and names of characters that makes memorizing the names of the 13 dwarves in "The Hobbit" trilogy look easy by comparison.
Single handedly the best character in the film, Durotan, played by Toby Kebbell, without a doubt should have been the main protagonist of "Warcraft". The film opens with Durotan's narration and begins by showing [not telling] who he was as a character and made for a very intriguing first 10 minutes. Toby Kebbell, with "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes", has proven himself to be a powerful performer and the small subtle movements and mannerisms he brings to his performance Durotan are remarkable. Without words, Kebbell is able to convey so many different emotions, especially in the first 10 minutes, that is pitifully wasted in this underwritten and misguided story. As the film trudges along, Durotan is the only fascinating character in the large cast of people and orcs, most of which have name that are nearly unpronounceable. With a cool design and many action heavy scenes, Durotan alone carries more than half of the film's weight on his giant shoulders and will easily become the most memorable character in "Warcraft".
While incredibly beautiful and capable in her action scenes, Paula Patton as Garona Halforcen, a half human half orc outcast, is not compelling or particularly interesting. While Garona may have the most backstory out of the main human cast, her character is, by no means, as gripping and complex as she should be. Thankfully not over sexualized like most female video game characters are [even when adapted into film], Garona had the potential of being one of the film's highlights if done correctly. Sadly, the beautiful Patton is simply eye candy as the film betrays the talented actress by not blessing her with an impactful character.
So far in his career, not once has Dominic Cooper give a bad performance and "Warcraft" is no different. However, it doesn't help that his character, King Llane Wrynn, has absolutely no special characteristics or interesting motivations in the film other than being a king. Cooper, who is a talented actor, is completely unable to stretch his acting muscles in the film and comes across a bland and wholly uninteresting. If perhaps another actor were to play the King, it may have been even more tiresome so, in the regard, Cooper does deliver with have he is given but what is given is so very little.
When the topic of most underrated actors working in Hollywood today comes up during conversation, one can only hope that Ben Foster's name is mentioned at least once. Starring in films like "3:10 to Yuma", "The Mechanic", "Kill Your Darlings" and "Lone Survivor", this is an actor that needs to come out of the shadows and become a household name. However, it's a shame that in "Warcraft" he clearly either phones in a performance for the paycheck or is given very unwise direction from Duncan Jones. While the Ben Foster many of us know can be charming and a show stopper, the character of Medivh in "Warcraft" is instantly forgettable and, at times, laughable. Unable to overcome the silliness of being able to conjure up spells and use magic, Foster is lost in a character with almost no direction or motivation in a story with, again, no direction or motivation.
Who casted Ben Schnetzer as Khadgar in the film? Nothing against Schnetzer but his performance in "Warcraft" was grading, confused, unwarranted, unfunny and extremely out of place for the mystical world that they created. While everyone in the cast looks the part, Schnetzer looks more like a cosplayer from the 21st century than an actual character in this fictional land. Sucking out the charisma from nearly every scene he is in, as if he were some kind of vacuum, the character of Khadgar is one of the film's many low points. A completely unnecessary and unimportant character that should have been cut entirely from the film, which would have made the overbearing 123-minute runtime much shorter.
As the main villain of the film, Gul'dan, played by Daniel Wu, while opposing, is rather forgettable and also very unsympathetic. While most villains don't need sympathy, it was hard to feel anything for this character. Much like Gollum, he is cursed with the magic of the Fel, but while "The Lord of the Rings" went to painstaking detail as to who Gollum was before the Ring corrupted him, "Warcraft" never explains or shows who Gul'dan was, thereby making it harder for the audience to feel anything for him during the final battle scene at the very end of the film. With a great design and a menacing presence, better writing would've helped Gul'dan become a chilling villain.
Duncan Jones, after directing both "Moon" and "Source Code", became a well known name for those who loved the cinema. Both films were indie productions that were extremely thought provoking and memorable. Some appropriately called "Moon" one of the best sci-fi films of the 21st century. However, once given a $160 million budget on "Warcraft", his directorial style became tiresome and tasteless. While "Moon" and "Source Code" told their stories with a brisk pace that was full of tension, "Warcraft" crawls across to the end credits with zero tension, tedious dialogue and unimaginative cinematography [done by Simon Duggan]. While Peter Jackson managed to cut back and forth in between different characters, spanning many different locations, in "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit", he also managed to hold our attention without ever making us feel the length of the film's long runtime, which could be 3+ hours if you're watching the Extended Editions. In this case, the 123-minute runtime of "Warcraft" feels like an eternity as the urge to look at your watch becomes stronger and stronger, almost as if you were corrupted by some kind of spell. Much like that orc in the film. In other words, Jones is unable to contain the massive story he was trying to tell and proceeds to add many unnecessary scenes and characters into an already jumbled and unsimplified story.
In an time when Peter Jackson has given us two film trilogies set in Middle-earth, Zack Snyder amazed us with dazzling displays of violence in "300" and George Miller showcasing the most insane and adrenaline pumping dystopian world of "Mad Max: Fury Road", "Warcraft" never scratches beyond the surface of how to create or stage an alluring action scene. As we see the human and orc armies clashing into one another in the film's climax, it seems to lose more and more steam. Even with $160 million, "Warcraft" doesn't innovate or create anything original or fresh, even with the endless amount of possibilities they have. With a source material like this, that can arguably be the modern "The Lord of the Rings", much of the video game's imagination and wonder is lost, especially in these tame, sapless action sequences. However, on the other hand, Duncan Jones managed to somehow make the film feel grand and big. With many camera angles taken from above and shots of beautifully rendered CGI landscapes, the size and scope of the film was done appropriately to match scale of the video game. However, when it came to constructing a captivating action scene, Jones recreates what would be a passable video game cutaway scene from 2010.
Although the action scenes, the overall story and some of the acting in the film is questionable, what was not problematic about "Warcraft" were the visual effects, which were done by Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). The film begins with the image above of Durotan and seeing it on the big screen in IMAX 3D was astounding. Every pore, every detail, even the subtle movement of the eyes were animated to the point where the creature on screen felt real. No once did I see a CGI character, I was watching a living, breathing orc that they somehow hired to be in the film. While some of the effects on the landscapes or battle sequences aren't going to win an Academy Awards, they were serviceable enough for the film to make me believe what I was watching. What made the film more unbelievable was the tiring plot and dull characters that surrounded the visual marvel these amazing artists put together.
It's not the one we were looking for but it is a somewhat competently made film that would be expected of a less experience director. What made "Warcraft" particularly disappointing was seeing Duncan Jones' name attached to the project. If this were a first time director, the flaws in the film could be passed off as mistakes, however with Jones involved, these mistakes can not be overlooked so easily. Because I cannot say whether this is accurate to the source material or not, this review is solely focusing on what I saw on screen and what I saw was not very enjoyable or fun. While it's by no means terrible, it is vastly disappointing to see a great director produce a mediocre film that should have been another epic fantasy like "The Lord of the Rings". Although necessarily not a good film, it is certainly worth checking out in theaters just for Kebbell's stand-out performance as Durotan and if you are curious to see what "Warcraft" is more or less about. If you are not a fan of the video game or are new to the lore, it is hard to recommend this film as I rate it a 5.5 out of 10, which makes it, in my opinion, the best video game film ever made. Congratulations on passing the grade but not be a lot. Now it's all up to you, "Assassin's Creed". Please be good.
Go see it in theaters on 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D June 10th!
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