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Warcraft |OT| You Are Not Prepared

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B

Bacon_Boss

Member
So i'm gonna leave my spoiler free review here:

I liked what we got, however i think this movie suffered from the same problem bat v supes had: Too much happening with way too much assumed knowledge from the viewer. Even as a fan of the series and lore the editing and lack of set up seemed really off to me. Cutting from a castle interior to a shot of duroton and doomhammer sitting on a hill without a landscape shot was jarring. Names are dropped left and right, gul'dan is kind of like a Saturday morning villain because we don't get any look at his motivations at all. Where was the shadow council? Why Did Ner'zhul get no screen time? Where was the drinking of mannoroth's blood?

So basically we get a story about a refugee facton trying to side with the enemy for a common good against their misguided homeland. It's neat to see a "new" take on the story i guess? Not enough setup is my main complaint, aside from Hellscream.

HE'S RIGHT THERE. DO SOMETHING COOL!

edit: I'm reserving final judgements until i see the director's cut.
 
W

Windam

Scaley member
Just got home from the 10pm premiere of this. Visually gorgeous, good soundtrack, some cheesy dialogue, and
Murlocs!!!
. Great flick overall.

Finaj said:
The movie needed more scenes like the one involving
Lothar, Khadgar and Garona sitting around a fire talking about how Orc women would crush human pelvises if they were to mate. Just more character moments/development like that would have been great.
Click to expand...

I... I wouldn't say no to this Garona, and I hate Orcs. Must be the Draenei blood, but the ones at the beginning looked hella creepy... I don't even know.
 
F

Finaj

Member
The movie needed more scenes like the one involving
Lothar, Khadgar and Garona sitting around a fire talking about how Orc women would crush human pelvises if they were to mate. Just more character moments/development like that would have been great.
 
T

Triz

Member
I really enjoyed it. And that Blizzard Studio logo in the opening credits...I pray we get to see that again. The way their iconic characters were encased in the ice was awesome.
 
P

peaceiscloser

Member
just got back from Warcraft.
Literally one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
Blizzard can't write stories for sh**
I was so disgusted by all of it that, as my mom put it, "I want to throw up."
I was alright with Batman vs. Superman even with some cringes.
I liked Jurassic World.
The Phantom Menace is alright.
But this?
This is a crime against cinematography.

The worst part of all of this, is that they plan to make more.
Blizzard is a menace, and must be stopped.


Valhelm said:
Warcraft goes to show that high fantasy can actually be much, much worse than the Hobbit films.

This was probably the worst movie I've ever seen in theaters. Every scene was bad. The script, the delivery, the accents, and the art design all seemed out of place and cheesy. I've got no idea how so many people approved of this every step of the way. A couple scenes were sort of fun, but seemed lower quality than your average Warcraft cutscene. The juxtaposition between the orcs and humans felt like Roger Rabbit without the charm. How could these green monstrosities be so much less realistic than the Na'vi seven years ago?

Worst part? The fucking Hulk hands
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. I never played any Warcraft games, and without any emotional attachment to these names it physically took the life out of me. Turns out that the life sucking force whatever it was (edit: the Fel?) is real after all

edit: after reading some articles, I can respect that this tried to be super faithful to the canon.
 
F

Finaj

Member
I hope there's a sequel. Zack Snyder is on his third chance now. Duncan Jones deserves at least a second one.

And while I still like the Hobbit films, I liked Warcraft more. They had the decency to not butcher the source material (love triangle).
 
H

Houndi101

Member
I'm starting to question my own sanity that I can't tell if this is a total turkey and makes people want to throw up and is offending mankind as a whole etc... I just cannot see it, I could see it in BvS and other bad movies.. Why not this?
 
M

MetroidPrimeRib

Banned
As a pretty huge WarCraft fan, eh. 5/10 at best. The orc stuff looked great and I appreciate having people like Grom and Kargath in the background but maaaaaaan if you don't know shit about WarCraft you're gonna be so lost. I had to constantly be explaining stuff to my friend because he kept asking.

"Those blue guys are Draenei. Garona is half one of those. Probably who knows if they will stick with it or go with the pre retcon thing."

"No Karazhan and Dalaran are different."

"Okay Fel is like demon juice, its bad for you but makes you strong."

"I don't know why they don't have priests or shamans resurrect all the dead guys. Don't question that."

"Ok some of the orcs are green and some of them are brown because...I forget why but there are red ones too"

"I dunno why the Dwarves won't help em. I guess it's Orcs vs Humans, literally."

"No Durotan is warchief of the Frostwolves, which is different from Blackhand he's the warchief of the Blackrock and the Horde, Gul'dan is kinda the ring leader and he's shadow council"

"No those aren't Night Elves, those are High Elves"

"A Mak'gora is an old Orc tradition where you fight to the death...oh you probably coulda figured that one out."

and on and on and on. With how many times they move around in this movie they shoulda given people a goddamn map of Lordaeron. Theres even a scene in Ironforge thats a minute long and thats all you see of Ironforge. This was not made for non-WarCraft fans. Not even for old, surface level fans. Even I was lost at a few points, like that black cube girl thing the Kirin Tor had. I don't even know what that was.

I'm still surprised this even came out, tbh. 10 years in the making and I've been waiting that long. My expectations were low but I was somewhat happy with what I got, I don't think a movie 10 years in the making thats 7 years to late starting at Orcs vs Humans would've been better then this under any circumstance. Not even close to being Battlefield Earth tier but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't curious or interested in the notion of there being a massive blockbuster WarCraft movie, even if it did look pretty good. The orc parts at least.

Also laughed my ass off at Thrall being put in the river like fucking Moses. Is the spoiler thread even being used?
 
scoobs

scoobs

Member
MetroidPrimeRib said:
As a pretty huge WarCraft fan, eh. 5/10 at best. The orc stuff looked great and I appreciate having people like Grom and Kargath in the background but maaaaaaan if you don't know shit about WarCraft you're gonna be so lost. I had to constantly be explaining stuff to my friend because he kept asking.

"Those blue guys are Draenei. Garona is half one of those. Probably who knows if they will stick with it or go with the pre retcon thing."

"No Karazhan and Dalaran are different."

"Okay Fel is like demon juice, its bad for you but makes you strong."

"I don't know why they don't have priests or shamans resurrect all the dead guys. Don't question that."

"Ok some of the orcs are green and some of them are brown because...I forget why but there are red ones too"

"I dunno why the Dwarves won't help em. I guess it's Orcs vs Humans, literally."

"No Durotan is warchief of the Frostwolves, which is different from Blackhand he's the warchief of the Blackrock and the Horde, Gul'dan is kinda the ring leader and he's shadow council"

"No those aren't Night Elves, those are High Elves"

"A Mak'gora is an old Orc tradition where you fight to the death...oh you probably coulda figured that one out."

and on and on and on. With how many times they move around in this movie they shoulda given people a goddamn map of Lordaeron. Theres even a scene in Ironforge thats a minute long and thats all you see of Ironforge. This was not made for non-WarCraft fans. Not even for old, surface level fans. Even I was lost at a few points, like that black cube girl thing the Kirin Tor had. I don't even know what that was.

I'm still surprised this even came out, tbh. 10 years in the making and I've been waiting that long. My expectations were low but I was somewhat happy with what I got, I don't think a movie 10 years in the making thats 7 years to late starting at Orcs vs Humans would've been better then this under any circumstance. Not even close to being Battlefield Earth tier but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't curious or interested in the notion of there being a massive blockbuster WarCraft movie, even if it did look pretty good. The orc parts at least.

Also laughed my ass off at Thrall being put in the river like fucking Moses. Is the spoiler thread even being used?
Click to expand...

They explain these things pretty well in the movie I thought. I really don't think its that hard to understand but I'm coming from it as a Warcraft fan so I can't really say what it would be like as someone having no idea.
 
O

Omega Ultimus

Member
I wish I could put up a more exhaustive and substantive review, but I'm feeling rather worn out:

The film feels like two separate movies, honestly. The orc side is actually pretty good despite the obviously cut material, while the human side at times reminded me of the Dungeons & Dragons film, and at best, was mediocre. Dialogue, pacing, even the scenery and design itself was vastly superior and managed to save the film from veering into an unwatchable mess.

As thematically clever and interesting the story could be with two competing tones and narratives, it's clear that the goofy, lighthearted human one does not belong in the ultimately dour nature of this story. That's not to say that humor needs to be completely abandoned. The humor that was present on the orc side was used sparingly, but helped humanize them, while the attempts on the human side made them feel less like actual people and more like fantasy caricatures. Even the acting felt more genuine from these hulking, tusked warriors than from the humans. However, like I said, the good manages to overcome the bad, even if it does so in a marginal manner.

I would say, true to the ambivalent emotion of the ending, there is a level of grim caution towards any sequel, but there is also some hope, even if that hope is clad in blue and gold.

Oh, ya, how could I possibly forget: For The Horde!
 
M

MetroidPrimeRib

Banned
scoobs said:
They explain these things pretty well in the movie I thought. I really don't think its that hard to understand but I'm coming from it as a Warcraft fan so I can't really say what it would be like as someone having no idea.
Click to expand...

I honestly forget the orc skin color thing. The Dwarves seemed to not want to help for little reason to me. I did have to go to the bathroom at one point so I dunno if I missed another dwarf scene since the movie had a fetish for scene switching all the time

Omega Ultimus said:
I wish I could put up a more exhaustive and substantive review, but I'm feeling rather worn out:

The film feels like two separate movies, honestly. The orc side is actually pretty good despite the obviously cut material, while the human side at times reminded me of the Dungeons & Dragons film, and at best, was mediocre. Dialogue, pacing, even the scenery and design itself was vastly superior and managed to save the film from veering into an unwatchable mess.

As thematically clever and interesting the story could be with two competing tones and narratives, it's clear that the goofy, lighthearted human one does not belong in the ultimately dour nature of this story. That's not to say that humor needs to be completely abandoned. The humor that was present on the orc side was used sparingly, but helped humanize them, while the attempts on the human side made them feel less like actual people and more like fantasy caricatures. Even the acting felt more genuine from these hulking, tusked warriors than from the humans. However, like I said, the good manages to overcome the bad, even if it does so in a marginal manner.

I would say, true to the ambivalent emotion of the ending, there is a level of grim caution towards any sequel, but there is also some hope, even if that hope is clad in blue and gold.

Oh, ya, how could I possible forget: For the Horde!
Click to expand...

Dungeons and Dragons was exactly the movie I was thinking of to describe the human side of the movie
 
G

Generic Power Ranger

Member
MetroidPrimeRib said:
I honestly forget the orc skin color thing. The Dwarves seemed to not want to help for little reason to me. I did have to go to the bathroom at one point so I dunno if I missed another dwarf scene since the movie had a fetish for scene switching all the time
Click to expand...

There was a
roundtable scene where the humans tried to convince the other races to help them fend off the attackers, but the others were like ehhhh... And then they were interrupted by lothar who came back from the orc camp, which they used as an excuse to cause a scene and leave. I thought it made sense. Then again, I did play a lot of warcraft 2 and 3. Remember to spoilertag btw. The movie isn't out everywhere yet (or is releasing today)

I actually could answer most of those things as they were explained in the movie. Also went with a friend who didn't know anything about warcraft and he could follow along just fine.
 
H

Houndi101

Member
I must add... this is a bad thing but... having read the official Durotan prequel novel to the flick... it answered all the questions and complaints from couple of pages ago.
That's bad and shouldn't happen this day and age.
 
G

Generic Power Ranger

Member
Houndi101 said:
I must add... this is a bad thing but... having read the official Durotan prequel novel to the flick... it answered all the questions and complaints from couple of pages ago.
That's bad and shouldn't happen this day and age.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately a lack of exposition with the expectation that viewer consume other media to know things was a root problem for the new star wars. So it does happen. I don't feel it's as bad in warcraft, but I can see how some might be confused. Especially with the pacing in the beginning.

I wonder how the movie had been recieved if legendary didn't decide the original cut was too long. I think the movie is great, but it does suffer from bad pacing in the beginning, and somewhat under developed characters. Both of these things could have been fixed with the longer cut, and both of these things seem to be the main complaints.
 
S

sasimirobot

Junior Member
Arkeband said:
My brother just saw it in China and said that outside of its CGI, anything live-action was total dogshit.

He said the worst scene was Khadgar writing fake language in a script for like a minute straight, and then he mutters "interesting..." and it fades to black very slowly, and this was basically the kind of disjointed, fan-film style directing for most of the movie.

Also, all of the blood and stuff was brightly colored purple or something, possibly Chinese censorship.
Click to expand...

Just saw this yesterday in Foshan, China and have no idea what wtf you are talking about...
 
R

Resident4t.

Member
I think I loved this movie. The action scenes and the visuals were so damned strong. The narrative is weak on the human side, but Duncan Jones directed the shit out of this movie. I really hope he comes back for the sequel if they make another.

Pleasantly surprised by how beautiful the movie is. If I knew anything about the Warcraft lore it would probably fill in some of the blanks, but I was thoroughly entertained. The script did just enough for me to care about the broad strokes, but maybe not any specific character.

Much better than the Hobbit films for sure and probably one of the LOTR movies. I remember one of those being weak, probably the one with the giant trees.
 
D

DeathyBoy

Banned
Never played the games, don't care about the games, went into this hoping for a serviceable fantasy film.

It fails that.

I don't blame the director entirely (there's some odd choices, but the guy is trying for pathos), but the best way to describe Warcraft is as a sub-par series of cut-scenes with the play element removed. Like I'd have no problem sitting through shitty cut-scenes in order to get to play a cool battle sequence, it's just not fun to watch terrible acting/writing and then have a merely okay action sequence with ludicrous proportions.

And the opening scene with the Orcs is a really, really lovely idea torn down by the CGI actually fluctuating in quality within the same shot. Throw in some weird continuity errors (finish putting on this difficult to put on armour... cut to character in civilian clothes... cut to character wearing the armour againb) and it's an absolute mess.

It's also really, really boring. Alice Through The Looking Glass was shockingly bad, this is just shockingly boring.
 
N

Necrovaar

Neo Member
So I saw the movie last night, really amazing movie.

The movie is way better than what the trailers show or what critics say about it, it's a really fun movie, there are some pacing problems because the movie tries to put lots of information in 2 hours but overall it's very interesting and there are no really dull moments.

The CGI is unbelievable, some parts look like the best CGI in any movie to me, the orcs are fantastic, they are unique and I don't think I ever saw 2 similar orcs in a detailed shot.

The human actors are better than I expected after watching the trailers, they are not amazing but they are OK, they could have used better human actors that's for sure, but they are not breaking the movie at all IMO.

The mounts in this movie are AMAZING, really a highlight for me.

ALL the main orc characters were fucking awesome.

If you are a warcraft fan you would LOVE this movie.
If you just want to see a nice action fantasy movie you would really have lots of fun if you don't take it too seriously like some people do (after reading some impressions here),

We need to remember that this movie tells maybe the most boring story warcraft can tell, if they continue to make more movies we will see much better and interesting stories like with Thrall, Arthas and more.
 
C

CommandThrower

Member
I saw this just recently. There was a lot about the movie that I liked, but I can't call this movie very good. Fans will be 50/50 on whether they like it or don't. There's a lot of little additions to the movie that fans will recognize and like, but the pacing of this movie is way too fast. Some scenes just abruptly end. It's really jarring. I found myself opening my hand as if to say "What?" a lot while watching this movie.

The live action human actors are passable, but their scenes aren't great. The Orcs are the best part of this movie; they have the best characters and the best subplots.


Overall, I think if you aren't a Warcraft fan, this movie will do nothing for you. Even if you are a fan, you might not like it. I'd say give it a view if you are a fan of the games. If an extended edition comes out, I'd like to watch it.
 
H

Houndi101

Member
scoobs said:
I kind of agreed with him on that, the love story side plot was silly and unnecessary.
Click to expand...

Whatever, it was like 6 minutes total and 3 scenes, sure it was unnecessary but it wasn't offensive, Garona wanting to jump bones with a warrior who shows him kindness is ok and drunk Lothar not wanting to lose everyone he interacts with to the war made sense.

Edit. Ok as I read it that Garona point is probably pretty stupid and juvenile on my part considering her having been a slave and a prisoner her whole life, but she isn't exactly realistically tormented personality wise so I stand by it
 
G

Glass

Member
Re: the love story
its barely a love story, I liked it since it was kept restrained, plus it meant Garona's 'betrayal' was all the more brutal for Lothar and a great way of getting across how hopes for an initial peace are now fucked.
 
I

Illithid Dude

Member
Whatever was in the 40 minutes that was cut can't help this movie. The CG looked great, yeah, but anything live action looked terrible. Flat angles, weirdly even lighting. Sets looking styrofoam and armor plastic. The acting was awful. I really wanted to like this, but... what a bummer of a movie.
 
H

Houndi101

Member
Oh yeah about the armor, I think seeing them in motion and hearing the metal actually helped to sell it, whatever I never had problem with them anwyay.
 
S

Saya

Member
I think this film is destined to be a cult classic in 10 years. I wouldnt say its great, but I enjoyed the silliness. Agree that most of the human scenes were awkward. Loved all the little references. And that fishing pole at the end. Had a smile on my face.
 
K

kanuuna

Member
Glass said:
Re: the love story
its barely a love story, I liked it since it was kept restrained, plus it meant Garona's 'betrayal' was all the more brutal for Lothar and a great way of getting across how hopes for an initial peace are now fucked.
Click to expand...

I felt the same way about it, though I thought Garona's character development seemed a little too rapid.

I hope the movie gets a sequel and they learn from their mistakes.
Also, on another note
"From Light comes darkness and from darkness, Light" thing was the most Metzen ass thing in the movie.
 
A

Atram

Member
kanuuna said:
I felt the same way about it, though I thought Garona's character development seemed a little too rapid.

I hope the movie gets a sequel and they learn from their mistakes.
Also, on another note
"From Light comes darkness and from darkness, Light" thing was the most Metzen ass thing in the movie.
Click to expand...

This Part was introduced in WoW Chronicles Vol. 1 and is now a big Part of the Warcraft Universe.
 
S

Saya

Member
I keep thinking how perfect Arthas and The Lich King would be for these movies. Hope the movie makes enough money to greenlight sequels.
 
A

Atram

Member
kanuuna said:
Good to know, I guess. Maybe I'll check a video on it.
Click to expand...

This is a reference to Void Lords vs. Naaru wich is new Canon and the Void Lord will for sure be the big baddies in our WC Universe

I was suprised they made this in to the movie.
 
S

Saya

Member
Those were not
Night Elves at the gatherings in Stormwind, right? High Elves maybe? When I saw them sitting at the table, I thought maybe Tyrande would be in this, but I guess it's too early for that.

I also loved the scene when Gul'dan takes of his robe and he's actually a buff dude. I thought it was cool.
 
A

Atram

Member
Saya said:
Those were not
Night Elves at the gatherings in Stormwind, right? High Elves maybe? When I saw them sitting at the table, I thought maybe Tyrande would be in this, but I guess it's too early for that.

I also loved the scene when Gul'dan takes of his robe and he's actually a buff dude. I thought it was cool.
Click to expand...

Yes they are High Elves (later Blood Elves)

Maybe Night Elves will show up in Part 2, with Thrall being the teaser for part 2 i think they will mix WC2 and Thralls way to Kalimdor from WC3 to introduce a few more races.
 
S

Saya

Member
Atram said:
Yes they are High Elves (later Blood Elves)

Maybe Night Elves will show up in Part 2, with Thrall being the teaser for part 2 i think they will mix WC2 and Thralls way to Kalimdor from WC3 to introduce a few more races.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I could see the sequel following
Thrall's escape from enslavement and slowly gathering The Horde with the help of Tauren, ending the film with him as the new chieftain.

The movie left me with a lot of hope for possible sequels:
night elves, the undead, Arthas's arc, The Lich King, Garrosh Hellscream, and Cenarius and Illidan. So much fun stuff.
 
G

Generic Power Ranger

Member
They should really just focus on warcraft 2 for the next 2 movies. Building the universe up for a epic warcraft 3 trilogy to come after.

They can introduce both ogres, goblins,
and properly elves
and the dwarves that were seen a bit here,
keeping the conflict kind of two sided but with twists and turns.

Since warcraft 3
is pretty much a 4 way struggle at points,
i think it would benifit from having a solid foundation, not to mention the fact that it's already a cinematic game, where as warcraft 1 and 2 are much much less so. (especially 1) so having their story up on the big screen is great.
 
A

Atram

Member
Saya said:
Yeah, I could see the sequel following
Thrall's escape from enslavement and slowly gathering The Horde with the help of Tauren, ending the film with him as the new chieftain.

The movie left me with a lot of hope for possible sequels:
night elves, the undead, Arthas's arc, The Lich King, Garrosh Hellscream, and Cenarius and Illidan. So much fun stuff.
Click to expand...

Warcraft 2 could work with a 3 Ark Type of Story

Thralls way from slavery to Kalimdor

King Menethil and his Son Arthas

Khadgar and Friends behind the dark Portal/Gul´dan search for Tomb of Sargeras as the Main Plot

Looking at Warcraft: The beginning we can say for sure they will mix things up and left some points out.

Warcraft 2 Story could easy be put in a 5 min introduction in Warcarft 2: the movie as a resumee
 
S

Saya

Member
Atram said:
Warcraft 2 could work with a 3 Ark Type of Story

Thralls way from slavery to Kalimdor

King Menethil and his Son Arthas

Khadgar and Friends behind the dark Portal/Gul´dan search for Tomb of Sargeras as the Main Plot

Looking at Warcraft: The beginning we can say for sure they will mix things up and left some points out.

Warcraft 2 Story could easy be put in a 5 min introduction in Warcarft 2: the movie as a resumee
Click to expand...

Yep, there are tons of way they could go. I hope it does well.

Also, I loved the way magic spells looked in this movie. I thought it awesome.
The teleportation spells, and Gul'dan's life force sucking spells. When he sucked the life out of that one guy at the end, like he was drinking from a cup, I was pretty impressed. Loved the sheep spell too. Glad to have seen that.

Just edit this in:
Did they imply at the end that Medivh was actually Garona's father? I thought Garona was half-orc/half-draenei, not half-human and orc.
 
M

Meia

Member
MetroidPrimeRib said:
Dungeons and Dragons was exactly the movie I was thinking of to describe the human side of the movie
Click to expand...



I have a ticket to see this at 1:30. Lines like this make me just want to see it MORE. :D



So basically, all I've gotten so far from this is this would have been a far better movie if it was just a re-telling of the book "Rise of the Horde", which it sounds like they were going for here. But instead of feeling like they could do both Orcs and Draenei in the same movie, they feel like they HAD to have humans in it?
 
W

Windam

Scaley member
Houndi101 said:
Anyone else notice the
high elf envoy having bloody teeth/a bloody mouth?
Is it just a nod or is it a lore thing?
Click to expand...

Yeah I noticed they looked a bit grimey, but I think that's more a result of their addiction to magic, or that one Elf in particular has poor hygiene. Though they did all look pretty beat up, especially the scarred one missing an eye at Llane's funeral. Ongoing conflict with the Amani Trolls?
 
X

xRaizen

Member
Its nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be. 7.5/10 IMO. CGI was great, story doesn't feel disjointed or hard to follow. Honestly really liked the movie.
 
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