Well I'll be damned. They looked nearly identical. My bad.
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Warcraft |OT| You Are Not Prepared
- Thread starter Loxley
- Start date
- Status
Well I'll be damned. They looked nearly identical. My bad.
Finally saw it. As someone who's been visibly tooting the hype-horn for Warcraft around here for the last couple of years...I was pretty disappointed. But my disappointment doesn't stem from the Warcraft aspects of the movie - Jones nailed that stuff for the most part. No, my disappointment lies the fact that there are just too many fundamental problems with the filmmaking here for me to ignore. I completely see what critics were talking about regarding the film's pacing and dialogue issues. It genuinely does feel like a bunch of scenes are straight-up missing. The film transitions from scene-to-scene rather abruptly. The actors are all perfectly fine, but they are given nothing of substance to work with here (especially the human characters).
This movie was a nice reminder that I have complete sympathy for any screenwriter who is tasked with adapting a dense fantasy universe to film, it has to be a goddamn nightmare. Warcraft in particular has be hard to adapt because the source material itself is a grab-bag of common fantasy tropes and cliche'd writing. Though the universe absolutely does have interesting characters and storylines.
It wasn't all bad though, one of the biggest compliments I can pay to this film as a video game adaption is that it is unashamedly Warcraft. Most video game adaptions come off as though the folks behind it felt the source material was too ridiculous for film, and so it was changed arbitrarily. Not so here, this movie absolutely looks and sounds like Warcraft. It was cool to see all of these famous landmarks and characters from the games fully realized on the big-screen. Some of the sets, weapons, and costumes they built for this are stunning. The Orcs also looked fantastic, some of the best facial motion-capture I've ever seen - this is definitely ILM flexing their muscles hard. Also regarding the Orcs, their scenes were the best in the film in my opinion. Toby Kebbel, Rob Kazinsky, and Anna Galvin all did awesome work and Jones did a great job creating empathetic characters there.
I found the film's score to be rather unexciting. Not bad by any means, it was just kind of "meh". The main theme is perfectly fine and appropriately Orcish-sounding, but it was kind of a bummer not to hear riffs on the established themes of Stormwind, Dalaran and Elwynn Forest. Though maybe they were there and I just didn't hear them.
I'm going to see the film again, but for now I'd give it a rock-solid 2.5/5 or 5/10. I desperately want it to be better. That said, I'll be there the day the blu-ray hits and if a sequel does happen, I'm all for it.
This movie was a nice reminder that I have complete sympathy for any screenwriter who is tasked with adapting a dense fantasy universe to film, it has to be a goddamn nightmare. Warcraft in particular has be hard to adapt because the source material itself is a grab-bag of common fantasy tropes and cliche'd writing. Though the universe absolutely does have interesting characters and storylines.
It wasn't all bad though, one of the biggest compliments I can pay to this film as a video game adaption is that it is unashamedly Warcraft. Most video game adaptions come off as though the folks behind it felt the source material was too ridiculous for film, and so it was changed arbitrarily. Not so here, this movie absolutely looks and sounds like Warcraft. It was cool to see all of these famous landmarks and characters from the games fully realized on the big-screen. Some of the sets, weapons, and costumes they built for this are stunning. The Orcs also looked fantastic, some of the best facial motion-capture I've ever seen - this is definitely ILM flexing their muscles hard. Also regarding the Orcs, their scenes were the best in the film in my opinion. Toby Kebbel, Rob Kazinsky, and Anna Galvin all did awesome work and Jones did a great job creating empathetic characters there.
I found the film's score to be rather unexciting. Not bad by any means, it was just kind of "meh". The main theme is perfectly fine and appropriately Orcish-sounding, but it was kind of a bummer not to hear riffs on the established themes of Stormwind, Dalaran and Elwynn Forest. Though maybe they were there and I just didn't hear them.
I'm going to see the film again, but for now I'd give it a rock-solid 2.5/5 or 5/10. I desperately want it to be better. That said, I'll be there the day the blu-ray hits and if a sequel does happen, I'm all for it.
Lan Dong Mik
And why would I want them?
Man I liked the first 20-30 minutes. Got pretty bad after that. I didn't like this movie very much. I don't know why but goddamn the guy who was playing Lothar annoyed the shit outta me. Seemed like every other shot was him looking at some shit with his head tilted to the side. He's also pretty bad at this acting thing.
Excited to see what Duncan Jones does next though. Still love the director.
Excited to see what Duncan Jones does next though. Still love the director.
AmaterasuOni
Banned
Let's hope there's going to be a director's cut. I wanted to like the movie as well.
King Gilga
Member
Its not a horrible movie, its not a good one either, it was meh, no setup, horrible pacing, chintzy plasticy looking armor, amazing cg.
Disappointing.
Disappointing.
CharminUltra
Member
Anoregon
The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
The lothar thing is frustrating too, because the actor had more than proved he has what it takes for this kind of role with his performance in Vikings.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
This may be a somewhat rude thing to say but Lothar always had this...look on his face, no matter what the scene. Like he was always about to burst into laughter. He kinda looked like Leo in The Revenant.
Just saw it and it was only okay. The CG and fight scenes were pretty incredible. The rest of the movie was all over the place.
Acting from all the human characters was pretty bad. The pacing was terrible. The plot jumped all over. I can't imagine someone who didn't have prior experience with Warcraft having any kind of interest in this movie. I definitely don't think it deserved to be compared to Battlefield Earth, but I really wish it was better.
Hopefully it does well enough they can make some kind of sequel, because I feel like with some tweaking it could be a pretty awesome film franchise.
Acting from all the human characters was pretty bad. The pacing was terrible. The plot jumped all over. I can't imagine someone who didn't have prior experience with Warcraft having any kind of interest in this movie. I definitely don't think it deserved to be compared to Battlefield Earth, but I really wish it was better.
Hopefully it does well enough they can make some kind of sequel, because I feel like with some tweaking it could be a pretty awesome film franchise.
According to Jones, some of it was for budgetary reasons. They just ran out of money to finish the VFX work.
That's true, but some of the footage was complete and just left out for some reason.
Just got back and I loved it.
Yes, some pacing squabbles very minor it could have used another thirty minutes or so and they definitely take for granted that there will be a sequel but there is alot of ground to lay and they do not take time to spell everything out for those not familiar with Warcraft lore or World of Warcraft so that may turn off some but even as a base fantasy movie it is a great start to a franchise.
The CGI was great most of the time and phenomenal the others.
If you are familiar with Warcraft lore you will eat it up and be smiling alot.
The performances were solid all around, Travis Fimmel was alot of fun and if you have watched Vikings he still has it.
So yeah I was wrong. I made fun of it pretty heavily in the ramp up but I really enjoyed it.
Yes, some pacing squabbles very minor it could have used another thirty minutes or so and they definitely take for granted that there will be a sequel but there is alot of ground to lay and they do not take time to spell everything out for those not familiar with Warcraft lore or World of Warcraft so that may turn off some but even as a base fantasy movie it is a great start to a franchise.
The CGI was great most of the time and phenomenal the others.
If you are familiar with Warcraft lore you will eat it up and be smiling alot.
The performances were solid all around, Travis Fimmel was alot of fun and if you have watched Vikings he still has it.
So yeah I was wrong. I made fun of it pretty heavily in the ramp up but I really enjoyed it.
Watched it this afternoon, and it was a fun movie. The highlights were definitely the orc scenes. I found the humans to be dull in general, but I also feel the same way about the game. Arthas was the only good thing about the humans and it's only because I think the Lich King is cool.
Worth seeing, and my wife said it wasn't hard for her to follow, and she's not a Warcraft fan at all. I'll definitely get this on Blu Ray eventually, hopefully as the director's cut people keep talking about, and I'll go check out the sequel if it gets made as well.
Worth seeing, and my wife said it wasn't hard for her to follow, and she's not a Warcraft fan at all. I'll definitely get this on Blu Ray eventually, hopefully as the director's cut people keep talking about, and I'll go check out the sequel if it gets made as well.
Oh damn, no extended cut then.
Interesting to see the comments in this thread. I enjoyed it quite a bit as well. There were problems but nowhere near what the RT score would have you believe. It was a perfectly serviceable high fantasy popcorn flick which we seem to never get anymore.
There was way too much cliffhanging for the sequel... So Blizzard have better already secretly green lit it.
Probably 6/10. More good than bad. Not the greatest ever but worth my $10.
There was way too much cliffhanging for the sequel... So Blizzard have better already secretly green lit it.
Probably 6/10. More good than bad. Not the greatest ever but worth my $10.
For the record he did say there were enough cut scenes that were finished that he *could* do an extended cut if he's able to.
sobaka770
Banned
Right? It's like he's constantly smirking for some reason. And, don't get me wrong, he's a quippy dude, but there are some emotional scenes in there and he's still smirking through them: Hi son, hehe, I see you're injured!
I hope for Directors Cut, I hope for a sequel because I did like the movie. In my opinion, most of movie's faults are present in any other movie, but Warcraft has such good CGI, combat and villain that no other movie provided me throughout the last couple of years. I think about Captain America, and it's a good movie, no doubt, but the story retrospectively is a mess, characters act out of character, there's the same location jumping (which doesn't make sense at all, it's like the authors view European countries as states in USA). There's also a totally unnecessary and creepy love plot in CA as well!
Warcraft flows worse that Captain America, but when I think about it, it really doesn't have more faults than other movies, it's story is even more consistent (if simpler), characters don't act dumb, fight scenes are amazeballs. It just doesn't hide its problems as well as other movies do behind a layer of jokes and relentless pacing.
When the login screen music played during the credit roll tho.
Running time. The movie is already 2 hours long.
Hopefully the Bluray will have an extended cut.
I just watched the movie, I know fuck all about the franchise other than it's the most popular MMO and I haven't played a single second of any game in the series at all but I thought it was actually alright, it had some pacing problems and some scene transitions were a bit jarring but overall I enjoyed it. I'm happy they kept the romance limited, I was worried that it was going to take over the entire rest of the movie when it was first introduced but the filmmakers restrained themselves.
I will give the movie a solid 7.5/10 score, I have no idea how it's gotten a ridiculously low score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, some of those reviews just seem full of extreme hyperbole, like seriously, comparing the movie to Battlefield Earth? C'mon now.
EDIT:I see in a comment above they cut 40 mins? Yeah, that would explain the pacing issues. I would buy the Blueray to see the extended version.
I will give the movie a solid 7.5/10 score, I have no idea how it's gotten a ridiculously low score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, some of those reviews just seem full of extreme hyperbole, like seriously, comparing the movie to Battlefield Earth? C'mon now.
EDIT:I see in a comment above they cut 40 mins? Yeah, that would explain the pacing issues. I would buy the Blueray to see the extended version.
see above. it sounds like there is a bunch that doesn't have VFX for it. Not sure what that means for putting it in as anything but deleted scenes.
With that being said I would have been fine with another 20 minutes. The movie never dragged or felt overly long. another 20 minutes to give context to everything having to do with Medivh would have been welcome. Or more story to Kadghar.
yeah... it seemed to just turn into one of those "who can give the most scathing review" sort of thing. I mean the movie wasn't amazing.. but a lot of the reviews were absolutely hostile toward it and then you see it and your just left like "wha-!?!? I don't get it. It was fine." Episode I is 55%, Ep II is 65%, Ep 3 is a whopping 79%, and I'd call this a bunch more watchable than the three of those...
JetBlackPanda
Member
Just got out and god damn I loved it. I was expecting BVS levels of cringe. Seriously I want to see it again. I had an absolute blast.
Sorry if old, but the movie is doing great in China.
http://mashable.com/2016/06/10/warcraft-chinese-box-office/#iqty7IP3Okq3
http://mashable.com/2016/06/10/warcraft-chinese-box-office/#iqty7IP3Okq3
So Nobbel87 (probably the most prominent Warcraft lore YouTuber out there) posted a video detailing what happens in the film novelization. Because novelizations are often based on earlier drafts of the screenplay or are at least written before the film's final cut is finished, he thinks the novel may give some insight into some scenes that were potentially cut from the film.
Spoiler'd:
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Spoiler'd:
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The opening scene in the book is a flash-forward and takes place after the events of the film. It features Khadgar having a talk with a young Varian (King Llane's son) about the first war, i.e. the events of the movie. He tells Varian that not all orcs are bad, the likes of Durotan genuinely wanted to live alongside humans peacefully. On odd detail here is that apparently Khadgar is described as having grey hair and a scar on his face. Now at first it looks as though during his final fight with Medivh, Khadgar had his life sucked out of his body like he did in the original fiction, giving him the appearence of an old man (much like how Durotan did when fighting Gul'dan). But Nobbel says no such scene happens in the book either, so this seems like a weird detail that is never explained.
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A scene showing Durotan and the Frostwolf Clan arriving at the orc encampment after going through the Dark Portal and interacting with Rend Blackhand and Grom Hellscream (prominent orc characters from the fiction).
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A scene with more interaction between Lothar and his son. It does a good job at describing Lothar's mindset when we meet him in the film. His wife died giving birth to their son, which he still struggles with. Generally speaking the novel just spends more time with Lothar and his son and elaborates a good amount on their relationship.
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Durotan examines the Frostwolf camp after it's raided by Gul'dan's fel orcs. He goes over the names of all his Frostwolf brethren who were killed and vows to "make it right". While he's fighting Gul'dan later on the names come back to him and it gives him the will to keep on fighting in his weakened state.
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At the end of the novel, it goes back to the scene at the beginning with Khadgar and Varian, and Khadgar tells him to return to his mother since she's probably wondering where he is.
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This then transitions to final a scene where an Alliance army is riding up to an Orc stronghold, preparing an attack. Gul'dan is shown overseeing his army of fel Orcs and the imminent battle. Garona is at his side, but unlike the other orcs, "her gaze seems distant, not on the present moment, but the past - and a future that might one day be".
BronsonLee
Member
Man..
This was visually stunning for sure, but kinda fell apart at the end. & lol at all the work on the orcs, and here's green Paula Patton, sup
This was visually stunning for sure, but kinda fell apart at the end. & lol at all the work on the orcs, and here's green Paula Patton, sup
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Drakka at least looked proper orcish. They don't really say it in the movie but Garona is supposed to be half orc, half draenei (those blue dudes at the beginning.) I don't think they say her full name, Garona Halforcen but I think someone called her half-breed once.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Yeah I appreciated stuff like that. Coulda gone for a few more traditional mage spells like Arcane Explosion since Khadgar and Medivh were casting all over the place though.
Gul'dan using Drain Soul was cool.
Dcube
Member
Just got back and I had a blast with this movie. It jumps around quite a bit yeah and the acting and dialogue were a bit cheesy but none of it was really enough to bother me that much I guess. I really enjoyed the action scenes, lots of fun with the orcs smashing around and cool spells flying all over. Loved the neat settings and art style as well, and the special effects looked really cool. It was the game on the big screen and it worked for me. I look forward to seeing it again and really hope we get a sequel.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Heh, thought I was posting in the spoiler thread for a sec there, woops
Are people using that?
eh, even those unfamiliar, it had a story that wasn't difficult to follow. the worst that could be said for those unfamiliar is that it may end up being trope-y high fantasy..
serenewarfare
Banned
Just saw it. As someone who only has a very basic knowledge of the lore, I thought it was fine. Not great, but not bad either. The orc stuff was definitely way stronger than the human stuff and the characters seemed really basic and one-demensional. The best thing I can say about it though is that I'd see a sequel if they made one, because I do think it has potential to be better.
I really hope all the stuff that was cut out had final CGI work on it cus I'd kill to see what all got edited out.
[edit]
You can see some footage that got cut in that leaked footage from last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ePGvdc2--E
[edit]
You can see some footage that got cut in that leaked footage from last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ePGvdc2--E
I thought it was okay (5/10 score) and I'm familiar with Warcraft lore.
The action scenes and some of the humour were entertaining, but I agree with criticisms that the movie felt rushed and poorly edited. Character development was inconsistent, and I'm sure that viewers who are unfamiliar with the lore will end up confused. The script was mediocre as well; was Metzen responsible for it?
The music score was not memorable, even though it was recorded by Ramin Djadawdi of Game of Thrones fame. They should've hired one of Blizzard's composers, perhaps Russell Browser.
The most glaring flaw that stood out for me was the costume design for the humans. It generally looked like cheap plastic and low-budget. The elves and Kirin Tor looks weird with their glowy eyes, and the special effects were "okay" for the most part.
I didn't care for any of the characters, despite the film's attempts to make the viewer invest emotionally in Durotan and/or Lothar's plights. It felt really shallow and lacked emotional depth.That being said, I found Orgrim's character to be quite amusing.
In conclusion, it's not a terrible film, but its lack of direction and cheap production values prevented it from being a quality film.
The action scenes and some of the humour were entertaining, but I agree with criticisms that the movie felt rushed and poorly edited. Character development was inconsistent, and I'm sure that viewers who are unfamiliar with the lore will end up confused. The script was mediocre as well; was Metzen responsible for it?
The music score was not memorable, even though it was recorded by Ramin Djadawdi of Game of Thrones fame. They should've hired one of Blizzard's composers, perhaps Russell Browser.
The most glaring flaw that stood out for me was the costume design for the humans. It generally looked like cheap plastic and low-budget. The elves and Kirin Tor looks weird with their glowy eyes, and the special effects were "okay" for the most part.
I didn't care for any of the characters, despite the film's attempts to make the viewer invest emotionally in Durotan and/or Lothar's plights. It felt really shallow and lacked emotional depth.That being said, I found Orgrim's character to be quite amusing.
In conclusion, it's not a terrible film, but its lack of direction and cheap production values prevented it from being a quality film.
Phreakuency
Banned
The movie really wasn't that bad.
Some decent scenes, some decent acting, great CG for the most part.
But it was let down by some teenage fan quality writing. Seriously, some of the dialog was preschool sounding.
And this guy might have given the worst acting performance I've ever seen in a movie...
Some decent scenes, some decent acting, great CG for the most part.
But it was let down by some teenage fan quality writing. Seriously, some of the dialog was preschool sounding.
And this guy might have given the worst acting performance I've ever seen in a movie...
-ImaginaryInsider
Member
Solid movie, but you can tell they cut it to shreds, scenes end abruptly at least 2-3 times. It's a shame it's likely not getting a sequel, it's an interesting world.
The movie is doing really well in China. Will probably make enough to warrant sequels.
-ImaginaryInsider
Member
I saw that, I hope it gets a sequel...if nothing else the extended edition of this movie should be a less jarring experience.
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