• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Warcraft |OT| You Are Not Prepared

Status
Not open for further replies.

Houndi101

Member
The guy running the Chinese Box Office Twitter account seems to think that best case scenario the film is going to barely break 250mil
 
I enjoyed it a lot, seeing the Warcraft universe on the big screen.

I can see why people wouldn't like it though.
Yeah I'm not big into Warcraft just know the basics but I liked it for the most part too. Saw it in IMAX 3D and I though the visuals were cool. I especially like the magic effects. It is definitely a move though that seems like it might be a bit limited in appeal. Although not in China lol
 
If they were to do WarCraft II and it would follow the game WarCraft's II's plot of the Second War, the forces would be

Alliance - Survivors of Stormwind, Lordaeron, Kul Tiras, Kiron Tor, Dalaran, Dwarves, Gnomes, Gilneans, Quel'dorei

Horde - Various Orcish clans, Various troll tribes, Boulderfist Clan Ogres, Goblins, Twilight's Hammer, Various Death Knights, Dragons

Sounds like a mess, but like WC1 a lot of that stuff has been retconned to better fit into WC3 and WoW so I could see stuff like the Dragons and Death Knights being cut. I'd imagine a "trilogy" would try and combine Tides of Darkness/Beyond the Dark Portal and Reign of Chaos/Frozen Throne into one movie each.
 

Matthew23

Member
For reference I'd rather watch this than the Hobbit

Same here. The LOTR trilogy is one of my favorites but I agree with the masses on the Hobbit. Warcraft is better than I expected although I went in with low expectations.

Gul'dan's design was amazing, in fact all the orcs looked good imo. I thought the battle sequences looked a little stiff at times but the special effects were a huge plus for me. The use of magic was great.

I didn't mind the dark brutal tone although some more humor would have been nice. I had a good time and will see any sequel(s) that might be made Imax.
 

Kusagari

Member
I honestly give the movie a ton of credit for not wasting time explaining all the various concepts going on in-depth. It would just bog down things even further. The movie gives enough details, without explicit statements, that a viewer should be able to put two-and-two together and understand what's going on with concepts like the Kirin Tor, Fel and Medivh.
 

frequency

Member
I just watched the movie. I'm a Warcraft fan. I don't like it very much.

It is all over the place. Stuff happens with no context and everything is so rushed. If I didn't know the general story from the games I would be totally lost.

The best way I can describe the experience is that it is like if you youtubed the cutscenes from a game and just watched those, missing all the story, dialog, etc, that happens during gameplay.

Absolute mess of a movie.




I can't wait for Warcraft 2.
 

Kisaya

Member
Saw it, liked it a lot. Wasn't so impressed with Anduin's actor but whatever. I don't think people who are fans of the game would enjoy it, but we had a friend come with us who didn't know much Warcraft and he thought it was fun. It's one of those movies that shouldn't be taken so critically. Really hope they continue making more movies!

One downfall was some technical difficulties in the theater but I got a free movie ticket, woo!
 

TDLink

Member
This becomes the new Speed Racer in 3... 2...

Not at all. Speed Racer was a fantastic film in pretty much every sense that for some reason critics didn't like and unfortunately bombed via going head to head with Iron Man.

This movie has a ton of clear problems. Editing, casting, acting, writing, music...it's all very up and down. It's not horrible but it's definitely not fantastic. Middle of the road film that is slightly elevated by sticking to its guns as a fantasy movie and utilizing a well established franchise.

You can't compare the two at all.
 

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
I thought the music was top notch, the only small gripe for me is that they never used any of the game's music but that's not really an issue with the movie.
 

Tacitus_

Member
Saw this today with a bunch of WoW guildies. Other than some odd editing in the middle, I liked it. Though Garona
should've just backstabbed the king instead of him asking her to do it
and Stormwing
should've been sacked.

Oh well, at least there's the sequel for the latter.
 

Ramsiege

Member
It was alright. I dozed of during the first 20 minutes. But woke up recharged and ready to go. The editing was hit and miss, with some scenes feeling like they should have gone on longer and ending abruptly. The action scenes were sold. Worth a watch but not sure it's one I'd watch again.
 

Not

Banned
Not at all. Speed Racer was a fantastic film in pretty much every sense that for some reason critics didn't like and unfortunately bombed via going head to head with Iron Man.

This movie has a ton of clear problems. Editing, casting, acting, writing, music...it's all very up and down. It's not horrible but it's definitely not fantastic. Middle of the road film that is slightly elevated by sticking to its guns as a fantasy movie and utilizing a well established franchise.

You can't compare the two at all.

Mmk. Then this becomes the new John Carter in 3... 2...

EDIT: Ehhh. I dunno what I'm doing. I just didn't like Speed Racer or John Carter, aka unsuccessful big budget flops that a small vocal group defend after the fact, and I probably(?) won't be a fan of this. Stranger things.
 

golem

Member
Just saw this. A mess, but watchable. Every time it cut to a sappy Human scene I rolled by eyes. The Orcs were the best thing about the movie, FTH!
 
I've never given 1 iota of a shit about Warcraft in my life (I was always a C&C guy). But I got a free ticket so I said why not.

It wasn't bad. The CG was really impressive and I actually enjoyed the story. Hope they make enough money to do a sequel.
That said, the main actor was pretty bad. His acting reminded me of the guy from Pacific Rim and, just like in that movie, the movie suffers as a result.
 

Oxn

Member
I just watched the movie. I'm a Warcraft fan. I don't like it very much.

It is all over the place. Stuff happens with no context and everything is so rushed. If I didn't know the general story from the games I would be totally lost.

The best way I can describe the experience is that it is like if you youtubed the cutscenes from a game and just watched those, missing all the story, dialog, etc, that happens during gameplay.

Absolute mess of a movie.




I can't wait for Warcraft 2.

This was the best way to describe it
 
This was the best way to describe it

Yup I felt I the same way. After watching the movie, I spent an hour on various wiki sites just to understand half of stuff I saw earlier. I can see why critics hated it, but I still think it was a better than the hobbit. I enjoyed Warcraft and I am hyped for movie 2.
 

Kusagari

Member
The human acting is pretty terrible. I think Medivh's is by far the best and he kind of makes everyone look worse in the scenes he's opposite the rest.
 
Saw, liked it! Better than BvS, by miles. I hope we get a sequel movie, I feel like the later games have better stories for movie adaption.
 

Tacitus_

Member
Yup I felt I the same way. After watching the movie, I spent an hour on various wiki sites just to understand half of stuff I saw earlier. I can see why critics hated it, but I still think it was a better than the hobbit. I enjoyed Warcraft and I am hyped for movie 2.

Huh? It's not a very subtle movie.
 

Voror

Member
Saw it last night in a pretty packed theater. Reactions seemed mixed though with some having a good time and others not so much. Dude next to me seemed outright bored or unhappy. Couple on my right seemed mixed and I was discussing the movie after it was over. When I mentioned that there had been a fair amount cut they felt that explained some things.

As for me, well, I can't say it was a good movie but also don't feel I can dismiss it entirely. The pacing is really bad I felt as is the editing with weird cuts from scene to scene. Acting seemed sort of flat as did the writing, at least with the human characters. I actually did enjoy the stuff with the Orcs.

The entire romance thing was one of the aspects I disliked the most. Felt forced and every time it started to come up I just wanted it to end. I'm fine with a well done romance but this simply wasn't one and I'm not sure it was even needed given everything else that was going on with the plot.

I've never played any of the games in the series and only have a passing knowledge from occasionally reading wikis and such, but for the most part I thought I understood what was going on well enough. There were a few things that did leave me with questions or bugged me:

So if I understood it right, Medivh started using the Fel as a shortcut to protect everyone, but this eventually corrupted him to the point where he unknowingly helped bring the Orcs over? I don't know if it was ever explained, but he was possessed by whatever force is behind the Fel, yes?

Khadgar purified the Fel out of Medivh and then dispersed it it looked like, but is there any explanation to this or was it just a case of him having more force of will and thus not giving into it? Was that whole "From Light, Darkness etc." have any meaning or help him do this?

So is the Horde now following Gul'dan out of fear then? I'm pretty sure that even with all his power he couldn't stand against all of the Horde if they turned on him, right?

It was interesting seeing all these races and places shown on screen, though the CG at times was a bit eh. Still, for all it's faults I can honestly I'd be interested in seeing where the story would go from here.

I'd be interested to see this Director's Cut and see how many issues it can possibly fix, though it won't be all of them I think. If a sequel does get greenlit I'd hope that Jones is able to learn from this experience.

It did make me more interested in the lore to the point I'm wondering if the novels might be reading despite the differences between the games and film. Of course, I don't know which ones are actually any good if any.
 
I just got back from seeing it, have played all of the games in the past but haven't touched them in some time now.

It was great to see it on the big screen, they realised the world quite well.

The Orcs were amazing, best thing in the film.

King Llane and Callan were brutally bad.

The deaths that happened to "main" characters were a bit pointless as I hadn't seen enough from those characters to really remotely care about them.

If you didn't know the universe already I can understand the start being hard to keep track of and maybe a slower start to build the characters a bit would have been better.

I really hope we get a sequel or at least an extended cut.

It was light years better than all 3 hobbit films.
 
Huh? It's not a very subtle movie.

While watching I felt a lot things were not explained much and some scenes felt like it could be longer (or shorter but there is only so much you can fit in a movie)

My wife for example saw it and only understood Orcs fighting humans for land. She liked it but she felt there was little explanation about a lot things.

I will have to start reading these Warcraft books to understand the lore a lot more. Edit1: I guess they succeeded in getting a new Warcraft fan. Never played any of the Warcraft games.
 

Tacitus_

Member
While watching I felt a lot things were not explained much and some scenes felt like it could be longer (or shorter but there is only so much you can fit in a movie)

My wife for example saw it and only understood Orcs fighting humans for land. She liked it but she felt there was little explanation about a lot things.

I will have to start reading these Warcraft books to understand the lore a lot more. Edit1: I guess they succeeded in getting a new Warcraft fan. Never played any of the Warcraft games.

It's very clearly explained why the Orcs are fighting the humans.
Their lands are dying. "For Orcs, war solves everything". And Durotan points out the land dying wherever Gul'Dan works his magic.

And for your own sake, try to stay away from the novels. They're mostly trash.
 
Saw this yesterday and really liked it. It exceeded my expectations which were on the low side. Felt Khadgar was the weakest point for me. I hope we get a sequel it deserves it.
 

Pendas

Banned
So if I understood it right, Medivh started using the Fel as a shortcut to protect everyone, but this eventually corrupted him to the point where he unknowingly helped bring the Orcs over? I don't know if it was ever explained, but he was possessed by whatever force is behind the Fel, yes?

Medvih got that Fel STD from banging Garona's Mom.
 

Zackat

Member
Just saw it for the second time with some friends in IMAX 3D. Damn the Orcs looked good, I'd recommend it if you can get to an IMAX theater. I actually liked it more the second time I watched it for whatever reason. Didn't expect to either.
 

frequency

Member
I've never played any of the games in the series and only have a passing knowledge from occasionally reading wikis and such, but for the most part I thought I understood what was going on well enough. There were a few things that did leave me with questions or bugged me:

So if I understood it right, Medivh started using the Fel as a shortcut to protect everyone, but this eventually corrupted him to the point where he unknowingly helped bring the Orcs over? I don't know if it was ever explained, but he was possessed by whatever force is behind the Fel, yes?

WARNING: This may be a spoiler for future films if they follow the lore.
The movie changed some things so I don't know if it really applies but regarding Medivh,
he was corrupted by Sargeras, one of the biggest demons in the Warcraft world. Or rather his mother was when she fought and "defeated" Sargeras. So Medivh has been corrupted since birth.
 

Matthew23

Member
It did make me more interested in the lore to the point I'm wondering if the novels might be reading despite the differences between the games and film. Of course, I don't know which ones are actually any good if any.

The Last Guardian covers the characters and timeline of the movie. There are some big differences but it gives a lot of background that the movie couldn't. I haven't read it in years but I remember liking it a lot.
 
It's very clearly explained why the Orcs are fighting the humans.
Their lands are dying. "For Orcs, war solves everything". And Durotan points out the land dying wherever Gul'Dan works his magic.

And for your own sake, try to stay away from the novels. They're mostly trash.

The books are trash?! Well that disappointing. The reason for the Orcs was easy enough for me. It's the little things like where does the human magic come from? I was seeing a lot of stuff but very little was explained in depth. I guess that why I liked the Orcs because a good amount of time was spent on their social structure and their customs while the humans were an after thought IMO.
 

Chindogg

Member
The books are trash?! Well that disappointing. The reason for the Orcs was easy enough for me. It's the little things like where does the human magic come from? I was seeing a lot of stuff but very little was explained in depth. I guess that why I liked the Orcs because a good amount of time was spent on their social structure and their customs while the humans were an after thought IMO.

The books are hit or miss. War Crimes in particular is fantastic (takes place after the Mists of Panderia WoW expansion.)
 
The books are trash?! Well that disappointing. The reason for the Orcs was easy enough for me. It's the little things like where does the human magic come from? I was seeing a lot of stuff but very little was explained in depth. I guess that why I liked the Orcs because a good amount of time was spent on their social structure and their customs while the humans were an after thought IMO.

I quite like most of the Warcraft books I've read actually. Last Guardian, Lord of the Clans, Tides of Darkness, Beyond the Dark Portal, Rise of the Horde, even Knaak's books I enjoyed as a kid, though I'm sure they're not so good as an adult.
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
I honestly give the movie a ton of credit for not wasting time explaining all the various concepts going on in-depth. It would just bog down things even further. The movie gives enough details, without explicit statements, that a viewer should be able to put two-and-two together and understand what's going on with concepts like the Kirin Tor, Fel and Medivh.

I am definitely glad that there isn't a ton of explanatory dialogue but at the same time the movie has so many characters and stuff going on that the movie doesn't have any time to breathe. I feel like anybody being introduced to these characters for the first time is going to have a tough time connecting with any of them.

There's like only one scene in the whole movie that's actually a really good character moment, and it's for Durotan and Draka at the very beginning of the movie. And for that reason I think people would care about Durotan way more than any of the other major characters in the movie.
 

Zackat

Member
I am definitely glad that there isn't a ton of explanatory dialogue but at the same time the movie has so many characters and stuff going on that the movie doesn't have any time to breathe. I feel like anybody being introduced to these characters for the first time is going to have a tough time connecting with any of them.

There's like only one scene in the whole movie that's actually a really good character moment, and it's for Durotan and Draka at the very beginning of the movie. And for that reason I think people would care about Durotan way more than any of the other major characters in the movie.

I thought the Durotan and Orgrim scene on the hillside was good too.
 

Kusagari

Member
I am definitely glad that there isn't a ton of explanatory dialogue but at the same time the movie has so many characters and stuff going on that the movie doesn't have any time to breathe. I feel like anybody being introduced to these characters for the first time is going to have a tough time connecting with any of them.

There's like only one scene in the whole movie that's actually a really good character moment, and it's for Durotan and Draka at the very beginning of the movie. And for that reason I think people would care about Durotan way more than any of the other major characters in the movie.

I really think the one character who needed more explanation, especially considering what an important part he eventually played, was Medivh.

An explanation of how he was chosen to be the guardian would have went a long way and the scene he had with Garona was honestly tailor made for it.
 

wildfire

Banned
So if I understood it right, Medivh started using the Fel as a shortcut to protect everyone, but this eventually corrupted him to the point where he unknowingly helped bring the Orcs over? I don't know if it was ever explained, but he was possessed by whatever force is behind the Fel, yes?

Khadgar purified the Fel out of Medivh and then dispersed it it looked like, but is there any explanation to this or was it just a case of him having more force of will and thus not giving into it? Was that whole "From Light, Darkness etc." have any meaning or help him do this?

So is the Horde now following Gul'dan out of fear then? I'm pretty sure that even with all his power he couldn't stand against all of the Horde if they turned on him, right?

You helped explain better what was going on with Medihv. It was still handled poorly but it makes sense.

We saw how easily Guldan could one shot orcs. Noone wants to pointless die even though they could swarm him.

They'll settle for being passive aggressive against him.
 

Finaj

Member
I really think the one character who needed more explanation, especially considering what an important part he eventually played, was Medivh.

An explanation of how he was chosen to be the guardian would have went a long way and the scene he had with Garona was honestly tailor made for it.

The novelization of the movie actually starts off with Medivh as a child being chosen by the Kirin'Tor council and explains The Guardian's entire purpose.
 

Voror

Member
WARNING: This may be a spoiler for future films if they follow the lore.
The movie changed some things so I don't know if it really applies but regarding Medivh,
he was corrupted by Sargeras, one of the biggest demons in the Warcraft world. Or rather his mother was when she fought and "defeated" Sargeras. So Medivh has been corrupted since birth.

Interesting, though I wonder if that aspect is part of the lore here given some of the differences.

You helped explain better what was going on with Medihv. It was still handled poorly but it makes sense.

We saw how easily Guldan could one shot orcs. Noone wants to pointless die even though they could swarm him.

They'll settle for being passive aggressive against him.

Ah okay. Yeah, I generally got it from when he was talking but wasn't completely sure.

I'm more curious if he could pull that en masse or not, though that wouldn't be so great for him either if he just killed them all.
 

frequency

Member
I thought the Durotan and Orgrim scene on the hillside was good too.

My favorite scene in the whole movie. I wish they dropped the majority of the human stuff and just focused on the orcs.

Spoiler tagged just in case:
Start the movie on Draenor and focus on Durotan and Orgrim's relationship and Gul'dan's rise to power and the Frostwolf clan's reluctance. About Medivh and his role in opening the portal from Azeroth's side. Spend time on Garona and explain how she is half-orc. You can spend some time on Medivh+Garona relationship this way too rather than the out of nowhere and forced Garona+Lothar thing.

Second half of the movie can be the invasion.

Going forward, Lothar and Llane aren't that important anyway. The Frostwolf clan is important because of Thrall (Go'el).
 
Do you guys think that this movie would be too difficult to follow for someone that has basically no knowledge of the universe or characters? I really just need a feel good movie to take a break from life and other distractions.

Also a huge fan of Vikings.

Was going to go see "Me before You" orginally only to find out how messy and disrespectful that movie.
 
The movie was all over the place at times. Lots of changing scenes for very brief, unimportant dialogue and weak attemps at character moments that weren't handled nearly as well as the better ones (Durotan+Draka and Durotan+Orgrim).
Because those two worked so well Durotan's brutal death really got to me.
you could tell a lot of the connective tissue in this movie was left on the cutting room floor. Surprisingly for a Warcraft movie I thought it had too many action beats and not nearly enough world building.

Durotan really carried the movie for me but Lothar was solid and Kadghar really grew on me. Some of the lore changes didn't bother me, Gul'dan was pretty great and I loved Doomhammer and Blackhand despite wishing they had more time to develop. Garona was hit or miss for pretty much the whole movie but she wasn't awful.

Scenery was great and nostalgia blasting me all over the place, and I think theres a solid foundation for a franchise here, if they have faith and dont kill the budget for sequels. We will see, but I think this could have been MUCH worse.
 

Arment

Member
Wow, I absolutely loved it. I'm glad I didn't pay attention to negative reviews.

My girlfriend, who has no Warcraft knowledge whatsoever, was asking me when the 2nd one would be out and was asking me a ton of questions on the way home about what might happen next.

It was just jaw droppingly beautiful. It was like a childhood dream to see the Warcraft universe on the big screen.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom