Warcraft reviews not looking great

[deadish]

Well...yeah. They want people who see the movie who haven't played the game before to be able to actually play it, I'm not sure what's so sinister about that. It makes perfect sense as a promotion.

So the movie is a 2 hour long ad for WoW that Blizzard manage to convince some idiot movie studio into paying over 100 million to make?

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

I think the major issue the may have had, is that it takes a few incidents with very generic Humans vs. Orcs bullshit before the interesting guys like the Foresaken, the Tauren, the Draenei, the Worgen and to a lesser extent, the Night Elves show up.

That said I always felt that the opening shot of a Warcraft movie should have been a warrior in full plate hooning into Stormwind on his steampunk motorbike.

 

[Silence]

German reviews look slightly better: Consensus is "average, Plot is dumb and only understandable for fans, good picture".

So ... guess I am going to watch it at some point, because it's Warcraft.

 

[elvor0]

Well...yeah. They want people who see the movie who haven't played the game before to be able to actually play it, I'm not sure what's so sinister about that. It makes perfect sense as a promotion.

So the movie is a 2 hour long ad for WoW that Blizzard manage to convince some idiot movie studio into paying over 100 million to make?

It's a Warcraft movie, of course in some form it advertises that WoW exists. That doesn't make it all some conspiratory plan for which its sole existence is just to shift copies of WoW and nothing else. Of course they want to shift copies of WoW on the end of it, given you'd hope your movie is a success, you'd be a fucking idiot if you didn't plan for new fans for the game it's based on after your movie airs.

Even in an ideal world where this is a movie considered perfect across the board and was made with 100% pure intentions, you'd /still/ want to plan for it drumming up business for the game. It would be foolish not to.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Fun fact: Duncan Jones is not his birth name. He had it legally changed from Zowie Bowie as soon as he turned 18, because he knew he'd never be taken seriously as a director with a name like that. I'm not kidding.

Actually no, Duncan Jones IS his birth name (Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones, to be exact). He simply went by Zowie Bowie, as well as Joey and Joe, during certain periods in his life.

The part about going back to his birth name to be taken more seriously is probably right, although there are indications he also did it because he didn't want to coast on his father's name. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

 

[Glongpre]

And seriously, you want a game that has the culling of Stratholme to be a comedy? That would be... interesting.

No, but Warcraft has always blended serious storylines with levity. So that shit would be serious, but then you would cut to Jaina talking to someone in Dalaran and you would get some comedy there. Then you would cut back to Arthas burning his own ships and blaming the mercenaries.

There should be some lighthearted moments, it shouldn't be dark the whole movie because the games never were.

 

[mduncan50]

Well...yeah. They want people who see the movie who haven't played the game before to be able to actually play it, I'm not sure what's so sinister about that. It makes perfect sense as a promotion.

So the movie is a 2 hour long ad for WoW that Blizzard manage to convince some idiot movie studio into paying over 100 million to make?

It's a Warcraft movie, of course in some form it advertises that WoW exists. That doesn't make it all some conspiratory plan for which its sole existence is just to shift copies of WoW and nothing else. Of course they want to shift copies of WoW on the end of it, given you'd hope your movie is a success, you'd be a fucking idiot if you didn't plan for new fans for the game it's based on after your movie airs.

Even in an ideal world where this is a movie considered perfect across the board and was made with 100% pure intentions, you'd /still/ want to plan for it drumming up business for the game. It would be foolish not to.

So... it's a cash grab. Not sure what you're arguing here...

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Well...yeah. They want people who see the movie who haven't played the game before to be able to actually play it, I'm not sure what's so sinister about that. It makes perfect sense as a promotion.

So the movie is a 2 hour long ad for WoW that Blizzard manage to convince some idiot movie studio into paying over 100 million to make?

It's a Warcraft movie, of course in some form it advertises that WoW exists. That doesn't make it all some conspiratory plan for which its sole existence is just to shift copies of WoW and nothing else. Of course they want to shift copies of WoW on the end of it, given you'd hope your movie is a success, you'd be a fucking idiot if you didn't plan for new fans for the game it's based on after your movie airs.

Even in an ideal world where this is a movie considered perfect across the board and was made with 100% pure intentions, you'd /still/ want to plan for it drumming up business for the game. It would be foolish not to.

So... it's a cash grab. Not sure what you're arguing here...

Would that not apply to amy adaption of anything I mean could Game of Thrones be considered a cash grab to promote the books?

Or a Superman movie be a cash grab to promote the coimcs?

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

And seriously, you want a game that has the culling of Stratholme to be a comedy? That would be... interesting.

No, but Warcraft has always blended serious storylines with levity. So that shit would be serious, but then you would cut to Jaina talking to someone in Dalaran and you would get some comedy there. Then you would cut back to Arthas burning his own ships and blaming the mercenaries.

There should be some lighthearted moments, it shouldn't be dark the whole movie because the games never were.

That would sound like a really bad edit.

You cut from a complete and terrible tragedy to then a humorous comedy sketch? That would be a very innappropriate cut.

Its like when Wakka from Final Fantasy X after Rikku lost her home he said", "Boom just like happy festival fire works!!!"

 

[Falling_v1legacy]

I don't know. My introduction to the Warcraft universe was Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. I always felt like I was playing the darker parts of the Silmarillion or something. I went back to Warcraft I years later and found it light on story, but not too out of keeping from the Warcraft II tone. It's really only Warcraft III and most especially WoW where the universe really gets bonkers.

As someone who's played all three Warcraft RTS games, I can't really call any of them dark. WC1 basically has no story to speak of. WC2 has a bit more narrative, but it's not a dark story, and I can only think of two actual dark moments (a point where an orc burns human corpses, and the ending of the Horde campaign in Tides of Darkness). Warcraft III has by far the darkest moments and storyline (Arthas's descent and killing Terenas, the Scourge campaign in its entirety, the feeling of dread as the Burning Legion pops up more and more through the Horde and Sentinel campaign, etc.), but is it a dark game in of itself? No, I wouldn't say so. No more than Lord of the Rings is a dark story, even when it's based on a conflict where the stakes are life and liberty for the Free Peoples of an entire continent.

Your mileage may vary on what you consider dark, but I consider Silmarillion dark in the sense of sheer amount of destruction, loss, and tragedy (fall of all the elven kingdoms, elf rulers, Turin Turambar, etc.) I read and reread the Warcraft II manual story elements because I didn't really have a computer that would run the game at the time, but the story context that it set up with the brutality of the Orcs and the end of the world feel for the Alliance all felt like a dark world. It felt more akin to the Diablo universe at the time than the WoW universe of the present.

 

[Glongpre]

And seriously, you want a game that has the culling of Stratholme to be a comedy? That would be... interesting.

No, but Warcraft has always blended serious storylines with levity. So that shit would be serious, but then you would cut to Jaina talking to someone in Dalaran and you would get some comedy there. Then you would cut back to Arthas burning his own ships and blaming the mercenaries.

There should be some lighthearted moments, it shouldn't be dark the whole movie because the games never were.

That would sound like a really bad edit.

You cut from a complete and terrible tragedy to then a humorous comedy sketch? That would be a very innappropriate cut.

Its like when Wakka from Final Fantasy X after Rikku lost her home he said", "Boom just like happy festival fire works!!!"

No, it is woven into the story. It is still a tragedy, it is still dark but it is never overbearing.

When I play Warcraft 3, it is a dark storyline but it is told in a way that isn't hitting you over the head with it. Could be because of the graphics, could be because of the animations, which are cartoony and often silly.

You want a completely dark Warcraft movie, ok that's fine. It would be pretty good, I am just trying to argue that the games were never 100% dark and gloomy, even though the storylines could make it be that way.

 

[Hawki]

I don't know. My introduction to the Warcraft universe was Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. I always felt like I was playing the darker parts of the Silmarillion or something. I went back to Warcraft I years later and found it light on story, but not too out of keeping from the Warcraft II tone. It's really only Warcraft III and most especially WoW where the universe really gets bonkers.

As someone who's played all three Warcraft RTS games, I can't really call any of them dark. WC1 basically has no story to speak of. WC2 has a bit more narrative, but it's not a dark story, and I can only think of two actual dark moments (a point where an orc burns human corpses, and the ending of the Horde campaign in Tides of Darkness). Warcraft III has by far the darkest moments and storyline (Arthas's descent and killing Terenas, the Scourge campaign in its entirety, the feeling of dread as the Burning Legion pops up more and more through the Horde and Sentinel campaign, etc.), but is it a dark game in of itself? No, I wouldn't say so. No more than Lord of the Rings is a dark story, even when it's based on a conflict where the stakes are life and liberty for the Free Peoples of an entire continent.

Your mileage may vary on what you consider dark, but I consider Silmarillion dark in the sense of sheer amount of destruction, loss, and tragedy (fall of all the elven kingdoms, elf rulers, Turin Turambar, etc.) I read and reread the Warcraft II manual story elements because I didn't really have a computer that would run the game at the time, but the story context that it set up with the brutality of the Orcs and the end of the world feel for the Alliance all felt like a dark world. It felt more akin to the Diablo universe at the time than the WoW universe of the present.

"Your mileage may vary" is probably the key thing to take away from it here, because I had a very different experience in all those examples. It's been ages since I read The Silmarillion, but I can't call it dark, because while dark stuff occurs, the style of writing is generally dispassionate and/or grandiose, to the point where it loses intimacy. Likewise, I can't call Warcraft II dark on any level bar the rare instances I mentioned before. On the Alliance side, there's a sense of...not quite adventure, per se, but certainly optimism. The idea that the races/factions can set aside their differences to fight a common foe (i.e. akin to Lord of the Rings). On the Horde side, there's a sort of "evil and loving it" feel - sure, the orcs do nasty things, but the game rarely, if ever explores what that entails. WC2 is a step up from WC1 in the story department, but it's a far cry away from the sense of despair and melencholia that Warcraft III would bring.

 

[loa]

This all looks exactly like a Prometheus comment section. Which I liked.
So there's a good chance I'll like this one too.

And seriously, you want a game that has the culling of Stratholme to be a comedy? That would be... interesting.

Have you not been paying attention?
It's the tales of grom freaking hellscream from the warsong clan.
It's edgelord grimdark to the max. Bruce killgores tales of hardcoria.

Warcraft has not a single serious bone in itself.
If you try to play that straight, it only becomes high comedy.
Like a gritty hollywood movie of axe cop that takes itself 100% seriously.

 

[Fappy]

People on the WoW sub-reddit are fanboying really hard about this movie. If you want to see what a denial-based echo chamber looks like, check it out.

I don't expect this movie to sink to the level of Batman v Superman, but it's probably not a whole hell of a lot better. I'll see it anyway, though. Looks like it's at least fun.

 

[Lennac]

Shame, I was hoping it would be good enough to encourage Blizzard to keep making movies. And maybe one day make an Overwatch movie, cause that would be hella awesome.

Warcraft looked awful from the start to me. But, I agree - an Overwatch movie would be great, especially given the animated shorts we've seen so far have been pretty good. Some of the dialogue is pretty terrible, but I honestly think that's by design.

 

[elvor0]

Well...yeah. They want people who see the movie who haven't played the game before to be able to actually play it, I'm not sure what's so sinister about that. It makes perfect sense as a promotion.

So the movie is a 2 hour long ad for WoW that Blizzard manage to convince some idiot movie studio into paying over 100 million to make?

It's a Warcraft movie, of course in some form it advertises that WoW exists. That doesn't make it all some conspiratory plan for which its sole existence is just to shift copies of WoW and nothing else. Of course they want to shift copies of WoW on the end of it, given you'd hope your movie is a success, you'd be a fucking idiot if you didn't plan for new fans for the game it's based on after your movie airs.

Even in an ideal world where this is a movie considered perfect across the board and was made with 100% pure intentions, you'd /still/ want to plan for it drumming up business for the game. It would be foolish not to.

So... it's a cash grab. Not sure what you're arguing here...

If you're not sure what I'm arguing, you might want to try reading what I said with something other than knee jerk like reactions and a black and white world view that just because someone in the business department wants to make money, because that's their job, it's inherently a cash grab.

Seriously, this movie has been in the works in some form since 2006! 10 years does not scream "cash grab" to me. If it is, it's the worst concieved cash grab in the history of ever.
http://web.archive.org/web/20071125104232/http://blizzard.com/press/060509.shtml

Anything that's an adaptation of anything is a cash grab then I guess? Superman with Chris Reeves? Cash Grab! Knights of the Old Republic? Cash Grab! Marvel Movies? Cash Grab! Burton Batman Movies? Cash Grab! Baldurs Gate? Cash grab!

Because you can bet your ass someone was hoping they would shift copies of their original format on the back of each of those things too.

It's an adaptation of a video game, of course they want fans of the movie to play the game it's adapted from. If someone likes your work, obviously you want to get them into your other stuff, that's extremely sensible planning.

 

[wizzy555]

No I don't think it's a cash grab. People have been wanting a Metzin storyline on film for years, unfortunately they delayed it so much, this just isn't a good time. We have a plenty of these sorts of stories now.

There is cross-marketing going on, the games are there to promote the movie and the movie is there to promote the games... because there is this thing called money....

 

[mduncan50]

Well...yeah. They want people who see the movie who haven't played the game before to be able to actually play it, I'm not sure what's so sinister about that. It makes perfect sense as a promotion.

So the movie is a 2 hour long ad for WoW that Blizzard manage to convince some idiot movie studio into paying over 100 million to make?

It's a Warcraft movie, of course in some form it advertises that WoW exists. That doesn't make it all some conspiratory plan for which its sole existence is just to shift copies of WoW and nothing else. Of course they want to shift copies of WoW on the end of it, given you'd hope your movie is a success, you'd be a fucking idiot if you didn't plan for new fans for the game it's based on after your movie airs.

Even in an ideal world where this is a movie considered perfect across the board and was made with 100% pure intentions, you'd /still/ want to plan for it drumming up business for the game. It would be foolish not to.

So... it's a cash grab. Not sure what you're arguing here...

Would that not apply to amy adaption of anything I mean could Game of Thrones be considered a cash grab to promote the books?

Or a Superman movie be a cash grab to promote the coimcs?

I'd say in the case of Game of Thrones that is anything it prevents people from buying the books, because they're getting the while story in movie form (and I know there are differences, but general audiences wont care.

As for Superman, as much as we have argued about the quality of the DC movies, my friend, I don't for a second think that the people involved were not trying their best to make a good movie that stands on its own. If anything making it a darker PG13 movie means that they're cutting off a large portion of comic book readers from being allowed to see it. Also they're not offering discounted comic subscriptions when you go to see the movie or something like that.

What makes Warcraft a seemingly more egregious case of cash grab is the generic and safe fantasy plot, fan service over coherence, and the aforementioned free month of WoW with ticket purchase calculated to bring back old subscribers and attract new ones. I'm not going to fault them for taking a step to try to boost their business, but I'm going to call a spade a spade.

 

[anthony87]

People on the WoW sub-reddit are fanboying really hard about this movie. If you want to see what a denial-based echo chamber looks like, check it out.

Bit harsh no?

I mean god forbid that people actually.....

shudder

Enjoy it.

 

[Fappy]

People on the WoW sub-reddit are fanboying really hard about this movie. If you want to see what a denial-based echo chamber looks like, check it out.

Bit harsh no?

I mean god forbid that people actually.....

shudder

Enjoy it.

And that absolutely fine. I don't doubt that I may enjoy it myself when I see it in theaters (in fact, I am excited to). However, that doesn't mean I won't think about the film critically. The users on that sub are basically defending the movie by saying all film critics are pretentious and that they don't understand Warcraft. Sure, that may be true for some, but that doesn't mean Warcraft doesn't have issues as a functional film.

It's perfectly fine to enjoy something while acknowledging its faults. Some people simply can't do that it seems.