Warcraft reviews not looking great

The Philistine

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Yet there?s no question that it?s a breakthrough in both storytelling and artistry for features based on video games. And compared with another medieval-ish tale, the soporific Hobbit trilogy, this international production is a fleet and nimble ride, likely to conquer overseas box offices and make a solid stand stateside.
Well, The Holywood Reporter at least gave it a mixed review. Comparing it to the Mario movie though... ouch.

I wasn't expecting it to be great, but kind of sad to see it getting panned so hard.
 

BloatedGuppy

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David Bowie was Duncan Jones' dad?!

Huh. You learn something crazy every day.

OT: Sad, but unsurprising. From the moment the first trailer hit, the film looked like a mess. Dubious CGI, questionable performances, off-tone marketing. Even the wardrobing was bad. I believe Jones wanted to make a great film, but I think this will likely end up one of those Trank cases where the director claims their vision was compromised by a meddling/idiotic studio.

AccursedTheory said:
So, now that Warcraft is looking bad, whats the next video game movie up that might be good? I know Nintendo will have something out in 3-4 years, and Assassin's Creed comes out this year (Christ...), anything else happening soon?
Assassin's Creed has Fassbender, so it'll have to struggle to be worse than mediocre.
 
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Hawki said:
There's a Dead Rising movie coming out as well
Wasn't there already that direct-to-online one? I gave it a wide berth, and that's as a fan of the series.

I feel as if the first properly good video-game film might be the Tomb Raider reboot; not sure about the upcoming Assassin's Creed.
 

wizzy555

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Well being a Warcraft nerd I'll be watching it anyway. I'll be satisfied if it's at least as good as the prince of Persia movie.
 

wizzy555

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Xsjadoblayde said:
I always thought WOW was generic fantasy world #17635. Nothing original enough to make an inspiring film from. So film critics are often looking originality, deep meaning, metaphors, clever shooting etc etc. CGI Generic fantasy world #17635 isn't going to make any waves without a lot of talented people with actual good ideas and passion put into it. No doubt it will be servicable entertainment for ordinary folk, but critics are going to always expect more.
Well it has some deeper stuff than average action movie pulp, but in a time where Game Of Thrones is fresh in people's mind it doesn't really stand much of a chance.
 

Erttheking

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The movie Blizzard was so desperate to sell tickets for that they were throwing out free copies of World of Warcraft ended up sucking? Not surprised.
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

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Xsjadoblayde said:
I always thought WOW was generic fantasy world #17635. Nothing original enough to make an inspiring film from. So film critics are often looking originality, deep meaning, metaphors, clever shooting etc etc. CGI Generic fantasy world #17635 isn't going to make any waves without a lot of talented people with actual good ideas and passion put into it. No doubt it will be servicable entertainment for ordinary folk, but critics are going to always expect more.
What kind of fantasy world have places like this:





And monsters like this:




And races like this:



Not ever fantasy setting is "generic fantasy number#" and only has just castles and dragons.

Warcraft has more personality and identity then something like say Might and Magic and Wizardry :p
 

Katherine Kerensky

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Hey, low blow, Variety. I enjoyed Battlefield Earth. Got it on VHS somewhere.
...I think I might have to go watch it again now, and imagine it is World of Warcraft just for a free viewing.
 

RJ 17

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BloatedGuppy said:
Assassin's Creed has Fassbender, so it'll have to struggle to be worse than mediocre.
That sounds like a challenge I'm sure Hollywood is more than happy to accept. :p

OT: Certainly sounds like my biggest concern from the trailers came true in the movie itself: they went for "realistic and gritty". Well, as "realistic" as one can get with mages, gryphons, and giant green beast-men orcs...but surprisingly attractive female orcs (seriously...in the games even the female orcs are frickin' ripped).

In short: it sounds like the movie takes itself way too seriously, and that's the trap that a lot of movies fall into today. As one of reviews pointed out: the WC games don't take themselves all that seriously...why should the movie?
 

RJ 17

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Samtemdo8 said:
Not ever fantasy setting is "generic fantasy number#" and only has just castles and dragons.

Warcraft has more personality and identity then something like say Might and Magic and Wizardry :p
You're absolutely right in this regard...it's just a god damn shame none of that personality and identity made it into the movie. That could be gleaned from simply watching the trailers.
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

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RJ 17 said:
Samtemdo8 said:
Not ever fantasy setting is "generic fantasy number#" and only has just castles and dragons.

Warcraft has more personality and identity then something like say Might and Magic and Wizardry :p
You're absolutely right in this regard...it's just a god damn shame none of that personality and identity made it into the movie. That could be gleaned from simply watching the trailers.
Well let's see when movie comes officially.

I already have reservations like I think the Khadgar actor and Medivh actor are not casted well.

And so far they made the extreme error of not having Russle Brower and Jason Hayes for Soundtrack instead hiring the guy who did Game of Throne's soundtrack.
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
Samtemdo8 said:
Xsjadoblayde said:
I always thought WOW was generic fantasy world #17635. Nothing original enough to make an inspiring film from. So film critics are often looking originality, deep meaning, metaphors, clever shooting etc etc. CGI Generic fantasy world #17635 isn't going to make any waves without a lot of talented people with actual good ideas and passion put into it. No doubt it will be servicable entertainment for ordinary folk, but critics are going to always expect more.
What kind of fantasy world have places like this:





And monsters like this:




And races like this:



Not ever fantasy setting is "generic fantasy number#" and only has just castles and dragons.

Warcraft has more personality and identity then something like say Might and Magic and Wizardry :p
No, not really, it started out as a licensed game for warhammer. But then that fell through so they just changed a little about the story and over the years they just threw more and more crap into it. The most original thing they did was samurai orcs and that ended up just being one multi hero in warcraft 3, I don't think it was ever really mentioned in lore.
 

Dalisclock

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anthony87 said:
Yeah because its not like film critics are ever wrong or anything...
It's an opinion like anyone else.

However, generally speaking, if most of them are saying something is shitty, then there's a really good chance that it's actually shitty. Either that or that they're all stupid or corrupt(being paid off to trash it).
 

Neurotic Void Melody

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wizzy555 said:
Well it has some deeper stuff than average action movie pulp, but in a time where Game Of Thrones is fresh in people's mind it doesn't really stand much of a chance.
Samtemdo8 said:
What kind of fantasy world have places like this:





And monsters like this:




And races like this:

Not ever fantasy setting is "generic fantasy number#" and only has just castles and dragons.

Warcraft has more personality and identity then something like say Might and Magic and Wizardry :p
I have to admit those do give a much better impression to an outside perspective such as myself, than any other introduction i have stumbled upon. Makes you wonder why they didn't aim for such areas of lore for the film. Maybe some higher-ups were insistent on sticking to what they'd assume would be the public's comfort zone. Is bit of a shame really.
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

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Worgen said:
Samtemdo8 said:
Xsjadoblayde said:
I always thought WOW was generic fantasy world #17635. Nothing original enough to make an inspiring film from. So film critics are often looking originality, deep meaning, metaphors, clever shooting etc etc. CGI Generic fantasy world #17635 isn't going to make any waves without a lot of talented people with actual good ideas and passion put into it. No doubt it will be servicable entertainment for ordinary folk, but critics are going to always expect more.
What kind of fantasy world have places like this:





And monsters like this:




And races like this:



Not ever fantasy setting is "generic fantasy number#" and only has just castles and dragons.

Warcraft has more personality and identity then something like say Might and Magic and Wizardry :p
No, not really, it started out as a licensed game for warhammer. But then that fell through so they just changed a little about the story and over the years they just threw more and more crap into it. The most original thing they did was samurai orcs and that ended up just being one multi hero in warcraft 3, I don't think it was ever really mentioned in lore.
I have seen enough of Warhammer and Wacraft devolped through out the years and so far both franchises split into their own distinct style. Lets compare it to DC and Marvel.

I mean the main human faction in Warhammer is an Empire modeld after the Holy Roman Empire. While the main human faction is just a very styleized Medieval England.

The Orcs in Warhammer are just mostly savage warlike brutes, the Orcs in Warcraft are more developed especially what happened in Warcraft 3. They are people to with families and homes they want to protect. And Shamans here are nothing like the Shamans in Warhammer.

Warhammer's undead faction is lead by Vampires and Warcraft's is lead by someone that looks like Archaon with a strong theme of Ice powers.

And both have their unique factions. Warhammer has Skaven (Rat people) and Warcraft has Draenais.

And lastly Warhammer is more darker and bloodier Warcraft I mean in the Warhammer universe the bad guys win, the End Times did happeend.

Warcraft the closest thing to that happened in Catacylsm and we ended up saving the world anyway.
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

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Xsjadoblayde said:
wizzy555 said:
Well it has some deeper stuff than average action movie pulp, but in a time where Game Of Thrones is fresh in people's mind it doesn't really stand much of a chance.
Samtemdo8 said:
What kind of fantasy world have places like this:





And monsters like this:




And races like this:

Not ever fantasy setting is "generic fantasy number#" and only has just castles and dragons.

Warcraft has more personality and identity then something like say Might and Magic and Wizardry :p
I have to admit those do give a much better impression to an outside perspective such as myself, than any other introduction i have stumbled upon. Makes you wonder why they didn't aim for such areas of lore for the film. Maybe some higher-ups were insistent on sticking to what they'd assume would be the public's comfort zone. Is bit of a shame really.
That is the point from a lore perspective this is the beginning of when Warcraft fully became Warcraft. This one movie could potentially lead to events and places like these:


 

JUMBO PALACE

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Worgen said:
The most original thing they did was samurai orcs and that ended up just being one multi hero in warcraft 3, I don't think it was ever really mentioned in lore.
"TASTEH MY BLAYEDH" - Blademaster

OT: I'm not shocked at the bad reviews but I'm still going to go see it. My best buddy and I spent countless hours playing WC3 when we were kids and sunk way too much time into Wow through middle and high school. I can't help but still be a little excited to see the Warcraft world on the big screen. As long as the action is good I'll get what I came for honestly.
 

RJ 17

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Samtemdo8 said:
Well let's see when movie comes officially.
Nah, I'd rather not piss my money away, thanks. :3

To be fair, it's 100% true that a shitty trailer does not lead to a shitty movie...however Batman v Superman stands as a firm reminder that somethings a shitty trailer DOES lead to a shitty movie.

What I saw in the trailers suggests that they're taking this movie way too seriously, and judging from the reviews this notion has been confirmed. WC is not a franchise meant to be taken with Game Of Thrones levels of seriousness. Indeed, as Kotaku points out: we're talking about a game where the most powerful spell is turning an enemy into a sheep. We're talking about a franchise that has drunken pandas doing kung fu. We're talking about a franchise where one of the biggest antagonists in the lore is a direct point-for-point rip-off of Anikin Skywalker. One need only look at Hearthstone to see how seriously this franchise takes itself...which is to say: not at all.

And there's nothing wrong with that, that's what makes the series charming and fun.

As I said: it's just too bad none of this stuff made it into the movie, as seen via that trailers and confirmed via these reviews.
 

Imre Csete

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The moment I saw the shoehorned romance subplot in the trailers I knew it's going to be bad.

I'm still watching it with friends though.