Warcraft reviews not looking great

[minkus_draconus]

Welp, this sucks. I wasn't hoping for something that would knock my socks off or MOON levels of good(previous Jones' movie). I expected kind of a lighter fantasy adventure with a side of epic, something like Hobbit, but y'know, pleasant to watch. That also probably means we're not gonna see the Lich King on a silver screen.

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

Tsk tsk. Glass houses and all that... You're lauding Warcraft's oh-so-unique setting by comparing it to Might and Magic? I can't say much about Wizardry, but M&M mixed fantasy and sci-fi way before anyone in Blizzard thought about adding space goats to the mix. Here's the ending to M&MIII, a game released in '91.

Spoiler: Then there's the Forge - a town that never made it to HoMM III, but planned to be included in an official expansion, nonetheless.

[/spoiler][/quote]

Ultima 1, 2, and 3 have done it aswell, it was made during a time when RPGs were COMPLETELY INSANE!!!

Ulitma 4 made everything sensible.[/quote]

Wizardry had this kind of stuff also. Mostly later in the series.

 

[mduncan50]

It's not the worst movie I've ever seen. But it was bad, the only thing that saved it were the many unintentionally funny moments. It is a very nice looking film in parts, but the world somehow ends up feeling very small. The movie is around 2hrs and bizzarely feels rushed and overlong all at once, we get barely an introduction to any of the characters, I'm a long time Warcraft and WoW player, but even I had trouble telling characters apart at times, a lot of it seems to rely on the audience already knowing who the bloody hell all these people are but doesn't do much to show us why we should care. Also what the hell, you've got dwarves and elves but don't use them in the battle scenes? I know they weren't prevalent in the first games anyway, but the movie is supposed to be a sort of alternate continuity anyway. Dalaran is already floating for one thing unless a lore buff can correct me on that?

Yeah Dalaran shouldn't already be floating, but they probably loved the concept art of the floating Dalaran so much they didn't want to leave it out.

The Alliance at this time is either non-existent or very un-unified, it has almost no reason to exit at this point. The only threats are the odd troll raids.

As I recall stormwind is virtually destroyed soon after these events which prompts the alliance.

I wanted more of the Kirin Tor. I really didn't get Khadgar's issues with them, those guys were fun. Also Medivh = Evil Jesus, what is seen can not be unseen!

Which makes it a good thing that a lot of people wont see it! *rimshot*

 

[wizzy555]

It's not the worst movie I've ever seen. But it was bad, the only thing that saved it were the many unintentionally funny moments. It is a very nice looking film in parts, but the world somehow ends up feeling very small. The movie is around 2hrs and bizzarely feels rushed and overlong all at once, we get barely an introduction to any of the characters, I'm a long time Warcraft and WoW player, but even I had trouble telling characters apart at times, a lot of it seems to rely on the audience already knowing who the bloody hell all these people are but doesn't do much to show us why we should care. Also what the hell, you've got dwarves and elves but don't use them in the battle scenes? I know they weren't prevalent in the first games anyway, but the movie is supposed to be a sort of alternate continuity anyway. Dalaran is already floating for one thing unless a lore buff can correct me on that?

Yeah Dalaran shouldn't already be floating, but they probably loved the concept art of the floating Dalaran so much they didn't want to leave it out.

The Alliance at this time is either non-existent or very un-unified, it has almost no reason to exit at this point. The only threats are the odd troll raids.

As I recall stormwind is virtually destroyed soon after these events which prompts the alliance.

I wanted more of the Kirin Tor. I really didn't get Khadgar's issues with them, those guys were fun. Also Medivh = Evil Jesus, what is seen can not be unseen!

If you want the full plot I suggest you read the last Guardian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warcraft:_The_Last_Guardian. The bits that were skipped were:

Spoiler

In the book Kadgar never left the Kirin Tor, he was sent to be Medivh's apprentice and spy on him
The crazy things that are going on in Medivh's tower due to the magical nature and his general corruption
Medivh is possessed by Sargaras himself.
Medivh makes allusions to the night elves.
Medivh's mother and her cheating the guardian process to make her son guardian - I'm guessing that spirit woman was suppose to be her.
Kadgar when fighting Medivh gets magically aged into an old man
Various Kadgar Garona stuff.

 

[Buizel91]

I actually thought it was pretty good. Perfect? Hell no, but not outright bad at all.

I can see why die hard fans may be angry/upset with it, but then i get why Blizzard/Legendary/Universal did what they did, make it appeal to a wider audience instead of just fans, Which makes sense.

Hopefully the sequels will improve on the foundations this one set, usually in a series of films, its the first film that is great, and the sequels that are crap. Reviews are all over the place with this film. There is easily room for improvement and i hope they achieve that in the sequels (If there are any)

 

[mduncan50]

I actually thought it was pretty good. Perfect? Hell no, but not outright bad at all.

I can see why die hard fans may be angry/upset with it, but then i get why Blizzard/Legendary/Universal did what they did, make it appeal to a wider audience instead of just fans, Which makes sense.

Hopefully the sequels will improve on the foundations this one set, usually in a series of films, its the first film that is great, and the sequels that are crap. Reviews are all over the place with this film. There is easily room for improvement and i hope they achieve that in the sequels (If there are any)

Really? Fans seem to be the only people saying that it is any good, so if they made major changes to appeal to other people I don't think it worked.

 

[Buizel91]

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.

Actually the Night Elves appear in this film...

They don't look to great, more like decent cosplayers, but they are there. They just don't do a whole lot.

 

[Buizel91]

I actually thought it was pretty good. Perfect? Hell no, but not outright bad at all.

I can see why die hard fans may be angry/upset with it, but then i get why Blizzard/Legendary/Universal did what they did, make it appeal to a wider audience instead of just fans, Which makes sense.

Hopefully the sequels will improve on the foundations this one set, usually in a series of films, its the first film that is great, and the sequels that are crap. Reviews are all over the place with this film. There is easily room for improvement and i hope they achieve that in the sequels (If there are any)

Really? Fans seem to be the only people saying that it is any good, so if they made major changes to appeal to other people I don't think it worked.

On this forum alone there are fans slating it, many fans probably will like it but there are still a fair few who don't particularly like it because "this didn't happen" or "They changed how this happened" .

One of my mates who i went with actually hates WoW, but he enjoyed the film. My other 2 friends are fans and liked it. I'm sort of a fan (played WoW and i enjoyed it but i didn't particularly follow the story) and i liked it. But it isn't the case of all fans like it and all non fans don't.

 

[Samtemdo8_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.

Actually the Night Elves appear in this film...

They don't look to great, more like decent cosplayers, but they are there. They just don't do a whole lot.

You certain you are not confusing Night Elves with High/Blood Elves?

Night Elf:

High/Blood Elf:

If Night Elves appeared in the movie that how the fuck did one get all the way from Kalimdor?

 

[Buizel91]

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.

Actually the Night Elves appear in this film...

They don't look to great, more like decent cosplayers, but they are there. They just don't do a whole lot.

You certain you are not confusing Night Elves with High/Blood Elves?

Night Elf:

High/Blood Elf:

If Night Elves appeared in the movie that how the fuck did one get all the way from Kalimdor?

Well they were purple and had long ears...Deffo night elf.

Also Stormwind has it's port, so they probably came that way.

 

[Samtemdo8_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.

Actually the Night Elves appear in this film...

They don't look to great, more like decent cosplayers, but they are there. They just don't do a whole lot.

You certain you are not confusing Night Elves with High/Blood Elves?

Night Elf:

High/Blood Elf:

If Night Elves appeared in the movie that how the fuck did one get all the way from Kalimdor?

Well they were purple and had long ears...Deffo night elf.

Also Stormwind has it's port, so they probably came that way.

I just found this image, do they look like this? Because this looks like a High Elf to me:

Clearly a High Elf of Quel'Thalas. Oh to see Silvermoon City with this music playing:

 

[Buizel91]

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.

Actually the Night Elves appear in this film...

They don't look to great, more like decent cosplayers, but they are there. They just don't do a whole lot.

You certain you are not confusing Night Elves with High/Blood Elves?

Night Elf:

High/Blood Elf:

If Night Elves appeared in the movie that how the fuck did one get all the way from Kalimdor?

Well they were purple and had long ears...Deffo night elf.

Also Stormwind has it's port, so they probably came that way.

I just found this image, do they look like this? Because this looks like a High Elf to me:

Clearly a High Elf of Quel'Thalas. Oh to see Silvermoon City with this music playing:

As i said, they were purple, and their eyes glowed blue/purple like Night Elves.

They were in a meeting with humans and dwarves.

 

[Azrael the Cat]

That's definitely High Elf. Remember, it's before Arthas wtf-pwned them and severed their connection to the sunwells in WC3, which changed their appearance to the red-ish Blood Elves of WoW. They should have green-purple skin, and green/gold insignia, with purple light coming out of their eyes instead of red.

Night Elves weren't known to exist at that point - they were on a different continent and had no involvement in the 1st two wars. Only came in after the Orcs fled captivity (while the Alliance had the Scourge to worry about, hence didn't have the capacity to stop the Orcs breaking out of the internment camps) and went to find a new homeland in Kalimdor (Orc campaign, WC3).

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Full 2 hour spoiler discussion of the Warcraft movie from one guy who really loved it and another who felt mixed feelings on it. So to people that are not gonna see it at least understand why it appearently sucks according to other critics:

 

[Falling_v1legacy]

Well, at the very least Mark Kermode is on board, so that's good enough for me.
"I found myself actually being emotionally engaged."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC-8ghk9ojk

He is self-professed ignorant of Warcraft specifically and games and gamers generally.
This is good news for the sort of taste in film I have as I generally like his analysis in films. (Even if he can get a little sniffy about fantasy films: "having an aversion to the blingy, blongy, and hithery froth." ...those Britishism, or are they Kermodeisms?)

On the other gaming website I hang out on, people are observing that on the whole America is giving really low reviews, but Europeans are placing it as a decent film. We are starting to get people from around the world trickling in and giving their impressions, and most went in with pretty low expectations (trailer was pretty bad), but came out enjoying the film. So there is that. I wonder if some critics were wanting to get out front of everyone else doing a hatchet job to the latest video game adaptations.

You left out the part where right before he said he found himself emotionally engaged when he said the movie reminded him of John Carter.

And while I'm not going to search the net for every review about it, the Rotten Tomatoes reviews seem to be mostly from the UK.

It reminded him of John Carter in the sense that it was very reception was very mixed, and that he didn't get it (Carter), but this time he's on the OTHER side of getting it (Warcraft).

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

So i just got back from seeing it, and its not very good. Which is tragic because it tries so hard to be a good movie, but there are so many plot strings, holes and meaningless characters that serve, at least to my knowledge, no point in the plot. They do nothing, cause nothing and have no effect on any outcome. And the characters that do have a point are either completely underdeveloped, unlikable, or just plain stupid.

The best way I know how to describe it is its a sequel to a movie no one made. Its trying to cash in a shitload of chips for a game it never played. Oh the feels when X dies. Oh man, I'll totally miss their...5 lines. Like imagine if George Lucas just started the prequels with Revenge of the Sith, and they kept referencing the other movies, didn't bother explaining who characters were, what they do and why anyone should care, and have huge big twists and reveals that mean nothing because we haven't had any time to get to know these people.
That's what this movie is. The Revenge of the Sith to a trilogy that never Orc-urred.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

So i just got back from seeing it, and its not very good. Which is tragic because it tries so hard to be a good movie, but there are so many plot strings, holes and meaningless characters that serve, at least to my knowledge, no point in the plot. They do nothing, cause nothing and have no effect on any outcome. And the characters that do have a point are either completely underdeveloped, unlikable, or just plain stupid.

The best way I know how to describe it is its a sequel to a movie no one made. Its trying to cash in a shitload of chips for a game it never played. Oh the feels when X dies. Oh man, I'll totally miss their...5 lines. Like imagine if George Lucas just started the prequels with Revenge of the Sith, and they kept referencing the other movies, didn't bother explaining who characters were, what they do and why anyone should care, and have huge big twists and reveals that mean nothing because we haven't had any time to get to know these people.
That's what this movie is. The Revenge of the Sith to a trilogy that never Orc-urred.

First off I thought the movie won't come out in the States until the 10?

Second the feeling of it being a sequal is Probably because they made Tie in novels and comic books that connects to the movie:

Warcraft: Bonds of Brotherhood


Warcraft: Durotan: The Official Movie Prequel

Warcraft Official Movie Novelization

 

[BloatedGuppy]

So I guess the film might have more overseas gusto than I'd anticipated. Should have remembered China.

http://deadline.com/2016/06/warcraft-china-advance-ticket-sales-record-legendary-wanda-furious-7-box-office-preview-1201767728/

No idea how much long term muscle the Chinese and/or Korean box offices have in terms of global gross, but they powered Fast and Furious to some baffingly high box office, so it's possible the same will occur here too.

Long story short...wouldn't write off those sequels just yet.

 

[Hawki]

First off I thought the movie won't come out in the States until the 10?

Second the feeling of it being a sequal is Probably because they made Tie in novels and comic books that connects to the movie:

Warcraft: Bonds of Brotherhood


Warcraft: Durotan: The Official Movie Prequel

Warcraft Official Movie Novelization

Tie-in media doesn't mean much in of itself. As in, a second film isn't going to be made just for the sake of continuing the film continuity, even if it's already received the EU treatment.

On the subject though, I strongly reccomend reading Durotan, if you haven't already done so. Golden certainly "gets" orcs in the Warcraft setting, and IMO it's one of the best Warcraft-based novels in a long time.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

First off I thought the movie won't come out in the States until the 10?

Second the feeling of it being a sequal is Probably because they made Tie in novels and comic books that connects to the movie:

Warcraft: Bonds of Brotherhood


Warcraft: Durotan: The Official Movie Prequel

Warcraft Official Movie Novelization

Tie-in media doesn't mean much in of itself. As in, a second film isn't going to be made just for the sake of continuing the film continuity, even if it's already received the EU treatment.

On the subject though, I strongly reccomend reading Durotan, if you haven't already done so. Golden certainly "gets" orcs in the Warcraft setting, and IMO it's one of the best Warcraft-based novels in a long time.

But now I won't get my Lich King movie


Thanks Duncan Jones, never hire unknowns especially when all he is 2 Sci-Fi movies that are very niche and only has a cult following.

Or mabye its not Duncan Jones, because I don't know who to blame for this

Heck Chris Metzen himself should have directed this movie.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

SNIP

Oh no, really? Sonic Boom pulled that shit too! Its Warcraft! Its not that complicated. Orcs are dicks and express their impotence through violence, Elves wear skimpy outfits, Humans are up their asses with their own self importance, and everyone's still wondering why Tauren women don't have udders.

Its not that hard!