Well, the Warcraft movie is a bit rubbish.

[Redryhno]

It is sad to see how gamers of all people are lining up to shit on the first decent videogame movie in years.
Wtf, are you stoned or something?

How is it sad? If it's shit, it's shit. The only thing it really does is make it less likely videogame movies are made in the future, or at least made in a way that is in any way resembles the source material.

And I remember when Will Wheaton's wizard character was reading the sorcery book and leaning over to my cousin and just saying "Holy fuck, he's actually leveling up on screen!" and he was like "Shit, he's checking his ability tree!"'


So as much as i don't think its a good movie, its a great drinking movie with guy friends.

Wait...what? Wil "I don't know what ETC actually is, so I'm going to just say etcetera instead here at Blizzcon as the main presenter" Wheaton is involved in this? Jesus Christ, they really were scraping the bottom of the barrel looking for people to put into this...

 

[happyninja42]

It is sad to see how gamers of all people are lining up to shit on the first decent videogame movie in years.
Wtf, are you stoned or something?

Well it already broked even at the box office according to Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warcraft_(film)

Glad to hear it. I saw this movie last night actually. And while it wasn't great, it was hardly terrible. It did remind me a bit of the Dungeons and Dragons movie, in some of the scenes, just on a production level. But overall, it wasn't a terrible experience. The last time I played WoW was The Burning Legion expansion, so I'm pretty rusty on a lot of the lore, especially pre-WC 3 lore, which this movie is drenched in. But even then, I enjoyed it.

Some parts I was like "What the fuck? WHY would someone do that?!" and other parts were simply dull. To be honest, not a lot of it actually caught up my emotions, except the stuff with Durotan near the end. But I've seen far, FAR worse movies than this. I've heard that there will be an extended cut version of it, which I think will help, because I think there are some very important bits that were simply cut out of the movie entirely, that would help make it gel together a lot better.

Now, is it just me, or was the actor who played the main human protagonist, not the King, but the warrior guy....did he look drunk to anyone else during the entire film? He seemed red eyed and bloodshot the entire, fucking film. I kept thinking "the fuck is wrong with his eyes!?" And then in the scene where he got drunk with grief, his eyes finally looked appropriate to the scene. Which made me think...."is he just drunk through this whole damn movie?!"

Anyway, could've been a lot better than it was, could've been a lot worse. I don't know if being a bigger WoW fan than me would make you enjoy the film more, or less.

Though I do have one question:

What is up with the Kirin Tor? Every time the mage protagonist mentioned that he was part of them, he was like "I've left them! I'm no longer a member!!" I don't recall the Kirin Tor being reviled by anyone in Azeroth, so I don't get why he described it as if he were saying "I'm no longer in the KKK! I left them! I renounced my vows to their order!" I was like "...um, ok? Why is this a big deal?"

 

[Politrukk]

I hadn't noticed it at first, but in hindsight, it did seem kind of predetermined that trying to condense such a lore-heavy franchise into a 2-hour movie would lead to some serious problems. Then again, Lord of The Rings pulled it off. I'm guessing that an important part of it is to start small. (Disclaimer: I haven't seen the Warcraft Movie).
I think in such a lore-heavy piece of material, you'd want to start with a simple main character who understands the world about as much as a first-time viewer does. Star Wars did this with Luke Skywalker, and Lord of the Rings did it with Frodo. Meanwhile, what little I heard about Warcraft suggested that distinguished military officers were the main characters, which meant that loads of exposition needed to be dumped on the audience to catch them up with the characters themselves.
Does that sound about right?

Whilst immensely popular , Lord of The Rings caught a lot of flak on the story part.

It was filmed nicely and grandiose but even the LoTR movies sort of shredded the lore, nevermind what the Hobbit did afterwards.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I hadn't noticed it at first, but in hindsight, it did seem kind of predetermined that trying to condense such a lore-heavy franchise into a 2-hour movie would lead to some serious problems. Then again, Lord of The Rings pulled it off. I'm guessing that an important part of it is to start small. (Disclaimer: I haven't seen the Warcraft Movie).
I think in such a lore-heavy piece of material, you'd want to start with a simple main character who understands the world about as much as a first-time viewer does. Star Wars did this with Luke Skywalker, and Lord of the Rings did it with Frodo. Meanwhile, what little I heard about Warcraft suggested that distinguished military officers were the main characters, which meant that loads of exposition needed to be dumped on the audience to catch them up with the characters themselves.
Does that sound about right?

Whilst immensely popular , Lord of The Rings caught a lot of flak on the story part.

It was filmed nicely and grandiose but even the LoTR movies sort of shredded the lore, nevermind what the Hobbit did afterwards.

And oh my goodness if they ever do the Silmarillion faithfully especially how that book begins everyone not familiar with Tolkien will destroy that movie.

 

[Cowabungaa]

And the music is just average, I mean why the fuck did they not hire the official music team for the games?

Ouch. That sounded dreadfully bad for something Warcraft related.

Blizzard's music department is one of the best in the business, they routinely hire such amazing composers and orchestras. In the end their entire soundscape offers the majority of the atmosphere, especially back when I played WoW. To not see a Warcraft movie coupled with music of that quality would be a major stand-out issue for me. One of the main reasons not to go see this actually.

And oh my goodness if they ever do the Silmarillion faithfully especially how that book begins everyone not familiar with Tolkien will destroy that movie.

The only way a Silmarillion movie would work would be if they'd turn it into a History Channel documentary. I mean, it is basically a history book of a fantasy realm.

 

[happyninja42]

What is up with the Kirin Tor? Every time the mage protagonist mentioned that he was part of them, he was like "I've left them! I'm no longer a member!!" I don't recall the Kirin Tor being reviled by anyone in Azeroth, so I don't get why he described it as if he were saying "I'm no longer in the KKK! I left them! I renounced my vows to their order!" I was like "...um, ok? Why is this a big deal?"

Kirin Tor and Medivh don't get along well.
And at some point Khadgar was spying at Medivh for Kirin Tor. Medivh did not like that at all.

Spoiler: Spoiler about Medivh from film

And did Medivh eventually go all Sith Lord in the video game like he did in the movie? Because the last time I remember him being mentioned, he was just the enigmatic mystic guy who would fly in and give Dire Portents, and then fly off. Also, did he basically admit to being the half-orc's father? Is that her deal? That Medivh fell in love with an orc woman, and used the Dark Portal to call them through so he could be with his love? I just, I don't get why he summoned them over. It wasn't explained at all.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

And the music is just average, I mean why the fuck did they not hire the official music team for the games?

Ouch. That sounded dreadfully bad for something Warcraft related.

Blizzard's music department is one of the best in the business, they routinely hire such amazing composers and orchestras. In the end their entire soundscape offers the majority of the atmosphere, especially back when I played WoW. To not see a Warcraft movie coupled with music of that quality would be a major stand-out issue for me. One of the main reasons not to go see this actually.

And oh my goodness if they ever do the Silmarillion faithfully especially how that book begins everyone not familiar with Tolkien will destroy that movie.

The only way a Silmarillion movie would work would be if they'd turn it into a History Channel documentary. I mean, it is basically a history book of a fantasy realm.

Here is the official soundtrack list:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUHZaKwYBwOVQAFubv8cAZGbfWp7DzFig

And again this is coming from the guy that composed the Game of Thrones theme song.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

What is up with the Kirin Tor? Every time the mage protagonist mentioned that he was part of them, he was like "I've left them! I'm no longer a member!!" I don't recall the Kirin Tor being reviled by anyone in Azeroth, so I don't get why he described it as if he were saying "I'm no longer in the KKK! I left them! I renounced my vows to their order!" I was like "...um, ok? Why is this a big deal?"

Kirin Tor and Medivh don't get along well.
And at some point Khadgar was spying at Medivh for Kirin Tor. Medivh did not like that at all.

Spoiler: Spoiler about Medivh from film

And did Medivh eventually go all Sith Lord in the video game like he did in the movie? Because the last time I remember him being mentioned, he was just the enigmatic mystic guy who would fly in and give Dire Portents, and then fly off. Also, did he basically admit to being the half-orc's father? Is that her deal? That Medivh fell in love with an orc woman, and used the Dark Portal to call them through so he could be with his love? I just, I don't get why he summoned them over. It wasn't explained at all.

Here you go about medivh:

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Sounded like the people involved were really out to make a go of it. Which might just be part of the problem.

Yeah that about sums it up. I've read enough reviews at this point to know EXACTLY what the problem was. Duncan Jones is a huge Warcraft fan, and set about trying to make a Warcraft film for other huge Warcraft fans. Which, according to huge Warcraft fans, he more or less succeeding in doing (with some bumps). People who are not huge Warcraft fans are left wondering WTF is going on and why they should care about the avalanche of cheese they are being subjected to.

As the film took the Chinese box office by storm, a sequel...or set of sequels...is a distinct possibility. Hopefully they'll find a better balance between fan service and making a functional movie if that turns out to be the case.

anecdotal and all, but there is a huge facebook post among my friend regarding this movie and how many of them that enjoyed it, and there was a *vast* amount of different personalities and different gamers among the post. I heard very little negative things about it beyond a resounding: "if you aren't nerdy, then yeah you probably won't like it", but most of them hadn't played warcraft and had only played bits of WoW, so it's hard for me to believe that it's all rose tinted glasses from warcraft nerds. I'm getting my ticket paid for me to see it tonight, so I personally can't speak for my opinion yet.

 

[Hawki]

I could have sworn Gamora daughter of Thanos was half Orc and half Blood Elf. 'cause Orcs have never encountered humans before and she's like 30. And she can't be part draenei because she looks nothing like an aqua velva Klingon goat.
And at one point Orgrim and Durotar were chatting about how much they missed hunting Blood Elves through the woods.

They say "blood elks," not blood elves.

What is up with the Kirin Tor? Every time the mage protagonist mentioned that he was part of them, he was like "I've left them! I'm no longer a member!!" I don't recall the Kirin Tor being reviled by anyone in Azeroth, so I don't get why he described it as if he were saying "I'm no longer in the KKK! I left them! I renounced my vows to their order!" I was like "...um, ok? Why is this a big deal?"

At least prior to the Third War there was a fair amount of distrust to the Kirin Tor, based on the usual issues - you use magic, I distrust magic, ergo I trust you, etc. Doesn't help that Dalaran was a city-state, and an insular one at that. The basic paradigm is that the Alliance was quite happy to include Dalaran during the Second War as they needed the arcane magics they could provide, but after that? Go figure.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

I said it in another thread but - I just saw it and I rather liked it. Even though I don't play WoW I enjoyed it, and my fiance who does play WoW (which is why we went) is excited enough that he just rolled up a new character (which I think is like his 20th or something... but who is counting? lol)

It's good enough - it's not "OMG fantastic! I'm getting everyone I know on the phone to meet me at the cinema NOW to see this again with me!!!" - but it was a good flick and it entertained and the visuals were pretty and I was invested enough in what was happening to care, but not so invested that I didn't enjoy it when their was a bit of humor interjected to keep things moving either.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

just the latest in a long line of blunders it seems. It also sucks for Duncan Jones who had two really good movies on his belt and now his big blockbuster turns out to be a dud. Admittedly box office numbers will decide if it's going to be a franchise or not, but holy crap you'd think it wouldn't be difficult to get a decent tale out of the series.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

It is sad to see how gamers of all people are lining up to shit on the first decent videogame movie in years.
Wtf, are you stoned or something?

How is it sad? If it's shit, it's shit. The only thing it really does is make it less likely videogame movies are made in the future, or at least made in a way that is in any way resembles the source material.

And I remember when Will Wheaton's wizard character was reading the sorcery book and leaning over to my cousin and just saying "Holy fuck, he's actually leveling up on screen!" and he was like "Shit, he's checking his ability tree!"'


So as much as i don't think its a good movie, its a great drinking movie with guy friends.

Wait...what? Wil "I don't know what ETC actually is, so I'm going to just say etcetera instead here at Blizzcon as the main presenter" Wheaton is involved in this? Jesus Christ, they really were scraping the bottom of the barrel looking for people to put into this...

Pretty sure Wil Wheaton is no where appearing in that film. There's a young guy who looks like Wheaton did some years back a bit, but it isn't him.

You're thinking of this guy? http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjM1MDUxNTM4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMzQ5ODk1ODE@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,631,1000_AL_.jpg

Ben Schnetzer, not Wil Wheaton.

 

[Odbarc]

I wish they made two movies at the same time and whichever version you saw either had the movie from the perspective entirely of humans or orcs. And then you'd have to watch both of them to get the whole story where everything makes sense but they'd both be complete movies telling the same story individually.

 

[Hawki]

I wish they made two movies at the same time and whichever version you saw either had the movie from the perspective entirely of humans or orcs. And then you'd have to watch both of them to get the whole story where everything makes sense but they'd both be complete movies telling the same story individually.

Everyone would be yelling cash grab and to be honest, I'd probably be on their side. I'd like to think a movie could stand by itself.

 

[Redryhno]

Pretty sure Wil Wheaton is no where appearing in that film. There's a young guy who looks like Wheaton did some years back a bit, but it isn't him.

You're thinking of this guy? http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjM1MDUxNTM4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMzQ5ODk1ODE@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,631,1000_AL_.jpg

Ben Schnetzer, not Wil Wheaton.

The other guy said it was Wheaton, I was just surprised that the guy who didn't even know what the hell he was opening for at one of the bigger Cons in gaming was involved. But if he isn't, then I retract that statement completely. I just don't care for Wheaton, especially since the bullshit with BTS with Tabletop came to light.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

Snip

The other guy said it was Wheaton, I was just surprised that the guy who didn't even know what the hell he was opening for at one of the bigger Cons in gaming was involved. But if he isn't, then I retract that statement completely. I just don't care for Wheaton, especially since the bullshit with BTS with Tabletop came to light.

The what with Tabletop? I'm obviously behind on something there. Not surprising I'm hardly on the pulse of the Internet news, but I am curious if you'd summarize?

And yeah - we wondered it if was him at first too but no, just a resemblance.

 

[Redryhno]

Snip

The other guy said it was Wheaton, I was just surprised that the guy who didn't even know what the hell he was opening for at one of the bigger Cons in gaming was involved. But if he isn't, then I retract that statement completely. I just don't care for Wheaton, especially since the bullshit with BTS with Tabletop came to light.

The what with Tabletop? I'm obviously behind on something there. Not surprising I'm hardly on the pulse of the Internet news, but I am curious if you'd summarize?

And yeah - we wondered it if was him at first too but no, just a resemblance.

Long story short, Tabletop is his online show that showcases board games, some of them unique and very much deserving of the attention they get from it(I know I've gotten a couple from the show alone, Fiasco alone has become my roommates favorite since it requires even less setup than Superfight if you want to), alot are sorta more like Baby's First Boardgame, incredibly simple and don't lend themselves to sober play in reality.

Each of them are around an hour long edited footage of gameplay with various celebs, some actual celebs(Seth Green, Steve Jackson, some of the Mythbusters crew, etc.), some internet celebs, some around the same level as Wheaton himself, and a few largely random people that are only on because they're friends of him or his wife.

Now, on this show, he's the host and is a seriously sore loser, to the point that it's just not funny past the third time you see him turtle and pout(he's the guy that you can see throw dice through windows because of a crappy roll and smash your china because he spilled it on himself), and regularly gets rules wrong and sorta just fucks with the fluff of the game because he doesn't like it(like demanding that they refer to slaves as "assistants" in one particular incident).

Anyways, to the meat, he's apparently more than a bit of a diva and basically ended up screaming at one of the producers for the show because he told the audience one of the basic rules of some game(as he does this like three minute introduction to what the basic goal of the game is and how to achieve it) and ended up firing him. Which honestly wouldn't be that bad, full-on dick mode of course, but it's the basic rules of the game, if you can't get them right for the audience, you don't have anywhere near as good of a show(and to be fair, it is pretty high quality for what it is, alot of edited moments to more cleanly show the rules and special instances). Also that attitude just started to bleed over into the show itself and really detracted because the guests were there having fun just goofing off and you've got power-gamer min-max as the host every week that plays to win even at cooperative games.

Also various other largely internet related bullshit and his terrible presentation at Blizzcon causing enough of an uproar it was heavily moderated on various Blizzard sites and forums.

And that is the shortest way I can convey somewhere around three years worth of stuff. Pretty shitty summary huh? Sorry if I put information you already knew, but I wanted to make sure you knew about Tabletop is all.

 

[BoogieManFL]

I liked it quite a bit.

I also appreciate the difficulties that had to be overcome when making this movie:

1. There is only so much story you can really get from a game released in 1994. It wasn't as story heavy as WC3.
2. Video Game based movie.. Nuff' said.
3. Fitting that much into a two hour movie.
4. Making it semi-understandable for people who don't know much about the WarCraft universe.

All that considered I thought they did very well. A bit of the dialogue is exposition but what are you going to do, make a movie that only caters to the hardcore fans? That's not a money making move that any studio is going to make. The effects, especially the Orcs, were awesome. Most of the characters I felt did a good job at their roles, especially Lothar, Khadgar, and Durotan. Even if Durotan was mostly just a voice over with face capture or whatever. The three battle scenes were really cool, although as cool as it was it made me wish the last battle was a tad longer. But I imagine it was ridiculously expensive. A little more fan service would have been okay, if in small doses. Zug Zug and so forth.

I thought it was pretty damn good.

 

[HybridChangeling]

I usually put video game movies in a "not good until proven otherwise" category and in the past 15 years I have not been failed by this system. The only thing that actually interested me about this movie was the design of the orcs. They looked sort of cool, but I realized that it was directly lifted from the game. Thanks for the post, I was hoping for someone to do that.