I don’t have too many vices, but a few years ago one really hooked me. I thought I may need to seek counseling, but I was able to shake that monkey off my back with self-motivation. That addiction was the World of Warcraft so when they announced a movie based on the original realtime strategy game I knew I would see it. I splurged and my daughter and I went and saw Warcraft in IMAX 3D, which I think is worth it for this film, and really enjoyed it. While it’s not perfect, I do believe Warcraft deserve the Not Quite Golden, Ponyboy rating.
Warcraft is a solid fantasy film.
Azeroth is being invaded by Gul’dan (Daniel Wu) and his Horde of orcs led by Blackhand (Clancy Brown). The Guardian, Medivh (Ben Foster), King Llane (Dominic Cooper), and Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) are fighting to save their world from this giants.
This movie is heavy in CG, but large parts of it look fantastic. I was impressed with the look of the Orcs the most. However, even the CG face of Durotan (Toby Kebbell) manages to elicit lots of emotion and is a fantastic character. The inner turmoil he goes through in the film resonates loudly as much as his human counterpart Lothar.
I’ve not seen Travis Fimmel in anything, but his performance reminds me of Viggo Mortensen’s performance in Lord of the Rings. Lothar is a badass with a troubled backstory. He is passionate and intelligent demonstrating his leadership skills time and time again. I really enjoyed his performance on-screen and, despite being a fan of the Horde in WOW, I found myself rooting for the Alliance. I also really liked Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer) who is a mage that Lothar encounters early on.
Directed by…
The film is directed by Duncan Jones, who also co-wrote it with Charles Leavitt and Chris Metzen, and I think he managed to build a massive world while keeping the story scaled very small and intimate. There are some problems such as large chunks of nothing really happening and not seeing aspects of the fights. However, the film still looks amazing and the characters are well casted and delivered.
I think that if you’re a fan of films like Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit you’ll find joy in Warcraft. If you’re a fan of the games then you will likely enjoy Warcraft, too. I hope that this spawns a sequel or two as I would like to see Travis Fimmel reprise his role as Lothar.
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