Perhaps it was ten years too late

Rating: 3/10 (25 June 2016)

It's hard to take this film seriously, or even see it as an installment to the Warcraft franchise. To older fans of a now twenty plus year old franchise, it might just seem like a bad parody video on Youtube. To newer fans, it may seem wonderful because they believe its reigniting the legacy of a franchise's heyday they were never around for. To those uninitiated with the story at all, it may just feel like yet another bad fantasy flick on par with Gods of Egypt or Wrath of the Titans made for children.
A severely diluted and inaccurate retelling of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, one might wonder what the point of this film even was. Why go through the effort to dramatically change it for the worst, and deliver it through poor dialogue executed through overacting which starred actors who might not even be considered B List quality? We're introduced to bland and dry humans who wear bad Ren Faire garb or armor that is humorously far more ornate and impractical than what we even see in the games (which is accompanied with an excessive amount of post-production metallic clanking sound effects), and to contradicting and superficial orcs donned in pseudo-primitive attire rendered so poorly that you might begin to question the effectiveness of motion capture. Through superfluous narrative, the plot thrusts us from one green screen sound stage to the next, barely giving us time to garner a sense of atmosphere as we're whisked away within three to five minutes to yet another random locale. To those unfamiliar with the franchise, they're never likely to remember the goofy names or nomenclature of the characters and unique story elements, and they're undoubtedly lost in the sheer amount of backstory that's never unveiled but simply implied to fans who spent years soaking it all up. The CGI rendering of the inhuman races (sans elves) might make one question the wisdom in such a decision; to waste more money on rendering them, rather than simply using practical effects and costumes on appropriate actors as has been done in fantasy films prior. The elves in question might present an answer to that, as they appeared to be shoddy quality cosplayers with poorly fabricated latex ears, foam fantasy outfits, bad wigs and LED light contact eye lenses. The question as to whether this will prevail over the likes of Lord of the Rings or not is quite evident: it will not. Lord of the Rings provided great immersion for longtime fans, while Warcraft could hardly make one believe any of it; from the over usage of huge light show spectacles for otherwise simple magical spells to incoherent plot progression and more than questionable (or confusing) character decisions, it's certainly not going to dethrone the LotR films anytime soon.
When it all boils down to the future of this film venture, the franchise could only continue if it willfully alienates those who have never played the games and caters strictly to those who know the wide berth of backstory, as the vast amount of plot holes and unanswered questions can only worsen as they delve into the stories of the later games, which feature far more plot elements which the filmmakers could never squeeze into the respective subsequent films. While at the same time, how soon could we expect to see a sequel, given the production hell this very film endured, and the divided response it garnered? If not for China, this film may very well have failed to break budget, as it hasn't even grossed three times what it cost in total. Given Legendary Pictures was acquired by a Chinese production company during the production of this film, what fans this film has garnered may be relieved if a sequel is produced if just because of the positive interest the Chinese audience has shown in this film, as undoubtedly no American company would trust a sequel to succeed based on the poor domestic US box office results.