The Best Video Game Movie I've Ever Seen

Rating: 10/10 (10 June 2016)

I waited nine years to watch this movie, and it is my great pleasure to say that every year was worth it. As a fan, I loved the depiction of the orcs in this film, as (seeing as I'm a Horde member) they really channeled the muscly green dudes I've been playing alongside for years (given I prefer Blood Elves)! Durotan is an amazing character with much charisma, power, and spirit. And surprisingly, I actually liked Garona! From the trailer alone, I thought she'd be a dud -- a dull, uninteresting character. But boy was I wrong! Khadgar was the most surprising, as I thought the actor would ruin the role, but he was very tolerable. And lastly, I loved Ben Foster's Medivh! My first character was a mage, so it was nice to see a strong caster in this film!
Beyond that, the plot was very straightforward, with a nice balance struck between the orcs and humans on both sides of the Horde/Alliance divide. Furthermore, Gul'dan was incredibly evil! He is an amazing villain -- perhaps one of my favorites. And outside of that, it was incredible to see Iron Forge, Stormwind, and to hear the king speaking of "Red Ridge Mountains". The picture itself was amazing, as each scene displayed the magical world of Azeroth at every turn. We see Draenor dying, then a portal, and eventually find ourselves staring at beautiful towers, throne rooms, and mountains through which heroes are flying on their mounts! It's everything, visually, we fans should expect from a Warcraft film!
Outside of that, the sounds were amazing (with sharp tool sounds and loud blasts during battle scenes), while the music was very appropriate and complementary to the content, events, and action. We hear soaring, heroic music during heroic moments, tense music during tragic scenes, harps playing during mysterious moments, and loud, thundering music during battles. It was, simply, amazing (just like the game)!
Hence, the movie was simply (for these reasons and more) an amazing experience. But that's where the positive ends. It must here be noted that this movie is not very accessible at all to general audience members. Despite what may have been intended, this movie does not at all do a great job at bringing in newcomers to the world of Azeroth. Things are slightly rushed, nothing is explained, there is no background or sufficient exposition -- and this leaves one feeling as though there is no reason to care about certain characters at certain times. By contrast, Peter Jackson did a much better job bringing in the general audience to Middle Earth. In that film, everything was slowly unraveled so that you feel you're beginning the adventure with Frodo, whereas in this film, you are simply thrust into a predicament you don't fully understand (unless you're an informed fan). Thus, in this way it has a very terrible introduction. Too bad Duncan Jones didn't have a better story structure to work with, the way Tolkien provided Jackson all the meat he needed to craft a great film.
For these reasons, most general audience members probably won't like or understand this film, and this is the reason most critics have been very harsh in response. Simply put, this movie is not very accessible. And as a result, only true Warcraft fans will actually find themselves capable at all of appreciating this film's many positive elements.
And lastly, this film did have some more particular negatives. The pacing is much too fast, as this one movie alone should have been broken into two or three films. Things feel crammed and rushed. Yet unlike other reviewers, I felt the characters were developed well enough (for fans). I didn't particularly find myself feel as though the characters were foreign or difficult to grasp. They were instead very intuitively understandable. Duncan Jones did a great job bringing the characters to life in a very subtle manner. Nothing is thrown at you; you simply have to watch and infer. It's that simple. And I loved that aspect of this film. And additionally, the casting was slightly poor, as some actors don't seem to ideally or optimally suit their roles, while overall (at times) the entire movie felt like a sitcom series of some sort rather than a serious film. And the screenplay dialogue was at times ineffective (with intended slapstick that just wasn't very funny). Yet at the same time, there were many effective moments as well.
Mostly though, if you can actually understand and appreciate this film then the positives of this film -- the magic and wonder that is Warcraft -- will drown out and outweigh the negatives. Largely, the pacing and second-rate actors amount to tolerable, minor flaws. And while being second-rate, many of these actors gave exceptional performances! And this goes along with the fact that the directing was very good! (Not great, but not bad.) And so, in the end, this movie turned out to be a minorly flawed work of cinematic art that provides fans with plenty of pleasing Warcraft moments. It won't, therefore, win any Oscars. It won't win any awards. It won't be praised or among the most highly rated movies of all time. But it is good enough to possibly be the greatest video game movie adaption done to date (and in my view, it definitely is)!
It is ultimately a "good" movie (for those who understand it). But it is a GREAT **video game movie** (for those who get it). For everyone else, this movie is so entirely directed at those who already understand the lore that it really won't be worth much at all. But regardless, those who care and love Warcraft should rejoice, because the video game movie curse has been broken (whether general audiences ever fully realize this or not)!!!
If you are a Warcraft (or fantasy) fan, go see it now!!!