What were the critics thinking!?

Rating: 6/10 (22 June 2016)

"Warcraft" is directed by underrated director Duncan Jones, who brought us "Moon" (2009) and "Source Code" (2011). Both films are very underrated and so is "Warcraft".
I saw the movie yesterday with a friend and honestly I didn't know what to expect of it. Many critics were hating on the film but it was directed by Duncan Jones, so how bad could it really be? Walking out of the theater I was very satisfied with the movie.
Jones brings the Warcraft world to the big screen beautifully. I never got into the game and never even played it so I don't know a thing about the universe or the world itself. With "Warcraft" you don't have to know/play the game to enjoy the movie because Jones does such a good job bringing the universe to you and doesn't leave you hanging. Throughout the film I couldn't help but feel this "Lord of the Rings" (2001; 2002; 2003) kind of vibe.The film feels that way because the structure and the universe of the film very well resembles that of "The Lord of the Rings". One thing I must say is that the motion capture and CGI for the film is spectacular. Everything looks real and has beautiful detail.
The movie plays the clichéd romance which felt very cheesy considering that the two characters didn't have that much in common and it was truly just poor writing. At times you can see where the CGI and actors differ very drastically, but considering how great the movie looks with all this CGI you can't help but let it slide. There were times where I laughed/giggled at serious or dramatic moments in the film. It felt cheesy and kind of cringe worthy.
For a film to be called "Warcraft" you should expect a lot of combat and boy do you get it. I was actually surprised how violent the film was since it had a PG-13 rating. You see limbs get blown up and cut off, and bones being broken, and I love it. You feel the force and power that the film has during its combat scenes. At times I even did an "OOOHHH!" during a fight scene.
The performances in the film are good to say the least, they're nothing spectacular but they fit for the film itself. The protagonist of the film is a cool character who I enjoyed seeing on the screen but I couldn't help but feel that his character was very underdeveloped. Toby Kebbell who voiced the main orc of the film was by far the most interesting and relate-able character of the entire film; and he's not even human! You cared much for the character and what was going to happen to him.
The film has an issue with the human characters. Whenever we transition back to the humans I couldn't help but feel that the film slowed down drastically. The characters of the humans are very uninteresting and nothing new. Plus, they were at times boring. But whenever we went back to the orcs the film picked up its pace because the characters of the orcs are much more well developed, and they were simply more interesting than the humans. I cared much more about the orcs than the humans.
Overall "Warcraft" is a solid film by director Duncan Jones, but critics tend to disagree with a 27% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Honestly the critics got it wrong this time, I don't know why but they just did. If you're looking for a fun, harmless, Summer movie "Warcraft" is definitely the one to go see.