A spoiler-free review of Warcraft: The Beginning for both fan and non-fan movie goers

Rating: 7/10 (11 June 2016)

First of all, I need to let you know that I am a huge fan of the Warcraft universe and Blizzard games for a long time. I have big expectation for this movie for two reasons: it is a Warcraft movie and being made by passionate individuals who respect, understand and love the source materials, namely Duncan Jones, the director of the film.With all that being said, lets get to the review so that I can tell you my opinions about various aspect in the movie. 1. The story and settings: Warcraft: The Beginning is a movie about the war between two races: the humans, who are natives in the world of Azeroth, and the orcs, whose invasion was forced because of the decaying state of their homeland. Jones intended to bring a more compelling perspective where both sides have their own motivations to participate in battles as oppose to the generic, straight-up good versus evil stereotypes we saw many times in Lords of the Rings or the likes. And he nailed it with the excellent portrayal of the orcs. You feel that they are not monsters. That they are sentient beings. That they have culture,language and traditions. Even though their baring tusks, outlandish hairstyle and warmonger, tribalistic demeanor are not exactly empathy-provoking. In contrast, the human world and its population are as dull as they could get. They run around, doing their epic quests in their amazingly-put-together, faithfully-designed armor sets while the orc's storyline explores very humane problems like the destructive lust for power, the helplessness in the race against extinction or the ever-ending conflict between duty and personal priorities.It is ashamed that the human's robotic, lack-luster nature really clouded the movie's noble attempt. 2. The acting and characters
Overall, the acting is averagely good. With the humans being mediocre, and the orcs being decent, especially the orc main protagonist. The film features a big,if not daunting, cast of characters from either sides. I like the approaches Jones and his talented team took on each character. However, the problem is, some of them show off their lack of personality depths and one- dimensional writing fairly quick the deeper you get into the movie which is a little bit unfortunate. I grew to care about the orcs, and their fate more than I did with the humans. I also thought an important role on the human side was a miscast. That the actor did not fit the role (hint:the character's name starts with M.) 3. The sounds and visuals
The sounds and visuals in Warcraft are amazing! From the statuesque, towering physique of the orcs to the bone-crushing blows of their hammers bringing fury upon their foes. You can feel the human bones and their frail bodies just crumble under the massive onslaughts that penetrate through their shields and armors. The music was great, and the CGIs looked more realistic than ever. The battles were brutal and in your face. Some of the action and fighting shots just blew me away. It really spoke volumes of the dedication,talents, and quality that went into the production of this movie. I can say without hesitation that the film is still enjoyable for its action alone even if you have no ideas what the hell is going on most of the time. 4. The narration and pacing
The pacing is what brings the movie down the most to me. Warcraft, along with Batman v. Superman, became lesser when they entered the editing rooms. The film rightfully deserved (and definitely would have profited from) more screen time. It had a very strong start in the first 5 to 10 minutes, but it flashed through locations and characters so fast you could not grasp any emotions or ideas for the next 20 minutes. Transition is jarring, and in some case even disappeared, indicated that the movie was heavily and rawly cut.It was quite anti-climatic when this happened in some scenes. The speed of narration was eventually the greatness-killer of Warcraft. 5.Conclusion
In the end, Warcraft is an entertaining movie that has a few stand- out,epic moments.As a non-fan movie goer, you probably would not understand half of the things that are going on. But, again, the action, the awesome CGIs and cinematography still grip your attention. I guarantee you shall find enjoyment in it, and your money is well paid. However, I strongly recommend you stay away from the critics'reviews of Warcraft which has been bashing the hell out of it since its release. They scored it 0, 1 or 2, calling it the worst movie of this year or all time. My advise? Do not listen to those garbage. Go see the movie and judge it by yourself.Warcraft is mediocre at worst. And condemn it as trash, or crap is outright arrogance or lies. I hope you will have a good time with the movie. Thank you for reading my review.