So Much Story, So Little Time

Rating: 7/10 (15 June 2016)

I'm not a Warcraft fan. In fact, I didn't even know there were games before World of Warcraft until this movie came out. However my qualms with the MMORPG have nothing to do with the gameplay or story, so I was still reasonably interested in seeing the movie version (or the movie version of those older games, at least). I went last night, which is unseasonably late for me to see a movie, I'll admit, but there were too many smaller movies that I feared would stop their run if I substituted either for Warcraft.
Warcraft: The Beginning follows the start of the war between the Humans of Stormwind and the Orcs who have been driven away from their dying world. I figured that would be the extent of fantasy races we might see, but thankfully I was wrong as mages and wizards have a very strong presence (as someone who always plays the more mystical characters in an RPG, this made me quite happy), and dwarfs and elves have small cameos every now and then as well. There's even a strong hint at demons and dark magic.
One of the biggest things that drew me to Warcraft was how it promised a balanced look at the two opposing sides of the conflict. Typically a movie like this will favour the human perspective and paint the alien creatures as the faceless enemy. It was refreshing to see this other race explored and developed, although it's very easy to pinpoint the changes Duncan Jones made to the script in order to do so. The development of the Orc factions is largely relegated to it's own little sub-plot, which disappointed me a bit. It has it's own beginning, middle, and end (an end that occurs well before the movie's climax), and rarely intercedes with the main storyline at all. In fact it almost squanders it entirely as it builds up to a different trade-off, but ultimately the movie has to reset it's status quo for the finale to still make sense.
In this respect, and many others, the film does feel a little rushed at times. If there's anything I've learned from the movie, it's that the world of Azeroth is huge, with many different races, factions, cultures, and ways of doing things. There's no way anyone could do justice to this massive world in two hours, and as such some elements are included but glossed over. Often something happens and we quickly move to the next event with little downtime or explanation of whats going on.
That said, what we do see of Azeroth feels rich and plentiful, and while the development of the Orcs could honestly have been cut entirely without any impact on the main story, it is refreshing to see their side of the war as well. We come to understand why they've been forced out of their world, and more crucially see that they're not just faceless evil, but they face their own form of evil and corruption. There's also a lot of development for the magical elements as well. Like everything in the movie I feel it should have been developed more, or just left out entirely.
But moving away from the story, the special effects were sublime. This is high fantasy at it's best. The humans use big, ornate pieces of armour and weaponry, and yet it never looks campy or too over-the-top. There's griffin-like creatures, and giant wolves, and even some kind of large frog- like thing (yeah, it's starting to become obvious I've never played), and all look great, although Lothar's hand does seem to fall through the griffin when he pats it. The biggest triumph when it comes to the CGI though is with the Orcs. They get the Avatar/Gollum treatment, with motion- captured actors underneath, and it adds a huge amount of facial expression and body language that just wouldn't have been present otherwise. The sheer depth of variety in the Orcs is also great, as no two Orcs look the same.
Warcraft: The Beginning, is a strong, if understandably flawed start of a promising franchise. It's biggest sin is trying to cram too much story in so little time, so I have no doubt it would have benefited from a longer running time, or even being split up into multiple movies. There's no denying that adapting such a rich universe like Warcraft would be a huge undertaking, but Duncan Jones took the challenge, and he was largely successful in delivering an entertaining, bombastic movie that appeals to fans and non-fans of the games alike. The music is top-notch (had the main theme stuck in my head all night), and the fate of many characters don't end at all how you'd expect, even if the main twist itself is hugely predictable. I give Warcraft an enjoyably flawed 7/10.