Subpar Action and Convoluted Narrative.

Rating: 4/10 (25 May 2016)

It's not difficult to guess where the tension and dramatic build up are going in WARCRAFT: The New Beginning, the big screen adaptation of the global RPG hit, World of Warcraft. There is an incredible display of flair and build up in the early minutes, all pointing to a riveting dramatic heft that the rest of this another attempt to transpire a phenomenal video game into a massive box office franchise, seemingly tries to unload. And it does hit that point, but it crumbles right away as it gives way to numerous subplots it doesn't seem able to fully get across. Much of this film is funny when it tries to be serious, and it is too serious (and dark) most of the time, but ends up being funny, anyway. But this isn't the fun that even most game fanatics would probably root for.
At its helm, director Duncan Jones tries to juggle all the worlds and realms, all their mythical creatures, and their substories, together. There is a readily perceived effort to get to narrative and visual success, but the victory can't be claimed by both. Even where its better, the glory can only be half- baked at best, and it deteriorates toward the rest of this ambitious saga, as it aspires for reaches it doesn't seem capable to make. The ensuing result plummets past mediocrity.
Much of this film follows the epic battle between the defensive human race and an invasive other- worldly Orc species. When Draenor reaches a brink of collapse, its Orc inhabitors must flee the planet and search for a new home in another. A portal connecting to the Earth- like Azeroth is opened, and begins a brutal battle between the two races. But a spark of hope emerges from both sides when Durotan (Toby Kebell), an orc soldier, questions the savage measures of his clansmen, and insists that a peaceful mediation must be pursued, a campaign which human knight, Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) also proposes to his king and queen. But this motion could might as well trigger an in-house hostility within both sides, and the resulting chaos may be even more disastrous than both races can ever foresee.
If its visual grandeur could compensate for its narrative shortcomings, this oncsreen attempt might have actually delivered an at least tolerable presentation. Much of this technical prestige comes in excess, but often still unable to blend with the tension of the sequences it is meant to enforce. A sizable chunk of this failure also emanates from its utter inability to efficiently utilize its characters, whose being overly underwritten, makes rooting for them extremely hard for the audience. This mistake plagues some of the central characters like Ben Foster's Medivh and Paula Datton's Ditto Garona, whose either boring demeanor or laughable appearance can make them struggle for chuckle or affection.
Where it stands, it's not hard to see how earnest Warcraft's motivations are. The narrative itself holds some sentimental weight, but unless they're not employed at right places, any attempt to go a step higher could only ensue a staggering fall. There are some hints of genuine efforts to this, most of which, heartfelt, but ones horrendously not enough to compete with the film's aesthetic ambitions. There is a screaming hint of sequel that protrudes out of this convoluted complexity, but we might be wishing for the enmity between the two factions to immediately cease, before that said follow-up gets realized.