Dedicated to fans, made by fans

Rating: 7/10 (29 May 2016)

Me and my lady went to see this highly anticipated movie yesterday, and since i have been a hardcore gamer for the last 10-15 years, - which included games like warcraft 2, 3 and World of Warcraft, my expectations on this movie was enormous. My girlfriend however, who has played WoW but not really payed attention to the lore, didn't know what to expect and had little hopes for this one.
And its also here the biggest problems for this movie is. The fans of the games will have a significant better understanding on the circumstances of the characters and the world in this movie than a regular movie-goer would.
The movie is truthful to its source material, but the issue lies within the characters, some of them are just borderline flat because a regular person or any reviewer doesn't "read" the characters motivations, but "we" who are familiar to Warcraft, knows the intentions of Gul'Dan f.ex, is much more intricate than "just" invading a new world to conquer for the Horde, the Fel magic isn't just a type of magical resource, but it ties to a significant threat which is not the orcs but something completely different. Same goes for Medivh, his past does affect him and his action in this movie, but a regular person doesn't know this, which will make this characters non- important to them when it should be the opposite. Instead this movie is dedicated to Travis Fimmel's character Anduin Lothar, Ben "Schnitzel"'s Khadgar and Pattons Garona, although we get glimpses of their personalities, you wont feel any connection or any empathy for them, not as much as you wants to at least.
The performances of the actors are... OK. Lothar and Khadgar have a strange chemistry which feels awkward. Lothars insults to Khadgar doesn't bring any reactions or any emotions, it feels like they are just reading the script loudly to each other in these cases.
Patton's Garona on the other hand is the most interesting figure in this movie by far, a orc-human hybrid (at least that is what they want you to think) with a dark past. This is a persona i want to delve deeper into (not that i have much other choice when the movie ends). Besides being the only orc which isn't in mo-cap, she blends nicely in performing with the other orcs, with Kebbels Durotan, ("i am Durotan" sounded a lot like "i am ape" from another movie Kebbel was part of,) and Wu's Gul'Dan is excellent. Kazinskys Orgrim get little screen time, but gets to say more than Grommash Hellscream at least.
All in all, its a very good movie, and i believe Warcraft could easily become a popular movie series, but peoples taste in movies are very different, and the fantasy genre isn't that appealing anymore, not when Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones have set the standard for this genre, with its high production quality and design.
Im not saying the quality of the warcraft movie is any less, far from it, the CGI of the orcs and the landscapes are phenomenal, but the style is quite different. F.ex: LotR and GoT are gritty and more realistic compared to the more "colorful" nature of Warcraft, with over-the-top magical light effects and glow-eye-enchantments is very different from what we are used to see.
After reading many negative reviews on this movie, i cant directly blame them, because they are right, they don't have any insight in Warcraft's lore, and those who know the games from before, praise it.
I am huge warcraft fan, but i wanted this movie to be more appealing to those who isn't familiar with Warcraft and its rich lore and interesting characters.
Im afraid this movie will flop majorly because this isn't anything but visual feast for the eyes with flat characters, and a OK enough war story.
Duncan Jones might not be the right man for introducing the characters, but the direction of this movie was of similar quality to his other movies, which are fantastic!
I would recommend this movie for everyone, its great, but the level of appreciation for this will undeniably favor those familiar to the universe by a lot!
I would know, i spent about 2 hours after the movie to explain the lore to my girlfriend, all the way back to the dark titan Sargeras and the creation of the burning legion... which Isn't MENTIONED ONCE IN THIS MOVIE!
It was a bold choice of Duncan Jones not to include Mannoroth, or Sargeras even, hopefully he will be given a second chance to correct this in a sequel.
For a fan like me, it managed to capture the essence of the Warcraft universe, but the characters falls short and isn't properly introduced as i would like it to be.
For a fan, 9/10, for a regular this is a 5-6/10, for me its a 7.
Feel free to comment if you agree or disagree