Another bad video game and fantasy adaptation

Rating: 3/10 (13 June 2016)

Fantasy has not had a great history of cinema with the exception of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. Video game adaptations have an even more dubious history. Warcraft melds the two genres into a terrible movie that has very few redeeming qualities. One thing about the movie that I did enjoy were the special effects. The film does a great job making the Orcs look real and humanizing them despite being CGI characters.
The genre has not attracted the finest actors but Travis Fimmel is passable as the protagonist just as long as he doesn't have to show any real emotions. There are a few parts where he is supposed to be sad that just come off as ridiculous but he takes his humor and Vikings experience to elevated his game just a little bit. The rest of the cast is awful from Paula Patton as the half-orc/half-human mumbling over her fake teeth or Ben Foster doing a poor impression of Gandalf. It does not bode well for the so far somewhat disappointing Preacher comic TV show adaptation that the two lead actors Dominic Cooper and Ruth Negga show up in this movie and phone in performances.
Check out more of this review and others at swilliky.com