Troubled and flawed, but surprisingly full of heart and unexpected depth.

Rating: 9/10 (10 June 2016)

The critical response to this movie basically confirmed to me the old adage that those who can't create criticise. Let's be clear right away that this movie isn't some artistic breakthrough that will shatter the industry's foundations and set a precedent for all movies to come. It's not even the best of its kind. But that doesn't justify the abysmal reviews it has been getting, especially in view of meaningless flicks like Captain America and its sort getting such high ratings.
I'm a fan of Warcraft lore in that I've followed it from very early on and appreciated some parts of it, though I freely acknowledge that it is a derivative mashup that usually falls short of anything substantial. Subsequently I did not approach this movie with high expectations. In fact, I was pretty much certain that it would be a disaster, which made it all the more satisfying when I was proved to the contrary.
The production values on some of the human set-pieces seemed fairly low. The writer who wrote the dialogue would do good to read Game of Thrones and educate himself a little. The actors that played the humans could have taken their characters further, though it was probably very hard with the given script. All in all, the movie felt very rushed with scenes cutting abruptly, leaving huge holes in terms of exposition. While game fans can easily fill in for themselves, others might find that more difficult, which probably explains some of the reviewers' chagrin. Many plot devices used by the script were incredibly predictable and cheap as well.
You might wonder why I've given the movie such a high rating despite all these many failings. Yes, it has many, many flaws, but there is something to it, it has a heart of kinds that redeems it, that touches on something much deeper than you might expect it to, especially in the way it treats the plight of the Orcish people, representing "monsters", which they supposedly are, as "human". The orcs are acted exceedingly well, their characters and dialogue are fleshed out, perhaps because the writers simply let themselves go of expectations since there could be none in this situation. Situations in which their concept of honour is explored are incredibly touching and thought- provoking. Their situation in many ways actually mirrors the situation of the Syrian immigrants, who though they are of a different culture that in many ways clashes with ours, nonetheless find themselves without a home and in search of one, only to meet ours pushing them back.
The reason I give the movie a high rating is that at its core, it is very strong. It falters in too many ways, but given an extra hour and some rewriting, it is so close to perfection that I feel it is a great shame that the snobs are dragging its name through the mud.