First chapter of a very promising epic saga. A must see for fans.

Rating: 7/10 (7 June 2016)

What is happening says more about critics then the movie itself. Don't expect them to be able to tell a masterpiece from garbage, they never did. Need to jog your memory? Here's a list of movies that critics bashed upon release, I'll leave the conclusions to you:

CITIZEN KANE - "I thought the photography quite good, but nothing to write to Moscow about, the acting middling, and the whole thing a little dull..."

PSYCHO - "Gimmicky"

METROPOLIS - "It is a technical marvel with feet of clay, a picture as soulless as the manufactured woman of its story. [...] despite the fantastic nature of the story, it is, on the whole, unconvincing"

2001 A SPACE ODISSEY - "sluggish, pretentious and artsy fartsy

THE SHINING - "the adaptation makes little sense", "massacres the original vision set forth in king's novel" (it even received 2 razzies nomination for worst director and worst actor)

APOCALYPSE NOW - "Apocalypse Now is a dumb movie that could have been made only by an intelligent and talented man."

ALL ABOUT EVE - "Its highly polished, often witty surface hides an unenterprising plot and some preposterous human behavior."

THE WIZARD OF OZ - "I sat cringing before [...] The Wizard of Oz, which displays no trace of imagination, good taste, or ingenuity... [...] I say it's a stinkeroo."

THE GODFATHER II* - "It's a Frankenstein's monster stitched together from leftover parts. It talks. It moves in fits and starts but it has no mind of its own."

THE BIG LEBOWSKI - "meandering, pointless, amounts to nothing"

FIGHT CLUB - "Rebel without a cause"

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS - "simply unwatchable"

other honorable mentions:

Blade Runner

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

AND.... (drum roll)

*STAR WARS* (1977) - "I sincerely hope that science and scientists differ from science fiction and its practitioners. Heaven help us if they don't: We may be headed for a very boring world indeed. Strip Star Wars of its often striking images and its high-falutin scientific jargon, and you get a story, characters, and dialogue of overwhelming banality, without even a "future" cast to them." [...] "O dull new world! We are treated to a galactic civil war, assorted heroes and villains, a princely maiden in distress, a splendid old man surviving from an extinct order of knights who possessed a mysterious power called "the Force," and it is all as exciting as last year's weather reports.... Why, even the most exciting fight is an old-fashioned duel, for all that the swords have laser beams for blades...."

I think this can be enough to get the idea, now go watch the movie and decide for yourself.
As a side note, I can see how those who are not familiar with the saga universe could fail in grasping its value, and could feel bewildered, and could scorn it as "random bulls**t", but that's not the case, quite the opposite, Duncan knows what he's doing.
For those unfamiliar with it, you need to know that the Warcraft games are a kitsch mishmash of Tolkien, Dungeons & Dragons, everything that's fantasy and sci fi and comics...you name it. All with really exaggerated and over the top aesthetics. Nonetheless it has some "magic" quality that hooked million of us and made us dream. So no point in complaining about the "unrealistic armors" or the "derivative" nature of it and other stuff like that. That's Warcraft, and Duncan nailed it with astonishing skill.
I also believe the two really dense hours of running time are not enough to clear the nature of what is being presented (characters and motives) to newbies. What you can see as newcomers is just a glimpse of what's coming, but if you can trust the director, you're gonna enjoy it (I suspect that the 40 mins of footage that were cut out could help making it more accessible to newcomers).
Warcraft is not perfect, it has flaws (like many movies we now regard as masterpieces), but it is an impressive piece of work, it's innovative, it has a soul, it's got style, it's hugely fun. It's clearly just a setup for what's coming next, and I can't wait to see the rest.
btw... extended edition now!!! ;)