Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie

Plot synopsis:
The film opens with a group of Space Marines of the Imperial Fists Chapter under attack from an unknown enemy. A Space Marine by the name of Nidon is told to protect "the Codex" and races to obey his orders, just before a fireball engulfs them all. Elsewhere, aboard a Space Marine Strike Cruiser, Brother Proteus and Captain Severus of the Ultramarines Chapter spar in a training duel. Proteus manages to disarm Severus, however, he quickly escapes Proteus's grasp and in turn defeats him, proclaiming that a Space Marine never yields. The members of Ultima Squad are then shown a sacred weapon in their ship's reclusium, a Relic Thunder Hammer. The Captain and his right-hand man, Apothecary Pythol lead the initiates in a swearing-in ceremony on the Hammer. With the ceremony finished, Ultima Squad prepare themselves for their first mission—a sortie to the planet of Mithron.
In orbit above the planet, Captain Severus departs the cruiser with only the Ultima Squad, highly eager to prove themselves in battle, for support. En route to the planet's surface, Severus addresses the squad, informing them of the distress call received shortly before all contact with the planet was lost, and how it is still unclear whether it is automated or not. Soon they are on the tough and unforgiving surface of Mithron, and the only location of importance is a shrine guarded by 100 Imperial Fists. Ultima Squad quickly discovers that a terrible battle has taken place, with the garrison force annihilated and the planet's Imperial shrine desecrated. It is also evident that the forces of Chaos are responsible, and Severus decides they must continue the mission to search for any remaining survivors.
While approaching the ruins, the Ultramarines are ambushed by the Black Legion. Three Ultramarines are killed but the ambush is thwarted. The squad continues on, and in a dark passage of the shrine they are attacked by a Daemon Prince which grapples with Severus, and they both fall through the wall and down a ravine. With Severus gone and Crastor dead, command of the squad falls to Proteus who decides to continue with the mission. Progressing to the reliquary at the shrine's summit, they find Chaplain Carnak and Brother Nidon, the sole surviving Imperial Fists. They reveal they have been protecting the Liber Mithrus, an ancient sacred Codex given by the The God-Emperor of Mankind himself. Ultima Squad agrees to help escort the book to safety, but Verenor and Proteus remain suspicious, questioning how just the two of them have managed to survive for so long. As Ultima Squad retreat to the extraction point, they are attacked by a huge force of Chaos Space Marines. During the fight they suffer heavy casualties, and just as they are about to be overwhelmed, Severus suddenly reappears and aids their escape.
Back on board, Proteus confides to Severus his suspicions of Carnak and Nidon, believing that they may have been tainted by Chaos. They confront the Imperial Fists, with Severus taking the book and discovering that it is blank. When Hypax enters with the Ultramarines standard, it ignites, indicating the presence of Chaos. Severus declares that Carnak has been tainted and kills him. Nidon becomes enraged and attacks Severus, but is easily thrown off and knocked unconscious. Hypax questions why the standard continues to burn with Carnak dead, and it clear that Severus was possessed by the Daemon that he fought. Hypax charges the daemon, and pushes it into the armoury. When Proteus and Nidon regain consciousness, they find both Hypax and Decius slain. Accompanied by Nidon, the three confront Severus in the ship's reclusium. Severus assumes daemon form and reveals its plans to possess Proteus and infiltrate the Ultramarines' homeworld of Macragge. Pythol arrives in time to save Proteus, but is killed. Using the diversion, Proteus then takes the Thunder Hammer to kill Severus and banish the daemon possessing him. Later it is shown that Proteus is promoted to Sergeant, with Verenor as his second in command, and the final scene mirrors the opening one, showing the new recruits swearing on the sacred hammer.

Tags: insanity, violence

Review:
9/10.The detail of the warhammer 40k world, equipment & lore, is nearly perfect 9/10.The Mediocre stuff: CGI and animation of characters notably melee combat was a bit awkward...
now I saw this with a friend of mine who has little or no knowledge of the 40k universe, and I had to explain a lot to him before and during the movie, and before the movie I told him about the spacemarines as being huge superhuman bad asses who kicks butt, whether its an army of heretics or aliens, after the movie he asked "whats so special about the spacemarines?" and to be honest I had the same feeling, you don't get the feeling they are anything special, not that I'm saying you feel like they are wimps, they just lack the Superhuman quality 3/10.On board the Reclusiam, where are the Ultramarines serfs?
As a matter of fact, it focuses on relatively little when you look at ALL of the other things that didn't make it into this movie.Now for the good:The first thing that springs to mind is the Story.
It's great how the soldiers who refer to themselves as brothers feel like a brotherhood, and that each character acts as an individual (though it may be a little hard to tell more than four apart when they don helmets) with their own personalities and motivations.The plot is pretty strong for a 70-minute flick.
Though you may prefer the baritone thunder of THQ's Space Marines in Dawn of War II, the voices chosen make characters more distinguishable and less like generic action heroes.Lastly a mention goes to all the parts in this movie that rang true to fans like me.
It isn't perfect but with all considerations on the table - it's good - 7/10.A Final Note: If you love Warhammer 40,000 and want to see better movies in future, go and buy this.
Genetically enhanced super soldiers utterly loyal to the emperor encased in powered armour suits with very big guns.This is the problem because while the movie looked better than I expected the whole (rather short) film revolves around a platoon of these humourless, quasi-religious soldiers going on a very linear mission.
The script may not even be 60 pages long, nobody talks in anything other than short sentences and there are far more lines like "For the Emperor!" than anything approaching character development/banter and while that's fine for action scenes, as a film it makes the whole thing seem hollow.The action is perfectly acceptable but nothing special and the whole feel of the movie is like a group going into a haunted house and are picked of one-by-one.
The fact it is CGI allows some impressive vistas, a very large mother ship and some spooky supernatural going on but while every penny is on screen, you never really care about any of the protagonists so more time should have been spent on the basics- story, characters and dialogue and little less on the tech..
This movie is an easy 10 for long time Warhammer 40k fans like myself, but I am looking at it through the viewpoint of the average viewer for the sake of fareness.The plot was good and was very true to the lore of the gamesworkshops Warhammer universe.
It was nice to see a 40k based movie but I found Ultramarines a bit disappointing to be honest.The voice acting was good but the CGI ranged from good to very poor.
There's no real introduction to the setting, probably because most viewers are going to be familiar with it but I thought this was a missed opportunity to explain the background for a few minutes with some nice sweeping shots of Terra and maybe the golden throne, that kind of thing.There's no really good pitched battles, enemies appear in handfuls so you never get a sense of a decent fight which was a shame.
By the way all those first timers would be scouts not full marines..and I could go on and on but of course none of this really spoils the movie at all but for a film made for fanboys it's a bit slack.Overall it's worth a watch if you like 40k.
I loved the way the story went full circle, it worked just like a good graphic novel which I understand is writer Dan Abnett's day job.
After many years of waiting we have an authorised movie set in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe (aka 40K).This movie is not destined to set the world alight, but it is a very competent introduction to the setting and some of its complexities.The movie focuses on a very small event within the context of a much larger conflict, concentrating on one or two of the more iconic parts of the background rather than trying to cover everything in one go.The overall plot is, in itself, quite simple but adding much more would have simply added unnecessary complexity and confusion to the story.What was missing was an explanation of why the group were in the situation.
They have proved they can make these stories work amazingly, it would be amazing to see an actual Series rather than a number of movies - However the cost of CGI makes this impossible at this time.Will definitely be looking forward to future releases.
The voice acting is good, but the vaunted lip syncing that Codex pictures was supposed to use, is actually used in very few scenes and then looks like an animated cut-scene from a game was used.
I was expecting something along the lines of a Lord of the Rings production - live action, mixed with CG and a great story line into a film that rocks your perceptions and leaves you aching for more.Instead what you get is an amateur production, entirely CG, with some good voice actors but awful visuals.
Muddy imagery combined with the sort of pre-rendered visuals you'd expect from the cut-scenes in a game made 5 years ago (I kid you not!) combine with key-framed animation (i.e. NOT rotoscoped fluid animation, but the most basic sort of animation anyone could manage with a couple of hours practise in Maya or 3DS Max) to create a film that is painful to watch.I was hoping for something that would kindle interest in the Warhammer 40k universe from people who may never have considered it before watching the film.Instead you're left wondering which Dawn of War games they lifted the cut-scenes from to make a film that I would be embarrassed to sit with my partner and watch and say, "This is Warhammer 40k - isn't it cool?!" Avoid..
For the first 40k movie I have ever heard of/seen, Ultramarines is a great film for both those new to the 40k universe and for dedicated fans like myself.
And The entire movie looks like a video game cut scene, it is off putting in the long run, I think they should have ditched the CGI and went full cartoon.I would still recommend to a 40K fan but be aware it is not a masterpiece..
As a guy just starting to get heavily Into the Warhammer 40k Universe I really liked this movie.
Compared to the likes of Dungeons & Dragons (2000), Doom or Wing Commander I would say this one does all right - but also no more than that.Visually, I think they have done a great job at capturing the dark, grim and gritty Warhammer 40k universe.
Then this is not the movie for you.Because everything-- the story, the characters, the animation-- is exactly the quality that you would expect from a AAA video game cut scene.
The animation's not always fluid and the dust storm that's in a good chunk of the movie's fight scenes feels like a weak attempt to hide this from the audience.
Overall, the plot is not so great and I expected more from Dan Abnett, the animation seems kind of rushed and stubby in most parts of the film, where in some it's relatively good, the acting is good, but the characters are not convincing enough as actual Space Marines.Analytically: 1) The plot has a good line, but it lacks in a lot of its background.
They could have had a much better result if they used 2D animation instead of 3D (much like Dead Space: Downfall or Heavy Metal 2000 was done).Overall I give it a 6/10 because a) it's a not bad first attempt, b) I wouldn't want to discourage GW from making another, hopefully improved, one..
This movie didn't have one.Everyone who likes this movie plays the game, and are so brainwashed by it, that they ejaculate in their pants when watching this complete piece of trash.Everyone else hates it, and deservedly so.The single good point is the CGI is pretty cool.
Most of the reviews seem to be along the lines of, "well it came close to the feel of the game," or "it wasn't bad for a first attempt." Anyone thinking along these terms needs to pull their heads out and ask themselves how exciting it would be to watch a movie based on Pong.
I think not.Secondly, the idea that only a Warhammer maniac, could say something like, "Not bad for a first attempt!" just dooms the thought of anyone ever making a 2nd one.Because if only a completely rabid fan could muster even a lukewarm review for this piece of garbage, there's no way anyone in Hollywood (yes, Hollywood) could possibly be stupid enough to invest a dime in a sequel.Thank the Stars!.
Now I can't say I am a Dan Abnett fan, but at least some of his books were worth an entertaining read, and some were really good and suspenseful.But this movie was neither entertaining nor exciting, in fact it was pretty boring, which is a real shame, I hope Ultramarines doesn't set a precedent for all the following movies.
Not sure what so many reviewers are harping about,seems like people complain just to complain.This film is not on the same quality level as Beowulf but hey,Games Workshop does not have the kind of Hollywood money needed to get superior animation.Sure,I was a little disappointed but when you have waited so long to see a Warhammer movie,you take what you can get.The voice acting was excellent,but that is to be expected when you have the likes of Stamp,Pertwee,and Hurt,etc...on board.Some may find the dialog bizarre,or maybe even stunted.But who would think that Space Marines are great orators??
They are all clones who are so entranced with the sacred dogma of Emperor Worship that to them great conversation consists of quoting Imperial scripture.My main beef with the film was it seemed too short,at the end of one hour and sixteen I was hungry for more but was left with the scraps called credits.That and I am no fan of the Ultramarines,would have much rather seen the Imperial Fists or even a Chaos chapter,like the Death Guard be the center of the story.Oh well,maybe next time.Last thing,don't pick apart it's faults but just savor it as a fun,albeit short WH40K flick..
As a result, the plot is ultimately little more than a pretext for the Space Marines to do their stuff.However, having said that, Ultramarines deserves high praise for faithfully - and important term when it comes to 40K - delivering a movie that truly does capture the essence of 40K.
It is all in here: the Cult of the Emperor, the daemonic forces of Chaos, bolters, chainswords, seals of purity...all that good stuff that makes 40K...well, 40K.The CGI is quite impressive at times and is loaded with all sorts of wonderful detail, even down to the texture of the Space Marine armor.
Not everything is perfect, though, as I found the facial animations to be emotionally flat and devoid of life, with the Space Marines having a walking/gliding gait that seems thoroughly rigid and unrealistic at times.The voice acting was quite good, too.
So this movie looked like a great way of getting to know more about Warhammer 40k without having to paint any miniature figures or roll any dice.The positives: I thought the story was good and the movie was very atmospheric.
The animation is very poor in places and the movie looks like a cutscene from an average, 10-year old PS2 game.Overall I enjoyed watching the movie but the poor visuals really subtracted from the experience..
But I am sure that die-hard fans of the Warhammer 40K game and universe might find the movie to have just that.
Judge this movie on its own merits, as a great fan film created by people who love Warhammer 40K..
Seeing that most of gamers who play the game be it table top or video game grew up on star wars and thinks a good movie that has a action non stop and forget about characters and acting.
Ten years on from The Matrix, video effects have become much cheaper, so I can't comprehend why the visual quality of this film is so poor, even setting aside the fact that every character looks identical.I can only imagine that the producers ran over budget on voice acting.
Sure, the plot is kinda basic, the animation is somewhat stiff (Not to mention that the characters are practically expressionless) but at least, this movie had the heart in the right place: In other words, at least this film have something to with the universe of Warhammer 40000, and it's not like most of Hollywood movies inspired in video-games, that are filled with lots of stupid stuff, like an annoying comic relief, bland and stereotyped characters, dumb lines and horrible soundtracks...Fortunately, there is absolutely nothing on that in this, being focused in the action and in the characters.Even when the CGI isn't very impressive and the first part of the story is pretty slow (Very slow) it still much better than things such as "Halo Legends" or "Dante's Inferno: An animated epic".
"Ultramarines" managed to catch my attention, despite the fact that I never played the game in which the film was inspired, mostly because, this is one of the very few CGI animated film that wasn't aimed to kids, being way more ambitious and darker than other productions of this kind.Still, "Ultramarines" is not perfect: The animation is uneven, some details seem somewhat neglected (Like for example, the eyes of the characters, which seem totally devoid of any kind of emotion) some parts of the story were slow and boring (And a bit confusing) On the other side, the voice acting was pretty good, and the music score gives this an epic atmosphere.
I am a HUGE Warhammer 40K fan and was very excited when I first saw that they were FINALLY making a movie...however that all changed once I received my pre-ordered copy of the film...story was OK, but the characters and the graphics were sub-par.
Why were the graphics so poor, when some of the video game platforms featuring the warhammer/warhammer 40K universes have such GREAT graphics and story lines..maybe they should have made the movie.
This is a mistake that even a child would spot.On the other hand there are a few moments that give you that nice "Warhammer 40 000" feeling and if the team had been given a better script and more money and time to finish the job this could perhaps have been a great CGI movie..
That is why codex pictures wanted to pursue this endeavor with the utmost respect to the fans and creators of this world.The movie is focused on a very tiny aspect of the universe as a whole, and it is assumed that the viewer is somewhat familiar with the setting as phrases and terms like astrophaths and auspexes are tossed about in conversations but never explained.The story focuses on a small unit of newly initiated super-soldiers called Space marines, which is perhaps the most iconic part of the Warhammer universe.
The Imperial fists are stationed on a distant planet guarding a holy relic.The fresh squad of Ultramarines arrive and discover that something truly dark and vile is going on.I'll not go into much detail about the specifics of the plot, but needless to say there will be a lot of bloodshed before the movie ends.The movie runs in at nearly 80 minutes and for the most part goes by at a good pace with fairly interesting stuff going on for the majority of the movie.The animation is pretty bland and the terrain and background can be a bit monotonous at times, but the space marines themselves are pretty well made with lots of attention to detail going into each character to set them apart from each other.The soundtrack is suitably epic and grandiose and really suited for the style of the setting and the movie as a whole.
The highlight comes from Sean Pertwees portrayal of Protheus as an eager yet unprepared novice and would be hero.The story is fairly interesting and Warhammer veteran writer Dan Abnett's script is surprisingly complex and character driven for a movie with such a short running time.The movie is far from the action extravaganza that many people might expect from a movie about super-soldiers fighting in a universe where there is only war.
This is a fairly decent animated movie to be honest, not worth seeing in a theatre perhaps but defiantly worth renting or buying cheap.I disagree with people who say the movie doesn't have the feel of the universe, You may not realize how large it is, but sets machines, weapons, names, music background all to me make it feel like your in the warhammer world.CGI animation is not the best but its not bad by any stretch, MUSIC is great, so is the voice acting, there's not much of it but this is a simple but decent plot.If I was reviewing this as a 1 hour show would of rated higher, ain't going to lie I really enjoyed and wish they did more..