Rating of
1.5/4
Fan Service To Gamers, Boring for the Rest of Us
Unknown - wrote on 06/20/16
'Warcraft' is the latest video game adaptation to film. Haven't had one of these in a while that wasn't a 'Resident Evil' sequel. Well, there's a reason for that. 'Warcraft', the game, is an immersive ever-expanding world full of so much dense history and mythology. It's realm is ripe for the fantasy epic treatment on the big screen. The only major problem in adapting is the overwhelming amount of word-building that would be involved. That's the biggest downfall of the film. The writers have managed to condense all of the sprawling elements into a single narrative, which in itself is impressive. However, the end result is an exposition heavy sit with absolute zero investment for the characters. I couldn't tell you a thing about them besides their race and a vague outline of their motivations. I'll be honest, I completely forgot about one of the main characters just after having left the movie. I had no attachment whatsoever. There wasn't a single solid character worth following besides the main Orc. The story was so simplistic, yet it's treated as something with more heft and dramatic weight (which it lacks entirely). Despite not having any knowledge of the game, I was able to follow all of the events and understand the terms used in the dialogue. If you're familiar with the usual type of fantasy lore, then you'll probably do just fine. Another main gripe is the purpose of the story. The filmmakers opted to go for something that seems like an elongated prequel. The plot moves us forward to a final bout, but there's never any proper escalation and the ending has a slight anti-climactic feel due to the entire film being entirely setup for future possibilities. The best way to describe it is like watching the first awkward episode of an ambitious television series that hasn't found it's footing. It's obviously evident this movie was targeted specifically at fans of the game, with the intent being that of pure fan service with a small promise of better things to come. It's not going to win over anyone who wasn't already a fan. All it did was bore me for the better half of the runtime.
