Warcraft
Director: Duncan Jones
Stars: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster
Duration: 123 mins
Class: 12A
KRS Film Releasing Ltd
In 1994, Blizzard Entertainment launched Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, a video game in the so-called ‘real time strategy’ genre. This refers to a time-based video game in which players must attempt to build their resources, defend their bases and launch attacks, while knowing that the opponent is scrambling to do the same things (thank you, Techopedia.com).
Warcraft was a smash hit in the gaming world and it spawned several sequels. The fourth title in the series was World of Warcraft, a subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) which allows masses of players around the world to play alongside each other simultaneously. It went on to become one of the most successful entries in the history of gaming with over 100 million players subscribed to date.
It’s no wonder, then, that the lucrative universe has finally been given a big screen outing. Its fans have, undoubtedly, been eagerly wondering whether, given the game’s inherent cinematic qualities and the success of the fantasy genre in cinema, this would be the film to finally break the curse that has seen so many video game adaptations fail spectacularly.
Well, from where I stand, the short answer to that last question is a resounding ‘no’. The end result of this transition is a rambling, directionless epic with a dreary script, an ensemble of thinly-sketched characters and one whose several overdramatic action sequences and a surplus of special effects are unable to hide its many shortcomings.
The presence of orcs, dwarves and other mythical creatures only brings to mind fantasy films of a much superior nature (any reference to the Lord of the Rings franchise is purely intentional). These are films that made an impact on the strength of their engaging and complex narratives and richly-textured characters, aspects which were served by the visuals – and not the other way round as is clearly the case here.
There is something seriously wrong with a film when, half-way through its running time, you have only a tenuous grasp on the story
In a nutshell, the people of Azeroth come under threat from an army of orc warriors who are fleeing their dying world. That is the gist of the story, but anything else the story is trying to say struggles for clarity – at least to non-Warcraft gamers, like me.
There is clearly a significant amount of back story which remains untold and it feels like, say, starting to watch Game of Thrones 13 minutes into the fourth episode of Season Three. You have no idea what’s going on. There is something seriously wrong with a film when, half-way through its running time, you have only a tenuous grasp on the story and are still trying to figure out who’s who, what’s what and why.
Moreover, there are too many characters on both sides of the battle to become familiar with. These are so thinly-sketched that it only belabours the experience, for at no point do you care for them on any level.
It’s pointless having superb CG behind the creation of the characters. The design of orc chieftain Durotan (Toby Kebbell), his partner Draka (Anna Galvin) and half-orc half-human Garona (Paula Patton) are very well–realised, physically.
However, you may as well be admiring action figures for, despite the best efforts of the actors involved, the CG stifles any emotional resonance.
The lack of character depth and development also stretches to the human characters. The heroes of the piece, Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) and Dominic Cooper’s King Llane Wrynn are noble, but rather anodyne. Ben Foster’s magical Guardian Medivh is all fire but no spark. It’s Ruth Negga as Queen Taria who brings a little dignity to it all, but her scenes are few and far between.
That the man behind all this is Duncan Jones makes the experience that much more disappointing. For, this is a man whose previous two films as director have been the excellent Moon (2009) and Source Code (2011), both engaging and exciting character-driven sci-fi thrillers which he directed with aplomb.
There is a suggestion of some complexity – somewhere in there is an environmental lesson to be learned as the orc tribe desperately seeks a new home after destroying its world. There’s also King Llane, who struggles with the ethics of having to go to war to protect your own people.
But the film struggles to come through amid all the chaos. Or maybe it was just me, straining to find something that would have made the experience worth my while.
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