Warcraft is the worst film I've seen so far this year by some distance.
The plot centres around a conflict between humans and orcs after the Orc Wizard King (if that is his real name) uses green magic that is powered by human life to transport the orcs to the human world through some kind of portal. Or something like that. To be honest, I didn't care much for the story near the end of the third act, paying more attention to the bus times so I could get home in decent time for the Wales game. The general point I want to convey is that the plot is all over the place and also contains several rebel orcs, a human-Orc hybrid, two wizards, several pointless dwarfs and elves and the Eagles from Lord of the Rings... *sigh* This film really was a giant pile of excrement.
First of all, the way this film was formulated made it seem like it was a bunch of cutscenes from a video game thrown together. So many incredibly short scenes of little consequence follow one after the other, providing either forced exposition or failed attempts at character development which made the whole experience seem very formulaic. If the writing was the problem then I'm shocked this film ever got made. If this was caused by the way the film was edited then it would lead me to suggest that the filmmakers tried to squeeze too much into the movie and, instead of leaving entire inconsequential sequences on the cutting room floor when they realised their error, have cut portions from each scene which in turn causes the film to feel both poorly paced and overly-long. To be frank, I wouldn't be surprised if it transpired that the writing was the ultimate problem, as the strength of the dialogue would not suggest that this was written by a man of Shakespearean prowess (please see a scene near the film's end where a hippy-wizard and the aforementioned orc-human discuss love and intercourse as an example).
Secondly, the acting for the most part was diabolical. I expect several people to win Razzies for their efforts in this film, and there would be no one more deserving of the honour than one Travis Fimmel. His performance really is quite astounding. Never before have a witnessed a performer over-act as much as Fimmel did here and yet still manage to be completely and utterly boring. The man was a charisma vacuum any time he was on screen and his character, who was meant to be the film's central human protagonist, just ended up coming across as a slightly insane perverse emo. The same goes for Ben Foster, who appears to put as much effort into his performance here as Donald Trump has to try and appear PC. His ability to act seems to get progressively worse as the film progresses, his presence only leading me to question time and time again why I stayed to the end of this movie. There was next to no-one who shined in this production, though I have to give Toby Kebbell credit where credit is due for delivering the film's most (perhaps only) heartfelt performance. In saying this, when your most relatable character is a CGI created monster you know you've got a problem, but don't let that take away from Kebbell who is proving himself to be a force to be reckoned with in the world of MoCap. I pray to God he gets the chance to display his talents again in the future as part of a better production.
Speaking of CGI, it's utilisation here was both this film's best friend and worst enemy. On one hand, the motion capture work with regards to bringing the Orc creatures to life was actually pretty good. On the other, most of the special effects were not. The settings did not feel at all realistic and it was actually pretty jarring seeing humans interact with fictional beings due to their cartoonish appearance. The creatures in franchises like LoTR and the Harry Potter series were for the most part made to look somewhat realistic and their presence was balanced by an array of practical effects and real world settings. Warcraft is a film where a large portion of the acting is done in front of a green screen, and this over reliance on artificial elements does nothing but create a disconnect with the events of the story in the viewers' minds. Coming off of the success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the winter, I said that I hoped it marked the beginning of a new wave of blockbuster filmmaking that would champion the use of practical effects. However, after seeing Warcraft, it is very clear to me that Hollywood has a long way to go before it learns from its mistakes on this matter.
Overall, Warcraft is a mess. It is an overly-long, soulless, confusing and somewhat offensive waste of my time and money. The film's best element by far is the motion capture work done to the orcs and the acting of the protagonists who were hidden under these special effects. Yet this is just about the only compliment I can give the film. Most of the performances were cringe worthy, the plot was convoluted, and the general feel of the movie was inconsistent. At one stage a character commits what is essentially mass genocide and I felt nothing. This is not a good sign. I understand this was probably made with fans of the game in mind, but I can't help but feel the filmmakers failure to fully explain the mythology of this world could have contributed to their downfall. A smaller scale, simpler story to introduce us to this world and these characters would have been desirable. I could go on, but my message is essentially this: unless you are a fan of these games, I wouldn't recommend seeing Warcraft.
It might just ruin your day.
Score: 3.5/10
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