The Warcraft movie also divided the SamaGame team, now we have written how each of us experienced the filming of the franchise.
It was clear from the first moment that since Mocsy is the biggest Blizzard fan in our country, he will write the review of the Warcraft movie. However, it is still a movie based on a video game, so we couldn’t help but sit in on it as a whole. We wondered if Duncan Jones and his crew managed to put together something worthwhile and create a fantasy film that can be enjoyed on its own without knowing the lore. Opinions are divided, and not necessarily because some of us know the lore and others not so much. Read our mini-critiques (or rather our opinions) below, and then tell us how it all went down for you.
mazur – Lore knowledge: 4.5/5
Although I have already successfully separated myself from it, at that time I spent many, many days in World of Warcraft (you don’t want me to see exactly how many, I’m afraid I would run away sobbing), but taking into account the books, comics, and previous Warcraft games, I can safely say that the countless of all the imaginary worlds I have visited for longer or shorter periods of time in my life, this was the most important to me. I’ll say it, well: my second home.
In light of this, this film was obviously different for me than most viewers, and so I don’t have to mumble while rubbing my chin, looking for mistakes (which were obviously there), but I can be enthusiastic and report that even days later, I am electrified when I remember Stormwind’s softly floating music, the murloc gurgling on the riverbank, Medivh’s tower, or how, during the short scene in Ironforge, I frantically searched for the discount house or the mailbox, between which I spent half my life running back and forth.
Duncan Jones did not overcomplicate what was unnecessary, but he elegantly underlined or thought further about the symbolism hidden in the material (such as the parallel between Thrall and Mózes) – I think these only mean a lot to us fans. But I think that’s exactly the kind of Warcraft movie I needed. Or rather, if I went to the cinema because of Warcraft, I wanted to experience something like this.
Rating: 8/10
EndreMan – Lore knowledge: 2/5
I rather support the negative camp, but since my knowledge of the lore is quite incomplete, I was mainly not bothered by bad or different representations compared to the Warcraft universe, but by the cinematic errors, and there were plenty of them. First of all, in the film, you can feel that scenes have been cut in some places, which would be fine in some places, since in many cases director’s versions come out afterwards, but when, for example, in one scene one of the orcs offers his services to the main villain, and then in the next scene any kind of he frees one of the positive characters without explanation (!!!), that’s more than a mistake. Of course, you could have changed your mind, but anyone who has been to a screenwriting class (I was) knows that it doesn’t work like that, what we don’t show (in this case, the moment of transition), is not there.
In addition, it is quite strange when people take a member of a species they have never seen before hostage to study, then the next day he is already riding next to the king as a reliable companion. I won’t even elaborate on the fact that in an orc camp we can kill anyone in the midst of shouting, even then no one will notice in the middle of the night.
By the way, the view was perfect for me, there is nothing to complain about. The actors weren’t bad either, but we couldn’t record any standout performances either, although the script operating with B-category twists and dialogues didn’t allow for that anyway. And finally, here are some classic movies with a “only” 7.5 IMDB rating: Francis Ford Coppola: Dracula, Apollo 13, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Die Hard 3, the original Batman. Could Warcraft be one of these?
Rating: 6/10
Chavalier – Lore knowledge: 2/5
I feel the same way about movies made from video games as I do about the “masterpieces” of the crappy Asylum: they give me the chills. They haven’t shot anything that I would be satisfied with. Add to my negative preconception the foreign critics who paint a rather depressing picture, from which it follows that I sat down to the screening as if I had to watch all of Uwe Boll again. I didn’t expect much good. And when it comes to the Warcraft universe, my knowledge is quite limited, having only played the pre-WoW RTS trilogy. Therefore, instead of paying attention to the little things that made the fans’ hearts beat, I wondered if the film would be able to stand on its own feet.
Well, the structure creaks and wobbles precariously, but if it doesn’t fail at the box office, it could later grow into a decent film franchise. But for that, you have to forget the child-friendly age classification, the stilted dialogues (even Travis Fimmel, who evokes the spirit of Ragnar Lothbrok, can’t help with this), the sloppy story management, the two-dimensional characters and the solutions that bog down rationality (the orcs’ attitude to their traditions is at least contradictory, while people are concretely stupid, naive, and go into battle with a ridiculously small army without any tactical ideas).
Duncan Jones’ third feature isn’t a good movie, he’s bleeding from a thousand wounds, but the mood was hit and the CGI was fine. I won’t compare it to Lord of the Rings, because that wouldn’t be fair, but it exceeded my expectations, which I kept on the backburner, and that’s certainly much more than I could say about any previous video game movie.
Rating: 5/10
Chicken – Lore knowledge: 2/5
Reading the first reviews, I was a bit dismayed and went to the Warcraft cinema with only moderate enthusiasm. In comparison, I was also surprised by how much fun I had during the entire game. The CGI was perfectly fine, the events were moving, and the characters were likable even though they didn’t overcomplicate things in terms of motivations. Warcraft was not a flawless film, there are plenty of things that should be polished, but for a first run it was not a bad performance at all. I had problems with the 3D and the picture was too dark throughout, but this is probably a feature of the particular cinema, not the film itself. I would go see the sequel as soon as tomorrow, and I certainly wouldn’t be alone in the movie theater, because my little fiancee (who by the way hated Civil War, for example) also really liked the movie, and even after the screening, she tried to imitate the orc grunts all night long.
Rating: 7.5/10
Gocza – Lore knowledge: 1.5/5
I squirmed a little in my seat when, after the overwhelming amount of extremely negative Warcraft reviews, I thoroughly enjoyed myself while watching Blizzard’s first cinematic effort. Even after the film, Mazur and I looked at each other a little confused, who asked what I was thinking: “Is it wrong if I liked this?”.
Don’t let the many bad reviews scare you, it’s not that bad. Warcraft is a fun movie experience, of course it has its faults, mainly the illogical actions of individual orcs were the ones that bothered me, but you can get over them. The view is captivating, unfortunately the 3D didn’t look good, it might be worth choosing the 2D version. My knowledge of the lore is under the frog’s bottom, so it took away from the experience, but I can only recommend this movie to gamers. The best video game adaptation I’ve ever seen.
Rating: 7/10
And now you come. How many points would you give it, what you liked, what you didn’t like?
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