WarCraft: The Movie

[Drunken_Jackal]

If this movie actually succeeds I got a big feeling that video game movies will be the next big thing like comic book movies.

Anyways, I'm hyped as fuck for this.

 

[SMBComix]

@Tauer, Mickey Neilson recently confirmed on Twitter that the continuities for the movie and the games are in fact separate.

Kinda sucks IMO, as I was hoping for a definitive, in-depth account of the events of the First War. Warcraft 1 just doesn't cut it at this point.

 

[OutsiderXE]

But that's not possible. Too much stuff happened for a single movie. That's also the main reason why I think that WC3 can't be a single movie, more like 3-4. A game is a game, a movie is a movie.

 

[Ralle]

Looks like not all orcs are brown, most of them are green. What a relief...



I've guessed as much, they used a lot of CGI.


I have uploaded the video below in case Legendary tries to remove it, click to download it.

I received a DMCA takedown from NBCUniversal, so I have removed your attachment.

 

[A Void]

I received a DMCA takedown from NBCUniversal, so I have removed your attachment.

I will upload a mirrored link from other hosting services. They wouldn't be able to do nothing about that since it will not be from Hiveworkshop. I hope there will be no problems with that?

 

[Ralle]

I have no problem with it. I will however, abide if they have a problem with it.

 

[OutsiderXE]

new trailer. new scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLJw262KcpE

 

[Abelhawk]

I'm so stoked for this. I've never looked forward to a movie this much in my life. Not any superhero movie, certainly not Star Wars. This'll be the first time I ever go to a midnight showing of a movie. If I had the money to make some kind of costume I probably would too. And I always thought people were crazy for doing that in the past.

 

[A Void]

I'm so stoked for this. I've never looked forward to a movie this much in my life. Not any superhero movie, certainly not Star Wars. This'll be the first time I ever go to a midnight showing of a movie. If I had the money to make some kind of costume I probably would too. And I always thought people were crazy for doing that in the past.

Good for you, for me this movie is disappointing. Too many retcons (I hate what they did with Dalaran), terrible art style, fake weapons and armor made out of plastic covered up to look like metal and shine.

Poor choice of actors, Medivh looks way too young (he looked very old in War1).

And terrible Orc characters, that look like they don't even fit in with humans. Poor cgi.

Duncan Jones should be fired and Peter Jackson should be hired instead. Blizzard is making a big mistake with this movie.

Just compare Lord of the Rings with Warcraft movie, it's obvious who is better. Warcraft has too great of a storyline to be hijacked by this movie (Warcraft Movie) that can't even get the logo right.

Anyway, my rant is over.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Good for you, for me this movie is disappointing. Too many retcons (I hate what they did with Dalaran), terrible art style, fake weapons and armor made out of plastic covered up to look like metal and shine.

Poor choice of actors, Medivh looks way too young (he looked very old in War1).

And terrible Orc characters, that look like they don't even fit in with humans. Poor cgi.

Duncan Jones should be fired and Peter Jackson should be hired instead. Blizzard is making a big mistake with this movie.

Just compare Lord of the Rings with Warcraft movie, it's obvious who is better. Warcraft has too great of a storyline to be hijacked by this movie (Warcraft Movie) that can't even get the logo right.

Anyway, my rant is over.

Judging a movie before it's even released. Very mature.

 

[A Void]

Judging a movie before it's even released. Very mature.

I'm judging the leaked footage, trailers and story concept that was revealed. All those things lead to a conclusion that this movie will be poor attempt to cover big game franchise.

I'm not sugar-coating, or fan craving this material when it's actually crap. Obsessed fans see it the other way.

You will remember my comment when you finish watching the movie. It would be ironic to say: I told you.

 

[NhazUl]

The orcs look realistic enough for me. It's the humans that I mistake for CGI, and that's really weird because they aren't. Lothar's armor also isn't very pleasing to the eye.

 

[7urmoil]

Good for you, for me this movie is disappointing. Too many retcons (I hate what they did with Dalaran), terrible art style, fake weapons and armor made out of plastic covered up to look like metal and shine.

Poor choice of actors, Medivh looks way too young (he looked very old in War1).

And terrible Orc characters, that look like they don't even fit in with humans. Poor cgi.

Duncan Jones should be fired and Peter Jackson should be hired instead. Blizzard is making a big mistake with this movie.

Just compare Lord of the Rings with Warcraft movie, it's obvious who is better. Warcraft has too great of a storyline to be hijacked by this movie (Warcraft Movie) that can't even get the logo right.

Anyway, my rant is over.

I fail to see the problem with retcons. In the movies they happen only to help the narrative (which is why I'm not gonna whine that Tom Bobadil and Peeves the Poltergeist don't exist in the movies).... and honestly the flying Dalaran is one of the least problematic, in fact none of the retcons we've seen so far change anything in the grand scheme of this movie or possible sequels for that matter.

Most of the "old characters" have been made younger for about 10 years, heck this version of Lothar looks more like Warcraft 1 version, where he didn't look like a grandpa, which also leads to Medivh's portrayal, since he, Lothar and Llaine were supposed to be childhood friends about the same age, so why make him look grey when when he looks middle-aged.

The CGI looks about the same level as Rise of Planet of the Apes and it's done by the same people for most Marvel comics and Force Awakening, so I'm not really bothered by the quality, you only do that when one has a determined mentality that "CGI is bad, only practicals are good".

And as far as armor/weapons are concerned, gritty=/= realistic. Hell, on 1st sight, any armor/weapon can look unrealistic, when it's not battleworn, caked in dirt and blood, meanwhile we have a kingdom that likely hasn't seen any real threats for decades and even trolls don't pose that much of a threat (if I'm to understand there's supposed to be a scene at the beginning where trolls attack Stormwind and Medivh whoops their asses).

Anyway, the visuals are only as good as the narrative. If the latter succedes, nobody's gonna bat an eye; but if it fails.... well, then you get Gods of Egypt.

The whole point of Blizzard hireing Duncan Jones in the 1st place was because he understood the greound work of the franchise. If they had gotten Jackson on the team, he's probably make a one-sided fantasy adventure, which is ok for Tolken's work, since that's the whole pont of it, but it's on in Warcraft's case; that's why they vetoed Sam Raimi's script.

 

[Chaosy]

Recently a new trailer was released for the Warcraft movie, this one is actually much better than the ones previously released in my opinion.

And here is another one which was released a week ago or something, if I recall.

To my knowledge none of these have been highlighted here on the hive.

 

[Chen]

Duncan Jones should be fired and Peter Jackson should be hired instead. Blizzard is making a big mistake with this movie.

"I don't like Duncan Jones what a very big mistake, this movie will fail." What a nice way to state opinions that just the same as your every "opinion". You complain at everything, but hey it's your opinion why not respect it.

 

[A Void]

"I don't like Duncan Jones what a very big mistake, this movie will fail." What a nice way to state opinions that just the same as your every "opinion". You complain at everything, but hey it's your opinion why not respect it.

What took you to respond, the delay is immense. I posted that weeks ago. Anyway, thank you for your kind words.

 

[Chen]

What took you to respond, the delay is immense. I posted that weeks ago. Anyway, thank you for your kind words.

At least I'm not a person who suddenly just jump in and be an anti-fun police just because I saw something really happy about the movie.

It could have been fine if you state really good criticism, not obvious or unnecessary ones.

 

[Duke]

It doesn't look very good so far. If it wasn't called Warcraft I doubt it would get any attention at all.

 

[GunSlinger]

I'm a little worried about this movie being a flop, you know, since movie adaptations of video games most often suck.

 

[Rheiko]

All we can do is just hoping for the best of this movie.

 

[Pszichopark]

Age 13 they said, when i mentioned, Thralls story is written to be like that of Moses, and not like in Lord of the Clans, which was not Age 13 that much. We have to get along with this, just as much as with the presentation of Old "Do we have a preexistent model of the old one? Nope, let's just use New" Stormwind.
Lothar-Dead Mines (Will that even be mentioned or just deleted? ). 6 years passed right? So, if Lothar is like 60+ by Warcraft 2, considering what a white balding old man he is, he should be in his 50's in Warcraft 1. Just as Llane, just as Medivh, so yeah. Young cast. They try to build new idols. I would have laughed if John Rhys-Davies get's a role in this one too.
The Kurgan as Blackhand is sweet though.

 

[NhazUl]

I'm getting hyped for Gul'Dan. The crowd manipulation scene in the leaked footage is something I want to see more of.

I don't know, but Travis Fimmel doesn't fit Lothar from what I've seen. Maybe I just need to see him in action. And pairing him up with Garona? Well at least it won't lead to Med'an.

 

[PurgeandFire]

Official clips from the movie!

Link to mirrors:
https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/4j0css/4_official_movie_clips_from_the_warcraft_movie/d32kkzl

Hype!

 

[A Void]

Yeah, don't expect the movie to be any near good as Lord of The Rings. The above footage just sums it up, poor choice of actors, terrible humor timing, characters look nothing like they did in games, Orcs look like pumped up on steroids, too many retcons and the CGI is tragic. The movie resembles more of a spin-off. Another overhyped product?

 

[Chaosy]

Sums of what? It looks pretty good.

I don't think anyone expects it to be as amazing as LOTR, does not mean it sucks.

 

[A Void]

Sums of what? It looks pretty good.

I don't think anyone expects it to be as amazing as LOTR, does not mean it sucks.

The thing is that Warcraft movie was totally overhyped, the end product doesn't match what we imagined it to be. The expectations are slicing what little good this movie has.

 

[PurgeandFire]

After seeing general community reactions, it seemed like a lot of people thought it would flop. Most people were *hoping* that it would do well (as a milestone for video game-movie adaptations, since that track record is so terrible), but no one was really convinced. Some warcraft fans were convinced by the trailers--but even the recent ones had me a little downcast.

However, these clips brought my spirit back up. I agree that it has some cartoony CGI and a lot of humor, but that honestly has always been at the heart of Warcraft. Even though wc had compelling storylines that could be told in a serious/dark manner, everything about the world has always been high fantasy and "colorful" as opposed to gritty. I think if people embrace that, then they'll be able to enjoy the movie as it was meant to be enjoyed.

Also, a few people watched the screening and they were all pretty positive--even from non-warcraft fans. So I'm probably even more hyped. It means we may be one step closer to the Arthas series we've all always wanted. <3

characters look nothing like they did in games, Orcs look like pumped up on steroids

idk, they look pretty accurate minus the skin color differences. Here is a good ref photo:

 

[Rheiko]

Even though wc had compelling storylines that could be told in a serious/dark manner, everything about the world has always been high fantasy and "colorful" as opposed to gritty. I think if people embrace that, then they'll be able to enjoy the movie as it was meant to be enjoyed.

I would actually prefer the storylines to be told in a serious/dark manner. I have never really thought about Warcraft has a lot of humor since I was a kid but it's alright, I'll see whether I can enjoy the movie or not.

It means we may be one step closer to the Arthas series we've all always wanted. <3

Arthas series! <3

 

[pyf]

My personal feelings about the four clips

first try

- The first one reminded me of Uwe Boll's King Rising. Need I say more ? Also, the Mage reminded me of the Grigori Rasputin character (miscasted imho) from the first Hellboy movie.
- The second clip made me cringe when I saw the Orcs. More latex and prosthesis than CGI here. One of them looked clumsy and dumb.
- The third one did not convince me about Garona. Actors' performances seemed weak, as well as cinematography.
- The fourth clip was talking and exposition, done properly.

And then I watched them again.

second try

- The first clip is still of Uwe Boll quality standards to me. No hope here.
- The second one proves to be more interesting. We see tactics and ambush. Orcs are massive and brutal. A horse is used as a weapon (CGI horse of course, but still, there is something here). Orcs suddenly seem less silly-looking.
- The third clip still looks unconvincing imho.
- The fourth one is in fact *very* well done. It succeeds in making a conversation between two non-human creatures interesting ; we actually care for them. Camera movement is both subtle and effective. The camera also tells us something more, by revealing the Orc's buildings. This is good, well-planned cinematographic storytelling here imho. Plus, CGI work is very detailed (it has to be) and believable.

I think my initial reaction was because I did not see the movie in its proper narrative context. The fourth clip shows it can have really good moments, and the first one shows it can have terrible ones too (for me, that is).


What bothers me most is the fact that the story will most probably be very predictable (for the French version, please see here).

 

[SMBComix]

I've been playing Warcraft (RTS and MMO) since 2009. I just gotta say this movie's already blowing my mind. I wish my modelling skills were anywhere near Tauer's, I'd probably whip up a series of unit models based on the movie. That's how excited I am.

 

[OutsiderXE]

I only looked a bit at the clips and got even more excited. the orcs look great. i am looking forward to seeing two of my babies in action (lord of the clans and the last guardian)

 

[Duke]

Also, a few people watched the screening and they were all pretty positive--even from non-warcraft fans. So I'm probably even more hyped. It means we may be one step closer to the Arthas series we've all always wanted. <3

Well first screenings were positive also for Batman vs Superman and it didn't turn out excatly great.

I so wish this movie is good, but everything I saw so far doesn't excatly point in that direction.

Welp, hope dies last

 

[SMBComix]

Well first screenings were positive also for Batman vs Superman and it didn't turn out excatly great.

I so wish this movie is good, but everything I saw so far doesn't excatly point in that direction.

Welp, hope dies last

The vast majority of people are incapable of remaining objective about things like this. If they go in fully expecting something to suck, it will suck for them no matter how much it actually DOESN'T, because they'll be too focused on their own fears and focusing on the imperfections in the movie rather than the whole thing.

 

[neven1]

WoW movie?

I saw rating are enabled on IMDB so i thought movie was relised somewhere.

So my question is.Has anyone seen it?And if you did was it bad as you expected?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803096/?ref_=nv_sr_4

 

[OutsiderXE]

Going to see it in 14 hours from now (germany release)! you can post any questions you have

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Lol, it's almost time? Totally forgot about that. Now I need to find someone who goes to the theatre with me.

 

[StoPCampinGn00b]

2500 imdb users compared to 9 critics shown on Rotten Tomato. Crazy difference.

 

[OutsiderXE]

From my experience the imdb rating only counts after about 30.000-40.000 votes. In the beginning it's mostly fanboys voting 10/10 and then some haters voting 1/10.

On the other hand a professional critic doesn't mean much either. I mean, they get paid (aka are forced) to watch a movie (lol) and then its their job to nitpick about as much as possible. Why should their opinion hold more value than my own or that of my friends. The only difference is that they can write better. And how many of them actually know Warcraft, and I mean besides WoW (lol there are actually 1/10 votings because its a Warcraft movie and not a WoW movie, whatever that means...).

But, I get that we all want this movie to be good (as successful) so we are looking for any positive feedback we can get. My advice is to focus on the positive reviews. Don't let negativity influence your viewing experience.

3 more hours. Oh, Khadgar. Oh, Draka. 3 more hours ans I'm home with you.

 

[pyf]

A professional critic is not a nitpicker.

Good critics help put things into perspective. They give their audiences the necessary keys to understand things as a global whole. The more things they have seen and understood before, the more keys they can give.

Since it is part of their full time job to write reviews, they may get good at it over time.

 

[Avahor]

3 more hours. Oh, Khadgar. Oh, Draka. 3 more hours ans I'm home with you.

=D nice!.
I have to wait until June 30, it's my own war against spoilers.

 

[OutsiderXE]

A professional critic is not a nitpicker.

Good critics help put things into perspective. They give their audiences the necessary keys to understand things as a global whole. The more things they have seen and understood before, the more keys they can give.

Since it is part of their full time job to write reviews, they may get good at it over time.

For this movie none of us need them. We are going to watch it anyway. In my opinion it's better to do that unbiased. ... Getting ready now. Counting minutes from now on. Exactly 100

 

[OutsiderXE]

Watched it. good movie. more details tomorrow

 

[pyf]

For this movie none of us need them. We are going to watch it anyway. In my opinion it's better to do that unbiased. ... Getting ready now. Counting minutes from now on. Exactly 100

No idea what "us" means, nor why one's review would prevent anyone from seeing / listening to whatever he/she wants. Good critics give an honest and fair view of what they see. They rely on facts. They evaluate things for what they are. They talk about how something can be of historical / political / societal / cultural significance. They help put things into perspective. Everybody needs them.

But, I get that we all want this movie to be good (as successful) so we are looking for any positive feedback we can get. My advice is to focus on the positive reviews. Don't let negativity influence your viewing experience.

Now, *that* leads to biased points of view from the very start

Looking forward to your honest and documented review of the movie

 

[Jumbo]

Watched it now. NO SPOILERS POST
gotta say I'm positively surprised! The trailer didn't really catch me at all and my expectations were really low.

I think the movie strikes a decent balance between the old school (WC1&2) gritty visuals and the bright cartoonish style of the later games. I was really worried that there would be too much humanising of the orcs, but it struck a nice balance here aswell between Gul'dan, Durotan, and everyone else.
I think the battle scenes could have been more sophisticated though. I mean more tactical maneuvering would have been a nice improvement. Seeing thousands of footmen charging towards the orcs seemed a little unintelligent to me, but then again, that's what most movies in this genre would do.

 

[Ken-E]

I just came back to the Hive to see what people think about the movie. It's already in the theaters here in the Philippines. Gonna see it on the weekend!

Watched it now. NO SPOILERS POST
gotta say I'm positively surprised! The trailer didn't really catch me at all and my expectations were really low.

I think the movie strikes a decent balance between the old school (WC1&2) gritty visuals and the bright cartoonish style of the later games. I was really worried that there would be too much humanising of the orcs, but it struck a nice balance here aswell between Gul'dan, Durotan, and everyone else.
I think the battle scenes could have been more sophisticated though. I mean more tactical maneuvering would have been a nice improvement. Seeing thousands of footmen charging towards the orcs seemed a little unintelligent to me, but then again, that's what most movies in this genre would do.

Glad to see a fan is giving an honest feedback! So far, I've seen critiques bashing the movie and even comparing it to Super Mario Bros.! I am skeptical about a Warcraft movie especially when I saw the trailer after trailer (yes, the dub step one). But in time, I watched the featurettes on YouTube and it was looking better imo.

 

[Jumbo]

Sure, glad you liked it

Well the movie sure has it's limits and I somewhat agree with one critique who wrote that it lacked the "poetry" of the Lord of the Rings movies. 'Somewhat' only, because I don't want a Warcraft movie to be like LOTR. What I do think the movie lacks is more scenes which - like LOTR (especially Fellowship of the Ring) - give a sense of adventure and immersion in a huge living fantasy world. There is some of it through a few travel scenes, but these are quite limited. Overall the 'in your face' style of this Warcraft movie justified it's more shallow parts: It doesn't pretend to be "oh so deep", and, at the same time, it does take itself seriously enough to not turn into a cheap comedy.

 

[Chaosy]

I watched the movie with two friends today.
It was a solid movie, nothing mind blowing but it was god damn entertaining.
I wont spoil anything but there are quite a few differences between the movie and official lore, nothing large enough to impact the overall story but I want to point it out because even if you know the lore you'll not be able to predict everything in the movie which is a plus.

Me and my friends agreed on 8/10 being a fairly accurate rating for all of us.

 

[Ken-E]

When I step in the theater I was anxious, really expected it to be fairly serviceable and I just want a good video game film. The movie is pretty great! Pacing between orcs and humans are given enough screen time, CGI is really well done overall it blended better watching the entire movie than a broken sequence from the trailer.

The action is pretty violent for PG-13/R-13 movie which I really liked that about it, it pushed the rating system to the limit, the magic effects and battle scenes are just pure eye candy. And most of all, the film is story-wise; there are some small deviations from the games but then again, Blizzard is fond of retconning its lore. Narrative feels a lot like Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and at some point it is 'better'. Human characters are more charismatic and stylish in this movie than the Apes, and orc characters are diverse enough to identify them by motives and conflicts within them.

The setting is grounded, races are mostly orcs and humans did and I think they did a good job juggling between perspective. The only real problem in this movie is nearing of the final act, its really cramped and feels even rushed it fell flat in the end;

SPOILERS

That scene Lothar killing Blackhand in one fell swoop in a duel is complete BS.

Overall I did enjoy the movie, so did my family. I give 8.5/10 for this.

 

[Rheiko]

Lol, that spoiler, though. But after I imagined that, that is a complete BS indeed.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

The movie is out for 1 week now, so I'd like to share my review.

I'll split it up in a spoiler-free and a spoiler part, for you guys who haven't watched it yet (and all you poor US citizens who still need to wait 3 days for release ) ...



------------------

Spoiler-free

Overall the movie was alright. It certainly didn't blow my mind, but it wasn't bad either. The CGI was actually pretty well done and the orcs looked brutish and convincing enough for me. Ironicly enough: the CGI orcs actually looked much more real that some of the armors worn by the humans - and those weren't even CGI!

Let's start with the elephant in the room, though:
The pacing. Warcraft suffers from the attempt to press one entire game and three books into just a single 2-hour movie. Everything felt really rushed and the viewer barely had a chance to get to know these characters. The only two characters that felt a bit more fleshed-out were Khadgar and Durotan.
Other than that, the movie had some random-ass scenes that just didn't do anything for the plot, yet wasted precious time they could have invested to flesh out the main characters more.

The movie could have used some cuts from the source material here and there. There was just too much going on for the sake of continuity that wasn't needed to deliver the story.
I know that this was made by a fan of the Warcraft universe, but in doing so, the makers sacrificed the possibility to introduce new people to the franchise...

I was there with a friend of mine and she was like "Huh? What the hell is going on?" the entire movie. This movie is absolutely not recommended for people that don't know Warcraft. This is for fans only, because many important things happening on screen do not get explained properly.

These are basicly my major gripes. Let's get to the good points now:
Some nerd-gags are spot-on. I almost laughed my ass off at a certain ... spell ... that Khadgar used in one of the scenes. You'll know what I mean when you see it.
The CGI is great. Actually better than in most DC or marvel movies.
I'm not a fan of loads of CGI, but in this case it's acceptable, since there is hardly a way they could have pulled this off with just practical effects alone.
The orcs just looked fantastic.
I loved how they tried to stick super close to the source material on many of the locations. For example, the front of Stormwind with the iconic Griphon landing spot or Duskwood and Ironforge.
I also liked the actors they selected. They gave it their best to make even the most Mary-sueish characters (that's blizzard writing in the first games for you) at least a bit interesting. Garona delivered a decent performance (except for some plot issues I will discuss below) and the Durotan performance was really convincing aswell.

So, my final verdict? I'd say this is a solid 7/10. Blizzard and Universal get a pass from me for making a sequel. I definitely want to see a part II and part III covering the second and third game.
Is it a breathtaking masterpiece? No. But then again, nobody expected that. You can tell that the plot suffers a lot from trying to please the franchise nerds, making the movie inaccessable for outsiders.

But let's go into the details, shall we?

Spoilers!

Murlocs! It was so iconic and cringeworthy at the same time that I just couldn't stop laughing when I heard the Wrglglglgl!
But what exactly was the point of the Ironforge scene other than trying to please the nerds? It wasted perfectly good 3 minutes that they could have spend on building up other core elements in the story or ... explain things. Everyone would have been fine with the Stormwind army using guns. It's fantasy for christ's sake.
It was cool to see Ironforge, I admit that. But with all the other flaws in the story, it was just wasted potential.
The Garona plot suffered from the WoW retcons. She didn't mention a human heritage in her dialogue, but it was sure as hell implied in the movie, which wouldn't make sense, even if she didn't know the truth. And the love-plot with Lothar felt super rushed and forced. It wasn't even needed for the story. A friendship would have sufficed to flesh out her motives?

And what the hell was that council thing? Was that supposed to show me why the dwarves and elves didn't support Stormwind on the war against the horde? If so, they actually achieved the opposite: they literally put a spotlight on one of the biggest logical flaws in the story instead of just trying to hide it under the carpet.

And then there was ... polymorph. I wasted an entire mouth full of coke in that moment... to the regrets of the guy sitting in front of me. It was glorious. At least if they do a movie for the nerds, they gotta do it right.

What was that Medivh transformation? He looked like a demonhunter? Is that a WoW-retcon? It was super weird and even I couldn't explain it to my friend, and I played all the games. >_>

... and that black stone thingy with the old woman inside ... was that supposed to be Nozdormu? I didn't know what the heck was going on and what's more: I didn't understand why that was neccesary. Why include that and waste time that could be used on the characters?

That's all for now. More to come.