When you look at the assembled talent for Warcraft you’d expect something greater than one of the worst films of the year. It’s not shocking, considering it’s following the trend of video games turned into films, but most directors would kill to have over $100 million and a cast of substance like the director of Moon has at his disposal. One has to hope he was paid an awful lot of money because this … this is a profoundly wrong direction for a director with so much talent.
After two daring science fiction films to open his career it’s a curious gambit to take a film who’s ceiling isn’t very high, like Warcraft. The film nearly made a profit, too, because it followed the trend of American films that bombed domestically making most of their budget back internationally. His next film seems to follow the rest of his career, making this film most likely a weird curiosity down the road.
Simple premise. A world of orcs and humans is beset by demons and it’s up to both sides to save the realm.
It’s two long, boring hours of film that’s trying to introduce the world of “World of Warcraft” to both fans of the MMORPG and to fans of fantasy but there’s nothing beyond cursory characters and tremendous effects. The film itself is a visual marvel throughout but doesn’t have anything that actually captures the imagination beyond the visual alone.
It’s a technical marvel, combining massive amounts of both CGI and live action, but it’s emotionally vacant. There’s no reason to care about anything beyond the superfluous. In the 4k resolution the film is absolutely spectacular to watch on a pure visceral level; it’s amazing how good a profoundly terrible film can look.
There’s a ton of extras on this release. Most of it is EPK style but there’s a ton of insight into the film-making process buried in there.
Universal presents Warcraft. Directed by Duncan Jones. Written by Duncan Jones and Charles Leavitt based on the video game “Warcraft” originally published by Blizzard Entertainment. Starring Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Robert Kazinsky, Daniel Wu. Run Time: 123 minutes Rated PG-13. Released on DVD: 9.27.2016
