Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'Warcraft'

Written by Mike Cervantes

Uh, it was good.

Yeah….

That might sound like a cop-out answer, but keep in mind that as far as genre films go, this has been a very trying summer: For one, this is the third movie based on a video game I’ve reviewed, after Ratchet and Clank and The Angry Birds Movie. Second, this is the third movie I’ve reviewed after X-Men: Apocalypse and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows that have a one-to-one ratio of human beings and outlandish-looking fantasy characters, all three of which used some very heavy CG. And this is the second movie, again after X-Men, which I have had to redeem despite some very bad pre-screening reviews.

I’ll just let you deny that last lingering thought and let you know that the initial reviews were once again wrong: Warcraft is a well-executed, exciting, and overall enjoyable film, not just for the fact it is a movie based on a video game, but it is a movie that was closely consulted upon by Blizzard, the creators of the long-running Warcraft series of video games.

The movie tells the story of the very first encounter that the human beings of Azeroth had with the massive army known as the Horde. The first major onset of massive Orcs that set foot on the world of Warcraft, led by Daniel Wu as the shaman warlord Gul’dan, are brought to the new land to flee their own dying world. Problem is, it is the near-constant abuse of Gul’dan’s soul-sucking magic, said to be part of an unquenchable evil force known as the Fel, which doomed their homeworld in the past. Most of the Orcs are loyal to Gul’dan, but the Frostwolf clan, led by a chieftain and new father Durotan (Toby Kebbell) are skeptical of his rule.

Meanwhile, on the Alliance side of things, Khadgar, an outcast mage played by Ben Schnetzer, becomes the first to sense the presence of the Fel, just in time to make his presence known to Stormwind’s head-knight Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel), and Stormwind’s guardian wizard Medivh (Ben Foster). Seeking to make sure the Fel doesn’t end up destroying the whole land; they engage the first army of Frostwolf Orcs and take captive a half-orc-half-human named Garona, played convincingly and with minimal CG by Paula Patton. Party assembled, it is up to this random band of deputized Stormwind marshals to deal with the threat of Gul’dan, with the equally in-doubt Frostwolf clan of Orcs both helping and hindering their cause every step of the way.

---

As far as narratives go, Warcraft has a tendency to bounce back and forth between the concise nature of its story, and the vastness of the universe it has plucked from its video-game origins. A brief interlude in the Dwarf kingdom of Ironforge explains why many of the Stormwind knights fire simple flintlock pistols during many of the action sequences. An idle conversation between Medivh and Garona suggests an interesting perspective on what Garona’s true origins are. Also, the movie takes great liberty with one of the more fun elements of World of Warcraft: creature mounts, by almost always having a saddled gryphon, giant wolf, armored horse, or eagle in frame. In one scene, the cast pass by a moonlit creek and you get to see a murloc, gargling with the exact same vocalization the fishy critters have in the video games. Having Blizzard on board during every step of the film’s production went a long way in making sure that this resembled a Warcraft movie, as opposed to a fantasy film that happens to be named Warcraft.

That being said though, it also revels in the simplicity of this being an origin story, and thus doesn’t lock itself into showing off too much of the whole massive multiplayer world in one go. Other Azeroth natives like Dwarves, Elves, and the Draenei only make peripheral appearances. There are no gnomes to be seen either. Meanwhile, the Horde side of the universe is at all times represented by Orcs, without a Goblin, Tauren, or Undead to be found. Surely, any Warcraft initiated fan could be disappointed by how thinly populated the film seems to be compared to the race-rich nature of the games. But the sparseness helps to serve the overall plot, as the handful of characters we follow are allowed to show a full range of  emotions and actions, to the point where characters that’d usually be on the sidelines, like Dominic Cooper’s King Llane Wrynn, are allowed to do captivating, meaningful things for the main cast.
​
What makes Warcraft, as a franchise, stand out amongst the millions of other Tolkien-esque fantasies out there is the fact that thematically, it always remains neutral, never outright answering questions about who might be good or evil, in order to leave those decisions up to the player. This film works hard in order to capture the same sense of character-motivated agency in film format, and for the most part it succeeds. There is a force in this film that is undeniably evil, which is the Fel, but its power gets played out in a way that neither the Stormwind knights, nor the Horde ever truly benefit from it. There are also very poignant moments where members of Stormwind fail to always do the right thing, and the Orcs of the horde show more honor and nobility than their supposed human betters. The two most important female characters happen to be on the Orc side as well. It is an interesting dynamic, and one that I hope sticks to the ribs of this franchise in its film form.

So, that is pretty much the nuts and bolts of it. This film was a true joy to watch, and any skepticism you may have on it on any level, from the massive CG use, to its status as a video-game based movie is diminished in the presence of this movie. Whether you’re on the side of the Knights of Stormwind, or the Frostwolf Clan, you’ll find the light past the darkness and have more fun that Leeroy Jenkins in a KFC. 

---