Review: Warcraft

That's more like it!

Each year it's the same story: there are genre movies I like, genre movies I hate, and several that I thought I would enjoy but instead just end up being disappointed. And rather than the bad movies, the third category is the worst because articulating why something is disappointing to fans of a franchise is maddeningly difficult.

Movies like Days of Future Past, or the empty Oblivion, or even the recent Hobbit films, mostly enjoyed by my peers but relatively unimpressive are likely to make me question whether I really do enjoy movies, or if I'm just a grumpy, critical curmudgeon.

However, there is a fourth, much rarer type of movie that comes out every now and again that solves this problem. They can remind me why I love movies so much in the first place.

2016 has been unusually rich in this prize category: 10 Cloverfield Lane and April being two wonderful films, though entirely different. Now I can add Warcraft to that list.

Make no mistake: Warcraft is nowhere near to the level of quality that the movies above have reached. Like the similarly messy Prometheus, this is a franchise-starter that's filled to the brim with ideas but chopped up mercilessly to achieve an under-2-and-a-half-hours running time. By the end of the first hour, all of the little time-saving cuts add up, resulting in an unfortunate feeling of story whiplash.

If you can get over the pacing, Warcraft is creative, thrilling and thoroughly enjoyable, because, thankfully, the characters are nowhere near as doofy and lifeless as the cast of Prometheus. But before I dive into why Warcraft was so pleasing, let's take a look at the basic premise.

Based on the first game in the long running series, 1996 strategy title Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, the film portrays first contact between (you guessed it) Orcs and Humans. I have never played the games, but I gather that the story was originally a fairly basic "good guys, bad guys" affair -- one that Duncan Jones has expanded and re-interpreted into something less black-and-white.

Echoing 2014's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the true battle is against conflict itself, with the orc protagonist Durotan (Toby Kebbell, playing the inverse of his role in Apes) and human protagonist Lothar (Travis Fimmel, trying his hardest to be Viggo Mortensen) struggling to end the war before it begins. As you may have guessed, they might not be entirely successful in a series with "war" in the title.

So if you couldn't tell from my tone at the start, I really liked Warcraft and was willing to accept some of its flaws. There are a few that are unforgivable though: Lothar's son Callan is a characterless non-entity, robbing the human side's fatherhood story of any gravitas. Additionally, the greater cast is sorely lacking in age diversity: it seems like everyone on Azeroth was born within five years of one another (perhaps in an effort to represent the median age of World of Warcraft players?).

Still, while the human side has its complaints, it isn't enough to drag down the excellent orc story. The movie's high quality performance-capture animation brings to life creatures never before seen in "live-action" and, unusually for such depictions, I didn't immediately wish it was done with puppetry instead.

Toby Kebbell's Durotan is brilliantly portrayed: emotionally affecting and given some of the best dialogue in the film as he stands amid the sadly misled Orc Horde. The Horde is misled by the orc shaman Gul'dan, who has been twisted by evil "Fel Magic". As great a hero Durotan is, Gul'dan is a thoroughly terrifying villain, standing out in an otherwise brightly coloured fantasy film.

I have to mention the palette: even when it comes to the villains, it's much grander than your standard modern blockbuster, filled with glowing rings of magic and wide, unrealistic vistas (by which I mean fantastical, as they should be!). At times it made me wish I was watching an adaptation of any of the great fantasy novels of my adolescence, but even one step removed from them, the derivative world of Azeroth is like a breath of fresh air in a Hollywood dominated by superhero films.

The colours aren't the only visually interesting part, either. Duncan Jones has to be commended for his quietly audacious authorial voice: like George Lucas, his acting direction could use some work, but the creative ideas herein are presented unadulterated. Big special effects scenes, intimate character scenes, funny background events and well staged fights prove his talent. We would be privileged with a series of movies like this -- and the film's success in China particularly seems to suggest we will see at least the one sequel. Please, Legendary keep the same director at the helm!

Finally, I must restate the tragic evisceration of the theatrical cut of this film. By no means perfect, the original director's cut may not even be substantially better than this version, but at least it would have been complete. Even if Duncan Jones doesn't return for Warcraft 2, the least they can grant him is a release of his director's cut on home video.

Fresh, messy, colourful, impractical and layered, Warcraft gets 3.5 / 5 stars but with a strong recommendation to fantasy fans.