289: Warcraft

[00:00:00] Chapter 3, Random Films, Movie Roulette, whatever you want to call it. We'll probably come up with a more interesting unique title and if you have any suggestions let us know. But this time it's going to be Duncan Jones's Warcraft

[00:00:16] from 2016. Star is Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Tebbell, and a few others. And the synopsis is, as an orc horde evades the planet Azeroth using a magic portal, a few human heroes and dissenting orcs must attempt to stop the true evil behind this war.

[00:00:38] This movie of course is adapted from the online video game War of Warcraft, which I've never played. I'm very aware of and I've seen people playing and seen clips of it but I've never actually played it myself.

[00:00:52] Nevertheless, I love high fantasy. I love anything dealing with something similar to Lord of the Rings, orcs, goblins, wizards, anything like that. I'm absolutely there for. I nerd out over all that stuff and before this I don't believe I had seen any of Duncan Jones's other films.

[00:01:10] He is the son of David Bowie, fun fact. But when I heard about this one, I was absolutely there for it. I do sadly think that even though I will always watch these movies, even if they're terrible,

[00:01:23] this is still something that's a bit of a dying genre because when this movie came out critically, not that well-received. Financially, alright. I think more so than maybe what they were expecting,

[00:01:34] but still not a home run for sure that would have garnered the sequels that I believe they were planning. I still enjoyed the movie a decent bit. I don't think it's amazing and I think it could be so much better.

[00:01:46] There's a lot of great, from what I understand, a huge world there, so much lore and interesting characters and ideas and you name it. I know that kind of video game has that. But the biggest thing that is lacking is the story.

[00:02:01] Visually, the movie is amazing to me. I think the look of the orcs I love and it's very unique, very ambitious, very intricately designed and the effects themselves, the quality is great and top-notch.

[00:02:12] So visually, some people I think criticize the look and visuals of the movie. I think they look awesome. I love the greens and the browns and oranges and it's really a vibrant looking movie.

[00:02:23] So I really love that and it's not every day that you get that in a big budget movie. Most of the time these days they go for the darker, more washed out look. This movie is vibrant and I don't mean this in a bad way, I promise. Almost

[00:02:37] cool and good-looking in a gross way. Like it's this dark, weird kind of violent fantasy and I really like that. And I really love the look of the orcs, the armor, the weapons, all that stuff looks awesome. But character development-wise, the world feels so underwritten and

[00:02:55] I don't know in terms of what they would have improved on or what should have been expanded on but I just know in terms of just a script, a fantasy script, it's pretty lacking and shallow in my opinion. So there are points where I'm engaged

[00:03:09] but I feel like I don't really get to know anyone. I don't really care about anyone all that much. I really like Travis Fimmel a lot from Vikings. I think he's an awesome actor. I like Paula Patton but

[00:03:21] there are points in the movie where I'd say after the first 40-45 minutes where the plot really just drags and drops off and I just am not really interested in what's going on. There's not much humor. There's not much development.

[00:03:35] So the setup of the world is great and I love being in the world. It's just that there are points where I was really finding myself struggling to care which is disappointing because this is a movie that as I said,

[00:03:46] I want it to be a 5 out of 5. This can be the next Lord of the Rings, you know, but it's definitely not unfortunately. I really like video game adaptations. I don't play as much video games nowadays but I used to a lot. Assassin's Creed is my favorite franchise

[00:04:02] and I love the or maybe not love but really like the Assassin's Creed movie. So it's one that if you like fantasy, if you like video game adaptations, if you just like weird high budget, high fantasy epics, give it a look. You could do worse

[00:04:16] and I don't think it's as bad as a lot of people made it out to be. It's easy to hate on considering the look of the movie, the world itself. It's so weird and bizarre and filled with a bunch of mythical magical creatures.

[00:04:29] So I get why people hate on it, but I really don't think it's as bad as some people say. The action is good, it's well shot, it's well directed, but that script is the big thing. I know it could be better.

[00:04:39] I know that they could do more with it and considering Duncan Jones's seemingly love for this world and for this game. Do more with it. You know the lore, I'm guessing, or at least maybe know someone who does

[00:04:53] and expand on that, do more with it and don't save it for the second movie because you don't know how well this one's going to do. And obviously, as I said earlier, didn't do well enough to get a sequel.

[00:05:04] It could get critically panned across the board, but financially was not a success. So no sequel as of now, and I doubt we're going to get one anytime soon, which is too bad because I would happily watch

[00:05:13] a sequel to this or a spinoff or a prequel or whatever. Make it, please, because these movies are few and far between. I'm a big sword and sandal epic movie fan. I love all that stuff. Mythical, magical and anything in that realm. I'm absolutely there for.

[00:05:31] But although I still like it and I've seen a couple of times and it's always entertaining to a certain extent, to a certain level, just not as great as it should be. So that one is a three and a half out of five.